Day Eighteen: Four out of Five

Our Jeep and driver, Moses

We splurged and spent the extra $20 so we could have a private jeep for our last safari. This allowed us to  dictate our early pickup time... 6 am for maximum animal viewing opportunities, and when to stop and when to go during the day.

In Nakuru, the National Park is more wooded and lush than the Mara. There's is a large lake and a series of wetlands accentuated by the fact that there has been unprecedented flooding (it seems to follow us!).

Within minutes of driving through the park, we spotted two lionesses and four cubs hovering over a recent kill. These lions are notable because they are a rare form of tree-climbing lions. Sadly, as hard as we searched that day, we did not see any lions or leopards in the trees.

In the same field of view, a rare black rhino grazed on bushes and small trees, which he did by tearing it to the ground. We had just achieved our fourth out of five 'Big Five.'

Other highlights from the game drive include:

- endangered Rothschild giraffes

- white rhinos

- striped, rather than spotted, hyenas

- male waterbucks with their stunning horns

- vervet monkeys

- crowned crane

We loved the beauty and tranquillity the park offered after the crowds of the Masai Mara, but being right next to a city meant that the 180 sq km park was fenced in, giving it a less wild feel.

Now we have just one more day left in Kenya before moving on to Uganda.

Day Seventeen: Least Exciting Day Yet

Due to our breakneck pace and our inability to book a safari, we took it easy on day 16. We got day 17's plans figured out, did some laundry, and tried to sift through all of our photos.

Most of the intrigue happened through the nights. We are not sure if we are a part of a pysch study or if there is a broken record player in Nakuru, but both nights we heard the same song on repeat, at full blast, through the entire night and some of the morning (it was a different song the second night).

We have become very familiar with downtown Nakuru as we walked the same market street 6-8 times a day.

Erin even got a restaurant named in her honour.

Day Sixteen: A Change in Plans

After a leisurely start to the day researching where to stay that night, we learned that Naivasha was a popular weekend getaway for Nairobians (?). And as luck would have it we were trying to find a place for Friday thru Sunday for a long weekend.

Just six short hours later (half of which was standing on the street waiting for the bus to show up) we arrived in Nakuru, having decided to skip Naivasha entirely.

Our prison-chic sheets

The rest of the day was spent trying to find internet and a tour company to arrange a safari. We failed at both and relaxed in our hotel. We sprang for a room with an ensuite bathroom. It ended up being just a part of the room, but we were happy to be saving money to offset the safaris.

View from Craig's Bed, notice the sink
at the foot of Erin's bed, and the lack of a door.

Day Fifteen: Week 3 Begins, Safari Ends

We woke early to see the sunrise on our last day in the Maasai Mara. Early on we spotted a group of hyenas walking around a hillside and followed their path to find a group of male lions sharing a recent kill. The hyenas were anxious to join the feast and we thought we might get to see a fight or at least hear a good roar. But again another pushy car trying to get right in the middle of things made one hyena spot the third lion who had been hidden crouched in the bushes ready to pounce. It promptly ran away. We watched the lions drag the carcass into the bushes for safe keeping.

After lots of driving around searching the trees for leopards, we came across another group of hyenas at their burrow. This family has some very young babies; they looked practically newborn and were very cute!

On our way back to the campsite we passed a male and female lion 'honeymooning'in an open field. As they nuzzled noses, we resisted, only mildly, singing 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight.'

The rest of the drive back to Nairobi was uneventful, just a little sad that our safari was over and to once again be saying goodbye.

Day Fourteen: Lion Around

For our second full safari day we rose early and headed out to be on the plains for sunrise. We passed many hot air balloons lifting off, and generally had the roads to ourselves. With three of the Big Five under our belts, our goal for the day was simple: we wanted to see a kill. At times we felt guilty for our morbid wishes, but our desire for action won out.

Within our first ten minutes we came across a lone car parked beside a field of tall grass. A single wildebeest stood in the field and the riders were all staring at it with interest. Sensing there was more to the scene than we could see, our driver parked a ways away. As we watched, the face on a lion appeared through the grass directly behind the beast. Our hearts races with anticipation then the wildebeest turned, saw the lioness, and raced off across the field. To our disappointment, the predator didn't chase. We moved on feeling exhilarated.

Shortly after, we came across another lioness walking purposefully through the grass. A small herd of wildebeest stood close by this time. With no other cars around, we settled in to 'be patient'. A car eventually approached, and we cringed as it interfered unknowingly with the scene. Sadly few other drivers seemed to have the same sense as ours. They had not seen the lion yet. Undeterred, she soon continued stalking closet focusing in on a youngster that was wandering away from the rest. It wanted to cross the small creek and join the animals on the other side so it kept whinnying and galloping in that direction. The lion took the opportunity and emerged from get hiding place. The others saw her and began running in the opposite direction. The lioness gathered strength and started running but was more in it for the chase than the kill and she let the baby run right past her without much of an effort to bring it down. Lucky wildebeest, disappointed us.

