I had to get this title out of the way – just keeps jumping into my head. It’s been a great start to this adventure but I’m unsure how much internet access I’m going to be able to get to upload these blogs. (EXTRA EDIT: Tried a couple of times to upload this – photos are kinda impossible so just doing text and will add back photos later I get better access – may be 60 days away)
Flight to Nairobi
As mentioned in the previous blog, had to leave at an unfortunate hour from London. Hopefully didn’t wake up my flatmates but at least one good thing about driving to the airport at that hour there’s not much traffic.
Had a nice breakfast at Heathrow (thanks Star Alliance Gold) and got on the short hop to Zurich. We got delayed out of Heathrow which seems to be the norm so my 50 minute transfer window shrunk dramatically. Had to swap terminals and there was a group of us running to make the plane. We arrived late but they had held the plane and then had problems counting how many people were on the plane. Finally got going and after 2 and a bit movies and a wink of sleep we arrived in Nairobi Airport.
Had no problems getting the visa at the airport but the lady in front had old American dollars which they wouldn’t accept. It came down to her missing $2 which seemed a bit extreme to stop her entering the country so I gave her some of mine. Don’t know why American notes that come from before 2003 are dodgy.
Found my name on a placard and got dropped at the hotel and joined the group. Crashed pretty early after a long day of sitting down.
Saidia Childrens Home Project
We were introduced to the vehicle that we were going to spend a lot of time with and were each given a decent sized lockable locker to store our possessions. We’ve got a full truck/bus load of people but it’s reasonable comfortable (ask me again in 30+ days…) and the Kenyan tour guide, driver and cook are all amazingly helpful and friendly.
One thing I wasn’t expecting was how cool the temperatures are – as we left Nairobi there was a mist around and it’s been a pretty pleasant overall temperature so far. Our first stop was an orphans home that Interpid sponsors. Had a talk from the Lady in charge and then each of us got a personal tour guide. My young boy didn’t speak much English but had fun playing football at the end. Was a well maintained orphanage and so fantastic these kids have a chance now with the support of the locals on the ground and foreign help.
New Competition for Blog Readers
One question that keeps bugging me is what the correct term for different groups of animals. The one I remember is a group of crows which is called a murder. So without using the internet/google I’m going to name an animal I saw and see if anyone knows what a group of them are called. (honesty assumed – points for creativity over accuracy) The animal for this blog is the claim to fame of this park – the flamingo. So I saw a ___________ of flamingoes!
Lake Nakuru National Park
After leaving the orphanage we headed to a town outside the national park for a quick shopping trip. I bought a full-sized pillow following some smart advice and I reckon it’s going to be one of the best purchases on the trip. We got to our campsite which was surrounded by baboons. As our guide says, they’re naughty – I’m sure you can come up with some more appropriate names for them – but they were jumping on our tents, stealing food out of people’s hands that weren’t watching and generally being a nuisance.
After having lunch and setting up our tents we headed off on our first drive in the park.
Safari Drive 1
Lake Nakura National Park, compared to other parks fairly small but is well known for its flamingoes. One of the tour books said there were an army of flamingoes but they must have been invading another country because we only saw a few around. There’s been some unseasonably heavy rain around recently so the guide thinks that may have affected them. There were massive amounts of pelicans so maybe there was a coup d’état recently over the lake.
(A not-quite_________ of flamingoes)
We got to see some Buffalo (Animal 1 of the Big 5), zebras and tons of other herbivores that I didn’t learn the name for. We were lucky to see from a distance a rhino but the guide was pretty sure it was a white rhino. (How do you tell a white rhino from the much more scarce black rhino? It’s not the colour… The only visible difference is the mouth, with the white rhino having a wider mouth then the black. You can blame the Dutch for the confusion since their word for wide sounds like the English white so that’s how the story goes.)
Some heavy rain came through just as we got to a look-out over the lake so we closed up the truck and weathered out the storm. So glad we had got our tents up already and they were sealed. We started heading back to camp and saw some giraffes. Got lucky and saw a baby giraffe which was pretty cute. Some other giraffes wandered a bit closer so rather than the single pixel the baby turned out to be here’s a better photo.
(Giraffe)
And to put the icing on the cake about 200-300 metres from our camp we saw a pack of 5 lions just wandering around the road. (Animal 2 of the Big 5) None of them were male lions with the huge mane but maybe mum with some adolescent kids.
(Lions near camp)
Our campsite didn’t have any fence around it so there were a few concerned campers but no one was dragged off during the night. Had a fantastic meal – there was soup waiting when we got back and I thought that was tea done when I finished, but that was just the entrée. Baked veggies and chicken was certainly well appreciated. Definitely not going to go hungry on this trip!
Safari Drive 2
After an early night since no power at the campsite and not much too see we had an invigoratingly early start to the day. Headed off on another drive and ran (not literally) into the lions again not too far from camp. Our guide was amazed that we saw the lions and to see them twice was fantastic. Got tons of photos but as ever (and even more so on this trip with some serious photographers and gear) my photos don’t do it justice. They were just so unbelievably close. The lions were following the road and with the few safari trucks stalking them they somehow got separated and mother lion had to come back and regroup them all.
After the lions we headed around the lake, seeing even more birds and animals. Even saw a solitary hyena prowling around. Luckily he was on the other side of the lake to the baby giraffe. Another new animal was the ostrich. Was surprised how massive it was.
(ostrich photo)
We headed close to the lake to see more pelicans and there were a couple of buffalo in the water. Another safari drove up and some Asian tourists jumped out to take photos with the buffalo in the background. Our guide was a bit surprised, since they are one of the more dangerous-to-human animals around.
(Danger!)
Luckily for them the buffalo was enjoying the water too much. We kept driving around and saw an actual black rhino (Animal 3 of the Big 5). My camera couldn’t zoom enough and it wasn’t close enough to get a good bloggable photo but the guide was sure it was a black rhino which was pretty cool. Further on another rhino (white this time) was much closer so was able to get this shot.
(white Rhino)
Heading to Uganda
Finished the safari which has set a pretty high standard for the rest of the trip! Packed up camp and got in the bus and headed towards Eldoret. Eldoret is supposedly famous for producing some great quality long distance runners. It’s situated at about 2200 metres above sea level which when you compare it to highest mountain in Australia (Kozciuszko at 2228m) demonstrates how flat Australia is.
Don’t know how often I’ll be able to get to internet. Was lucky and found an internet café on Monday but no chance of uploading blog with photos. Now at a great campsite in the capital of Uganda, Kampala; with hot showers and free wi-fi (EDIT: Very slow wi-fi, blog wouldn’t upload). Been a long day border crossing but nice to be relaxing tonight.
Week Ahead
Wed, 14th of Sept Kibale Forest National Park
Thurs, 15th of Sept Kibale Forest National Park
Fri, 16th of Sept Queen Elizabeth National Park
Sat, 17th of Sept Lake Bunyoyi
Sun, 18th of Sept Ruhengeri, Rwanda
Mon, 19th of Sept Gorilla Trek?
Tues, 20th of Sept Gorilla Trek?
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