Day 2--Seeing the Big 5

Dear Family of Faith,

On this Feast of the great Bishop/Martyr of the early Church, St. Ignatius of Antioch, I greet you as we complete the first full day here in Kenya.

While I concluded my message last evening by stating that we had not seen much, but that we had already met many wonderful people, today I can say that we didn't meet that many people today, but we saw enough to fill up our memory banks for a very long time!

After a restful, though fairly brief night, we awoke for early morning prayer, and Msgr. Mike, Fr. John Peter and I concelebrated the Holy Mass together in the Chapel of the MSFS priests where we were staying.  Bishop Dominic and his nephew Reginald joined us for some breakfast, and we were on the road by a little after 7:00 a.m., with the destination the Masai Mara Game Preserve----a good six hour drive.  The first third of the trip was through the heart of Nairobi during rush hour.  If you've ever been in rush hour in New York City, or Chicago, think of that, plus a whole lot more.  There's more than 3 million people living in Nairobi, and everyone follows their own "rules" for driving.  It's kind of like driving in Rome, but much worse.  There's no "order"---its every driver for him/herself.  Once we got through the city, and it was well past 9:30 a.m. by that time, we drove through some of the most beautiful countryside you could imagine.  A lot more "green" than I expected, up into the mountains, then down into and through the plains, then back up the mountains again, and finally down into the plains/flatlands/savannahs of the Game Preserve.  Sadly, we drove through a tremendous amount of poverty, but it was clear that these people, though poor, are extremely hard-working, busy, and dedicated to providing for their families.  I was surprised to see signs for innumerable boarding schools for children, and churches of every denomination.   Bishop Dominic tells us that Africa in general is known to be "notoriously religious".  It is actually quite refreshing to see churches of every denomination, and people openly expressing their faith.  We in the United States could learn something very important about that.

From the beginning of the preserve, "normal roads" ended, and dirt, rocky, narrow roads prevailed for the rest of the trip----a good 3 hours.  If you can imagine the worst road that you've ever driven on, then these roads would be about 10 times worse than that.  It was amazing that the car's suspensions system and tires survived.  However, it was quite worth it as animals of all kinds, shapes, sizes, and species can be seen just roaming-----for miles and miles and miles.  Once we actually arrived at Masai Mara (which is named for the tribe of people who live in this area, the Masai Tribe, and the huge river that flows throughout this area, ending up in Lake Victoria, the Mara River), the animals were in greater abundance.  Bishop Dominic was very interested in seeing what he calls the "Big 5", which includes: giraffes, lions, rhinocerus, buffalo, and elephants.  We saw all 5, and many, many  more.  More than once, we found ourselves quoting from the Book of Genesis "Creation Account" and the Psalms of Praise of God for His beautiful creation.  Finally by 5:00, we arrived at the Lodge where we are spending the night.  I was shocked at how beautiful, modern, and comfortable this place is, truly out in the middle of nowhere.

This is our one "holiday" day in this Pastoral Visit pilgrimage.   Tomorrow we travel by car for another 6 hours or so to stay overnight with a Bishop of a nearby Diocese, and then the next day----Saturday----we will actually fly into Lodwar.

May God bless you and keep you safe throughout this night.

+ Bishop Bradley

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