cucumber sandwiches anyone?

Today we availed ourselves of a friendly Mpala babysitter and went out for a couple of hours. We played tennis and then had a picnic on top of the Landy at a spot called Hippo Pools.

The tennis courts are up at the original Ranch house which is kept as a place to house VIP guests. It is kept up as it was when it was the home of the white Kenyan ranch owner and fits the bill of a colonial home perfectly. Think "Out of Africa" with shaded porches containing comfortable wicker furniture and sweeping lawns sloping out into the view of Mount Kenya.

The ranch's tennis courts are clay, which I have never played on before. (Actually, if I am honest I have never played tennis at all. I have, on many occasions, batted and swatted and even heaved at a tennis ball with a tennis racket, on a tennis court) The red clay is reflected beyond the court into the savanna which surrounds it, and as you lob the ball up for a serve Mt. Kenya is framed behind it. Quite a venue.

K and I thoroughly enjoyed tooling about on the court and he even made me do some real warm-up exercises. Then we settled in for a "game". Within minutes we abandoned the game and decided to just try and manage to hit the ball to one another. This was quite effective as K is fast enough to run about and catch most of my forehand. My backhand sent birds, dikdiks and monkeys outside the courts scurrying. After a while we decided that we would hit the ball to each other twenty times and then go and get lunch. Then we decided we would hit the ball to each other fifteen times and then go and get lunch. Eventually we decided nine was a little bit like fifteen and left.

Hippo pools is a spot where the Ewaso Nyero river makes a big loop and creates a still pool with a broad bank perfect for Hippos and crocs to pull themselves out of the water. Well, actually just one croc. The bend in the river has created a floodplain where incredibly tall fever trees grow. These are acacia xanthophloea. They are trees with a bright green bark on trunks that grow straight up and tall, and their branches spread out in a thick fan high above. They are graceful trees and their presence at Hippo pools makes it the perfect spot to sit and watch the wildlife and birds. After our exertions we enjoyed our lunch of avo and tomato sandwiches and felt completely vindicated in finishing a whole bar of chocolate.