Note for the folks at home: The Samburu district, with its semi-arid environment, generally lives up to its "desert" reputation... except during the (sudden, unexpected) rainy seasons. I suppose "unexpected" isn't fair, as it happens every year, but the rainy seasons (a long one from April-August, another short one from October-November) will undoubtedly surprise the newcomer who's accustomed himself to the hot, dry, dusty days of the dry season. Otherwise clear, glaring skies become battlegrounds for armies of raging thunderheads; the scorched, grey sand gives way to treacherous mud swamps; the normally painful direct sunshine is replaced by an equally painful barrage of ice-cold raindrops the size of grapes. Oh, and plants grow and stuff.
