Kenya: Mount Longonot and RIT

At the end of our Kenya trip, we decided to visit two more places with our personal free time.  First we went to Mount Longonot National Park to hike, and then we visited a Reformed Seminary near Eldoret.

The park was very beautiful and a very unique hiking experience for us.  It was the first time hiking in Africa in a park without a guide (which is often required).  And there were actually big animals to be seen during the hike such as giraffes, antelope, and zebras.  The mountain is actually a sleeping volcano.  The hike consists of walking up to the very steep rim, and then walking around the edge of the crater.  Here is an aerial photo I found online:

The entire hike took us about six hours including stops to rest.  Here is what it looked like to begin. 

Then we started going up and I proved to myself that I am vastly out of shape.  It was tough.

Here is a video showing the scope of the hike.

The drop offs were a bit scary at times, especially since I am afraid of heights.  Sometimes it was like this on both your right and left.

The view from the highest point, Mount Longonot summit:

Sara trying to act like her goats who always stand on small rocks in our yard.

On the way back down we got a glimpse of some animals near us.

Donkeys are everywhere in Kenya, especially pulling wagons like this.  It makes me think maybe we need to be in Kenya in the future.  Because I needs me a donkey.

The other visit we made was to Reformed Institute for Theological Training.  I had heard about the school from someone I taught Timothy Leadership Training with once in Soroti.  We had heard that this Reformed seminary also had a farm at the school.   We thought it would be an interesting place to visit.  We had not yet seen any Reformed churches in Africa up to this point so we thought we should see what they were like, and having a farm as part of the school was very cool to Sara.  So we organized a quick tour.

We began the visit worshiping in the Reformed Church located at the school.  It was all in Swahili so we didn't understand much, but the choir was beautiful.

Here are some photos of the school and farm.  Someday we would love to start our own seminary/monastery/farm/intentional community in Africa.  So seeing this place gave us some more inspiration.