Golly gosh, a safari!

I've always said that I don't like the idea of safaris because I was always worried about seeing more jeeps than animals. Not to mention that they're one of the most expensive things you can do in Kenya (which, surprisingly, is quite an expensive place). However, Anna and I decided, after some advice from various people, and given it is currenly low season, that we would head to the world famous Masaai Mara National Park and do some animal spotting, aka 'game drives'. I find this term rather perculiar - like we're going hunting the big 5 or something - but that's what its called.

So, Monday morning we jumped into our white pop-top van - perfect for scanning the countryside for elusive creatures - and headed off towards Lake Naivasha, before turning off toward the town of Narok and entering Masaai country. Dry, dusty, with scarce, thorny vegetation dotted around and not much else besides herds of cattle, goats and sheep being driven by red blanked-cloaked Masaai men across the countryside in search of food. Here and there we passed shabby towns dotted in between the Masaai villages with their telltale circular fences made of tree branches for keeping the animals at night.

Even before we reached the gate (not before enduring the backbreaking, pot-holed road for a good 5 hours) there were herds of zebra and giraffes grazing elegantly, nonchalantly watching us as we passed, wary families of warthogs trotting off with raised tails and solid African buffalo chewing their cud.

It was straight into the 'game drive' when we arrived late afternoon, and for the next couple of hours we drove the grassland plains of the Mara looking for our soon-to-be-familiar companions in the park. While it's low season, which thankfully means few tourists, this is because there are also few animals - not huge numbers of them that you see in David Attenborough's nature documentaries. Its the end of the dry season and only the animals that stayed in the Mara - choosing not to migrate back to the Serengeti in Tanzania with the others - were to be found. Come August/Sept the millions of wildebeest will be back, along with the packs predators and the other herds of animals, chasing the food that the rains bring.

So, while this meant we had to drive a lot further to find smaller numbers of animals, there were still plenty to be found. We were greeted by herds of grazing giraffes, zebras, elephants and Thompson's and Grant's gazelles in their hundreds. Other animals to be spotted included water buck, antelopes, buffalo, warthogs, guineafowl and numerous other little birds flitting about. We were also extremely lucky to spot a beautiful leopard hiding in the grass, feeding on something we'll never know about; a pride of sleeping lions and their cubs, lazing around under the bushes, oblivious to (or ignoring) our presence; a couple of male cheetahs, just cruising around; vultures and secretary birds, perched in the few acacia trees growing on the plain, and two solitary hyenas.

The animals are active in the early morning and late afternoon, when the searing heat of the sun has gone. In the meantime, all you can do is sleep! ... as we did, heading back to our tents in the middle of the day when the sun was too hot for us too.

Other sightings during our time in the park included two beautiful crested cranes, their yellow head feathers crowning them in gold; a family of hippos wallowing in the lake, ever watchful of the giant croc sunning itself on the river bank, as were the Maribou storks standing quietly on one leg; a family of lions out for a morning stroll, mother not keen to feed all 4 of her cubs at once but having little choice; another group of cheetah cruising around; a huge male lion, sunning himself right next to the road, not caring if we pulled up right next to him; and a mother leading her twelve baby ostriches across the plain, all in single file.

Most exciting for me was coming across a cheetah on the prowl; she'd lined up some Thompson's gazelles for a kill, but failed fairly quickly when the gazelle moved too far away. Our driver/guide quickly noticed however that she immediately went back to the same place, and it was then that we discovered she was a mother, and three tiny cheetah cubs emerged. they were only 2 weeks old and still maintaining their afro hairstyles - in the form of baby fur.

And so we were sad to leave the Mara for the long drive to Lake Nakuru, the next part of our trip; but we were also excited, as Nakuru is home to thousands of flamingoes who live there, feeding on the shrimp in the saline water; We'd also read that since the introduction of tilapia fish into the lake, large numbers of pelicans had also taken up residence there. What we didn't expect were the thousands of pelicans that seemed to have taken over the place, hanging out with the Maribou storks, and while amazing in their numbers, there were so few flamingoes that their pink feathers were difficult to spot amongst the sheer white masses of pelicans. Apparently many more flamingoes are normally present in Lake Nakuru but they return with the rainy season. Still, the numbers are extemely low compared to what once were there.

One fantastic thing about Nakuru is that it is the only totally fenced National Park in Kenya. Why is that fantastic, you may ask? Well, the fences keep in the endangered black and white rhinos that have been relocated there for conservation purposes - and keep people out. We came across ten white rhinos on our first drive there, and up close they are certainly magnificent creatures. On the second drive we were also extremely lucky to see a black rhino (though you can't tell the difference by the colour; they look exactly the same! You have to look at the shape of their mouth to differentiate them).

