Out of the City Part VII: Lovely Landscapes

On Sunday morning, August 28, we headed back to Nairobi.  We knew it would be an 8-10 hour drive, given that everyone heads back to Nairobi after the weekend and the traffic would be bad.  It was bad and it did take us about 10 hours-- and that's just to go about 250 miles!  There was a gorgeous sky with puffy white clouds and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey.  The tea fields, for which Kenya is famous, were breathtakingly beautiful.  But then, LeRon and I think all farm land is breathtakingly beautiful!

A tuk-tuk is a 3-wheeled vehicle run by a motorcycle engine.  Here's a view from the back.

LeRon took more pictures of the weigh-station for the sugar cane.  So many loaded trucks with fluffy sugar cane.

The sugar cane is very light and they lose a lot over the side.

You can tell that LeRon is now taking pictures!

Another load of sugar cane.

We love these trees.  They are actually cactus trees.

This could be almost anywhere on earth, don't you think?

I took this picture for the beautiful clouds.  I love skies and I rarely see them in Nairobi.  Lately it's been either cloudy or hazy but whatever it is, you rarely see the sky because you never look up because there's so many trees to see around you.  Plus cars, trucks, tuk-tuks, matatus, buses, etc.

Here's our first view of a tea field.  The red roofs are houses of tea field workers.

The tea fields stretched on and on.  Every tea plant has been planted by hand.  Can you imagine farming like that?

Closer view of the tea fields.

Every 3 days, the tea leaves have to be clipped by hand.  No workers are in the field today.

We were entranced by the beauty of it all.

You can tell it's a hot day because I'm not wearing a sweater.  Actually the breeze felt really nice.

The lighter colored strips have been clipped.  A worker apparently can take care of 2 acres of plants.  And there have to be thousands of acres here.

Peter is showing me how to clip the tea leaves by hand.  He worked in the tea fields as a teenager.

Once again, you can see the clipped and unclipped plants.

Peter is demonstrating how much of the tea leaf you have to clip.  You carry a bag on your shoulder and throw the leaves into the bag.  Then it is transported to the place where it is dried.

Peter and LeRon in the tea fields.

Tea plants last for years and years.  Notice the lovely red soil.

These are very young tea plants that have recently been planted (and all by hand).

The tea field workers live in these houses.