We finished up the interior tour of the Blixen’s House, and then were off to view the Ngong Hills in the back of the house. This is also where Karen would sit and tend to any sick workers or villagers. TheNgong hills were where Denis Finch Hatton was buried. You do remember that tearful scene from the movie, don’t you? Very sad.
Ngong means “knuckle” in Swahili. The trees have obviously grown since Karen was here. You can see just a bit of them in the right side of the photo.
Then we were off for a short stroll through the woods to see some of the coffee machinery. I was delighted that it was actually a short walk and not one of those killer hikes in Patagonia. 
I can’t remember what this machine did, but it was under a metal shed. This is the area where the fire was. Francis our guide told us that the fire that destroyed the coffee sheds was likely due to fires that the Maori started. The Maori used fires to clear land. Unfortunately for Katen, her coffee bean barns got in the way of the flames. My snarky comment of the day is that it must have smelled wonderful. 
Good bye Karen Blixen’s House on to Kazuri! Kazuri means ” small and beautiful ” in Swahili. The Kazuri Bead factory is famous world wide for the beautiful jewelry. Any unwed mother can get a job here. They will find a place for you. If you remarry you can still stay. 
Here is rock from the hills of Mt. Kenya. Mixed in are pieces of fired clay that were imperfect and was ground up,with the rock to make new clay. 
The ground rock is mixed with water to form a slurry which is formed into sheets and hung, and the water squeezed out. You can see the clay hanging on the top right. Gradually enough water is removed so the clay can be used to make the famous beads. There are men who work at the factory, this is one of their jobs.
Here I am demonstrating one of the round bead making techniques. 
Here we have a selection of beads, a necklace of unfired beads and then a picture of the kiln in which the beads are skewered and then fired at extremely high temperatures. 
Here we have a group that was touring the bead factory. Our little group was so happy we chose not to be in a big group. We had more flexibility, and didn’t have to wait for anyone but ourselves.
Singing always makes the job more fun. The ladies would break out in sing every few minutes. 
Then wee were off to the next building where the beads were painted. This is the order board for the jewelry. You can see that the demand in Scandinavia is quite high! 
Here are some finished beads, ready to be strung, into necklaces, bracelets or earrings. I was curious to find out if there was a song leader. As you well know, Linda always finds out the answers. Here is our song leader!