Other animals we spotted in the reserve were gazelles; antelopes; rock hyrax, resembling giant guinea pigs; big families of baboons, many with tiny babies; water buck; guinea fowl; and stately giraffes, wrapping those long tongues around the spiny acacia trees to get at the leaves.

All in all it was a great wildlife-spotting adventure. We even topped it off with a slice of luxury accommodation at the Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge (inside Lake Nakuru NP mind you; go figure) and its massive buffets and cool leafy gardens full of colouful and cheeky little wrens, weaver birds and finches vying for your breakfast left-overs. And so it was back to Nairobi for one last night before the REAL adventure.

MADAGASCAR.

Jambo Kenya!

Ok, so I've arrived on the African continent! 21 hours of flights later ... via Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha - and now I'm in Nairobi. It was great meeting up with Anna again. We have also caught up with our friend Noriko who is working here for the UN - so it's been a Simeulue reunion, 2 years in the making!

We've already had a few adventures in Kenya, land of the eucalypts. We've been staying in Nairobi, and are very grateful for Solange allowing us to stay in her lovely apartment while she's not here! The city is not like I remember it 5 years ago; the main thing I remember is the central Masaai markets. But i have not felt anywhere near as unsafe as the Nairobbery tag suggests. The city seems pretty clean, but has a faded, 70's retro feel to it's CBD due to the type of buildings scattered around; it's a low-rise centre with the worst traffic congestion I've ever seen - Sydney, you're beaten hands down!

We visited a giraffe centre and elephant orphanage around Nairobi, both of which were great for interacting with these beautiful creatures. The giraffe centre breeds Rothschild giraffes for release back into the wild; the orphanage rescues baby elephants orphaned by poachers, drought, snares and falling in wells, and also rehabilitates them to go back into the wild. Such dedicated people undertaking such important work.

We've also spent a few days in Naivasha, about 2 hours north west of Nairobi. Watching a family of 12 hippos wallowing in the shallows of Lake Naivasha has been a highlight. The lakeside camp we stayed in also had a number of other interesting visitors, such as beautiful black and white Colobus monkeys, superb starlings, guinea fowl, herons and a number of waterbirds. The nearby crater lake also provided us with some beautiful hiking around the rim of the now extinct volcano, being watched all the way around by five giraffes grazing down in the crater.

The camp also was in close proximity to Hell's Gate National Park, one of the few parks where you don't need a vehicle to visit. Cycling leisurely past herds of zebra, warthogs, Thompson's gazelles, African buffalo and a stately family of loping giraffes made me really feel that I was in Africa. We hiked Njorowa gorge in the sun, and found the hot springs that form part of the vast geothermal reserves that led to a power plant being built IN THE NATIONAL PARK in 1981. Something wrong with this picture? Seeing the plumes of steam rising out from behind the ridges was quite surreal, as was the constant hissing noise of the released steam in the background. Apparently this has little impact on the park, but I'm not so sure - I would think the wildlife would be happier without it there.

Coming back to Nairobi was an interesting adventure ... we took a matatu (minivan) from Naivasha town and on the way we broke down due to running out of fuel ... so we sat there for half an hour or so, all the while the sun is setting and its getting dark, waiting for our driver and his able assistant to go for petrol, listening to the raucous Swahili conversation of the Kenyan women who had come from a hard day's work and wishing we could understand it! We even got entertained by Peter Andre thanks to 101.1FM - All Kenyan, All The Time! (insert deep breathy voice here). Radio gold.(I'm even listening to MC Hammer's Can't touch this as I type. Ha!)

 

By the time we hit Nairobi's insanely packed out bus and matatu station, which seems to take up a whole block, it was half seven and we had to somehow get home amongst the ridiculous crowd. Not the best place to be as a mzungu when you don't know where you're going! But luckily our saviour came in the form of Nancy, a young, strong Masaai woman who wasn't afraid of being mugged in downtown Nairobi, and after arguing with some motorbike taxis and refusing their high prices, she delivered us through the throngs to the right departing point. Not sure we would have made it without her! Thanks, good Samaritan .. although a 100 Kenyan shilling payment was requested, and granted. :)

So now, our next adventure awaits: a 4-day safari in the Masaai Mara and Lake Nakuru National Parks. Dammit - these safaris are EXPENSIVE - but I can't wait!