White Sand and Camels

Elder & Sister Jensen live in Mombasa and a short walk from the Indian Ocean and the white sands of its beach.  Gorgeous area.  They arranged for a camel ride for us.  Many years ago I rode on a camel with my sister Arlene at the San Diego Wild Animal Park or was it at the San Diego Zoo?  It was fun but riding on a camel by the Indian Ocean was fantastic!  We took a day to do a little sightseeing -- one of the perks of a senior couple mission!

This white sandy beach is just a five minute walk from where the Jensens live.  So nice to do your daily walk on the beach.  I can see why people love the beach so much.  There were even people playing volleyball and this was in the morning on a working day.  Aren't those clouds gorgeous too?

Palm trees, white sand, lovely clouds.  What could be more beautiful?

This proves we were there!

And now another view with the Indian Ocean.  My brother Bruce and his wife Sara served a mission in Mauritius which is a little island off the bigger island of Madagascar and it is also in the Indian Ocean.  Who would guess that two Conrad siblings would serve their missions in the same area of the world?

I'm pretty proud of this picture.  A fisherman in the ocean.

And a beached boat.

Just as they were bringing up the camel, LeRon saw this crab running to beat the band.  It was running so fast that I just pointed the camera and clicked and was so surprised that I actually got a picture of it.  The camel guys said that the crabs usually aren't out at this time of the day so we were lucky to see it.  They come up from teeny-tiny holes in the sand.  Elder Jensen showed us where to look to see the holes and the sand that they had dug out.  So interesting for us landlubbers.  Jensens are farmers from Utah and we're farmers from Alberta.  Far away from the ocean.

Hard to climb up onto the camel.  Not exactly like getting on to a horse.

My sciatic pains that I have in both sides were killing me and the camel was much wider than I ever expected.  LeRon was trying to push me on but it hurt so much.

So I rode side saddle!

Here we are:  Sister Jensen, LeRon, me, Elder Jensen.

The Torries and the Jensens and the patient camel.

Getting up was kind of tricky!

Up, up and away.

We paid for half an hour but we were actually done in 15 minutes.  That was long enough.  I can't imagine riding for hours and days on a camel across a hot desert.

Glad we did it though!  I hope they washed this blanket but I doubt it.

Sister Jensen is getting creative with my camera.  Good shot of the camel's head.

We were surprised at how big the hoofs were.  And they hardly make any impression in the sand.

Ride's over.  It was great.  So glad the Jensens had such a good idea.

Then LeRon had the idea to buy some coconuts.  Sister Jensen and I didn't think the knife was very clean so we didn't want to try it.  We have to be very careful about cleanliness.

LeRon's first sip of coconut juice.

It said it was "interesting."

Goodbye lovely white beach.  LeRon and I actually stood in the ocean but that picture is on Sister Jensen's camera.  We'll have to get the picture from her.