The rest of the morning continued with little more excitement till we spotted birds rising up from the grass, squawking with annoyance. we knew there was something there. We waited patiently and were rewarded with a female cheetah who strut through the grass to a tall mound. While we watched the elegant creature our driver told us how last month a similar thing happened. All the other cars drove close to her as they were doing now but he kept his distance. Disturbed by all the people, she eventually got down of the mound, walked towards his car and leapt up into the roof. Cheetahs aren't dangerous to people and she was only searching for a good viewpoint to look across the Mara, so those passengers received quite the treat! Today we had no such luck, but were happy with such a great vie of the regal cat.

Once again we ended the night by burning a few trees (that we were assured came from far away from any conservancy area) and went to bed nice and toasty.

Day Thirteen: Getting Lucky

For our first full day of safari, we got up and ate a delicious breakfast prepared again by our talented cook, Joseph. Then we headed off for a full-day game drive.

 In our beloved army car, with the roof down, we were all able to stand on the seats and stick our heads out the top, holding onto the sides for dear life. We rocked and bumped our way down rough 'roads' and through river crossings, our bodies slamming against the sides of the roof openings. At times we nearly had the wind knocked out of us, but there was no comparison for how free we felt with the breeze on our faces and the open plains in front of us.



The company we were with was called Gametrackers and our driver insisted he could 'smell' out the action (though he did seem to spend a lot of time on his cell phone talking to other drivers). What was fun was that he encouraged us to spot things even if he knew what was where. He was also passionate about animal conservation and respected the animals' space. He lectured us on patience and tried to read the animals' movements so he could predict where they would be, so we often waited in spots away from other cars and the animals walked right to us.

We saw lots of the same animals as the previous day, but enjoyed the giraffes, elephants, and zebras (especially the babies!) all the same. We were rewarded early with our first lion guarding a kill, then many more followed. We saw the kill of a leopard hanging in a tree, but sadly, no leopard.

One of the goals for the day was to see a 'crossing', where the wildebeest and zebra cross the Mara River. We arrived at the steep banks of the river, wildebeest amassing on the other side and crocodiles waiting in the water. After a half hour of slow progress to the river the wildebeest got spooked and stampeded away from the river. Our consolation prize was a large group of Hippos hanging out in the sun. But we hadn't given up yet and it was off to another spot to be 'patient' again.

We arrived at another point of possible crossing, the river teeming with the corpses of fallen wildebeests, a reminder of the dangers to any that would attempt to cross. The wildebeests had two paths to choose from, the tourists had two places to watch from. Each time the animals changed their minds a herd of vans would stampede to the other vantage point. After about an hour of this dance some zebras got brave and ran across the water leaving a young one behind braying across the gulf. The wildebeests started to line the shore, it was finally going to happen. The animals were place, the vans all lined up, the first wildebeests began to cross, others following close behind in a line, it was happening. Or so it seemed. Apparently some vans thought they could improve their view just a bit; they all started their engines to move forward five feet, one honking its horn. That was all it took to halt every wildebeest not already half way across the river and send them thirty feet back from the edge. Another ten minutes went by before they started to cross again, this time they all went. It was quite a sight, but sadly (happily for the wildebeests and zebras) the nearby crocodile did not even flinch.

We ended the day on a high note when driving home we came across three male cheetahs stalking wildebeest in a gorgeous field of grass.

And if a fantastic day of gaming wasn't enough, we went home to a hot dinner and a bonfire that had logs so big they were also our footrests!

Day Twelve - Into the Wild

We waited anxiously for our vehicle to pick us up for our four day safari in the Maasai Mara. We did not know what to expect, would we be in a minibus? a land cruiser? a giant overland truck with 20 other people? What we had not thought to guess was a huge (super cool) army truck, "Acmat," converted to carry 10 passengers that we only had to share with 2 other people. This was definitely a great start to the safari!

Acmat and our expert driver Karioke

The great start ended up getting delayed, as it would seem, when our ride entered the parking lot to pick us up, it broke the barrier arm. The security guards would not let us out of the parking lot unless our driver paid 10,000 KSh (~$125) to fix it. The discussions did not progress, with neither side budging, until finally a trip to the police station cleared everything up and we were on our bumpy way.

Our two awesome companions on this adventure, Mary and Kaitlin (both from Canada), met each other volunteering in Western Kenya for 3 months. Having finished their stint they had moved onto the 'touring' portion of their trip.

As the drive wore on (our 35 year old truck had trouble with hills, but its unique look turned lots of heads) our excitement dramatically increased when we started spotting animals like zebra, Thompson's Gazelle, and a herd of Masai Giraffe on a forested hillside. After passing through the park gates we spent a few meandering hours looking for game along the way to our camp. We had an amazing time seeing all the animals that would become commonplace over the next few days: Gnu, Elephant, Topi, and a Spotted Hyena.

When we booked our safari we had expected to be camping in small cold tents, using squat toilets and bucket showers. So we were again very pleasantly surprised when we arrived and were shown to our 'bandas' (small cabins w/solar powered electricity), then to the hot (read scalding) water showers. Next, the camp manager had us walk a little further, past the outhouse, to the flush toilets. We ended up almost never using the flush toilets because they were farther, and our camp, we were told, hosted a variety of other guests occasionally: elephants, baboons, lions, and the odd hippo.

We ended the day with a delicious dinner, gluten-free for Erin, and with a beer for Craig. We were very excited for the next day after such a terrific start!