Big Game to Big City

The remainder of our time in Kenya was just as fantastic as the start...

We left Nairobi with another American working in Kenya on a REALLY big truck that looked like it could go anywhere, do anything! We stopped to have a look at the Great Rift Valley on our way to Lake Navasha to pick up two more and headed to Lake Baringo. From there we took a small boat out on the lake to see the crocodiles and hippos up close, and boy oh boy did they mean CLOSE! We were all a bit on edge when our boat driver and guide took us no more than 20-25 feet from them in the middle of the lake (And they were angry!). When Steve, our new friend that had just finished an African Game Guide course called Eco Training, asked the guide to not go so close, he just laughed. Must have had something to do with the fact that he'd been into the sauce that day! Oh well, they must have known what they were doing because we made it back to shore in one piece, and got to see up the nostrils of the pink beauties. :)

That night we pitched our tents along the shore and had yet another fantastic dinner cooked over charcoal. Just before bed we could see the hippos were out of the water about 100 yards from our tents. They were quiet and peaceful, and we all just stood watching the dark figures in the distance. It turned out to be an eventful night, though. It was quite a warm day and night, so we slept with the tent unzipped. I woke to the sound of something rubbing or sniffing or something, and kept listening as it repeated every minute or so. Then I could hear munching just outside the tent. I wasn't too scared because I knew I would just be staying in the tent and they wouldn't bother us, but I wanted Michael to hear it so I woke him up. He woke up abruptly saying, what, what?? I thought great, hope the hippos don't hear where that came from! We sat and listened in the darkness to the munching for a while until we heard one hippo pass behind our tent. I didn't hear the rubbing or sniffing after that, and actually I now think it was Michael's foot rubbing on his pack as he dreamed - but hearing the munching just outside was fantastic!

I woke up again to the feeling of something cold and clammy moving around in my sleeping bag, and jumped out of the bag so fast that I woke Michael up again without having to say a word! We searched for the headlamp to find a small frog sitting at the bottom of my bag. Now that was funny! Amazing thing was that Michael's head was at the opening of the tent where my feet were, and that doggone frog didn't jump on his face!

The next day we were off to Lake Bogoria and Nakura to see the flamingos and other game. They estimate that on Lake Nakura there are about 3 million flamingos, which creates a loud buzzing sound and a shoreline of pale pink. Phenominal. At the park surrounding Lake Nakuru we also saw rhinos, lions, impala, eland, giraffe, buffalo, gazelle, and of course lots of baboons. The best part was the very end of the day, when our driver went from doing about 15 mph to about 40mph because he had heard of something over the radio. We were battered and bruised and almost ran over the rare rhino on our way to see something really spectacular - a giant python had just taken a maribu stork (about a 3 foot bird) and was in the process of swallowing it. It took us a while to figure out why 20 (yes, 20) vehicles were parked looking at this snake until we realized what was going on. That has to be one of the most amazing things I've ever seen, and a rare thing to see on safari. If any of you have the stomach, we have the video!

We have lots of video of lots of things in Kenya, in fact 2 hours worth. After the lakes we headed to the Masai Mara which holds the reputation of having the greatest concentration of game and the Great Migration in July and August. The Great Migration of zebra and wildebeast from the Serengeti is what many of you have probably seen on the Discovery Channel, with stampedes of wildebeast drinking from and crossing rivers and running from predators. Poor things - they are a moving mass of lion food.

Our camp was set up on the Talek river which marks one of the boundaries for the Masai Mara. The river could have been a little bigger to help me sleep a little better, but it was a good thing we had a Masai guard and I had earplugs at night - I definitely used them. We spent 3 days exploring the park, and saw so many animals. Our only sadness was not seeing cheeta and leopard, but what we did see kept us in awe. Of course we saw about a million wildebeast, zebra, and more of the animals I listed above. We also spotted topi, hyena, hippos, crocs, eagles, and lots of lions. The good but gruesome part of being in the Masai Mara during the migration is the chance of seeing a fresh kill or at the very least fat and happy lions and crocodiles!

The crocodile we saw on the first day had obviously just eaten an unlucky wildebeast or zebra, because the belly on it was HUGE. The croc itself was huge, about 13-15 feet long and 3-4 feet wide, but I swear he couldn't have maneuvered around that belly if he tried! We saw the skiddish migration just tempting fate to take a drink, but I think all the crocs were full up. :) We saw many carcasses of unlucky wildebeast on the open plains - lion food obviously - but only saw fresh kills on the last day. The most rare was the very last one, which the two lionesses must have chased down no more than 10 minutes before we found them. As we arrived one lioness was still panting from the chase, and we watched as they munched away, nose and mouth covered with bright red. Gross, awesome, lucky, and humbling all at once. You'll need a really strong stomach to watch this footage!

We were also lucky to see quite a few litters of lion cubs, some just a few months old, some a year old. One mother lioness was really mad at us because we drove right between her and her cubs she had hidden in a dry creek bed. A sound I won't soon forget! Another litter was playing and napping and just being darn cute. Loved it.

We had spectacular sunsets every night but the best was our last night in the park. On our way back to the campsite we spotted 3 elephants as the sun was setting. We all got out our cameras to catch the picture perfect moment. Then, as we were slowly pulling away, 2 acacia trees appeared just under the horizon and on either side of the sun, and the elephants walked right between them. It was like something from National Geographic. Stunning. What a great way to end our safari.

Our last night we went out with Laura and Steve from England and Stanley from New York to a restaurant in Narobi called Carnivore. What an experience! We ate Impala, Eland, Zebra, Crocodile, and a few other more common meats. The setting was great, with one huge fire pit surrounded by chunks of meat on big swords that they came around to each table with. They put the point of the sword in the middle of our plates and cut off a little piece of everything! It was a fun evening, and made it even harder to say goodbye to our new friends.

We couldn't have asked for a better time in Kenya. I'll be writing again soon about our far-too-brief visit with Bryony and David...we're spoiled yet again. :)