Resurrection
Robert was our guide during two days at Sabuk, a stone lodge in the hills in central Kenya, 90km north of the Equator.
He’s pictured with Kumbau, an older warrior and therefore the logical keeper of the loaded gun, which thankfully he didn’t have to use during our walk through open bush.
The river was dangerously low, the landscape parched and the November rains were long overdue. A brief shower had only delivered a sprinkling of 2ml the night before and that morning’s oppressive heat had already sucked any precious moisture out of the ground.
Robert pointed at a brittle plant.
‘It looks dead, doesn’t it?’ I nodded. It was as black as if it had been through a bush fire. No doubt about it, whatever it was had breathed its last, and I wasn’t doing much better.
‘Now look over there.’
He pointed beyond the seemingly dead bush at the green leaves of a flourishing plant.
‘That one caught a few drops of rain last night.’
A narrow channel in the rocks had funnelled enough water for the same plant to spring back to life, shedding the brittle outer casing and unfurling its leaves like tiny fans. They smelt of mint and aniseed.
The common name for it is The Resurrection Plant.
From death back to life thanks to a few precious drops of rain.
12 comments on “Resurrection”
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I'm a writer based in Australia with a passion for gardening, remote places and people with a story to tell.
Strawberries in the Desert 
You can’t imagine how excited I was to get a notification that there was a new post. I missed you. This is deeply ironic coming from me since I can’t recall MY last blog post! Lovely to learn about this and see those great necklaces…I mean photos.
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it’s good to be back. A tentative resurrection of my own. I’m tempted to send Robert any leftover Christmas decorations as he’d be sure to find a use for them in his headdress. That’s a plastic flower on top of his head, and I worked out he puts a new feather in every day. Enjoy Nepal!
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Kenya – amazing, terrible and wonderful at the same time. Beautiful.
So good to see you again!
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Thanks Nan, it’s good to be back, I look forward to following your adventures, hope you’re keeping well.
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Good to hear from you Deb. Hope you enjoyed it.
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Had a great time thanks, I’ll tell you more next week!
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So happy to see this up again! Loved it and the photos – please keep them coming!
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Hey Nandini, good to hear from you, hope life is treating you well.
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I’ve missed your posts. Glad you’re back even just occasionally.
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Hello Mala, I’ve finally come out of my shell, how’s life for you?
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Gardening, volunteering in the local writing community and trying to sneak in some actual writing time. My volunteering duties come to an end shortly and I will welcome the time.
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Thanks Deb, great pics.
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