Tour Day 5 - Lake Naivasha

 

[Wednesday, August 2, 2023]

It was an early start to the day today as we were looking to leave by 8:00 AM which meant that Laureen was up at her usual 5:20 AM and me about a half hour later. Quick, hot shower (in some of the places we’ve stayed it took a long time to get hot water to the room), which was a bit of a surprise given this was the most rustic room we have had since we have been here. The water is hard, so it feels like you constantly must rinse off. We packed our bags and decided to leave them in the room while we went for breakfast so that we could come back, use the facilities and then head to the rendezvous point with Hamisi. I took a few pictures of the grounds of this beautiful spot.

I took a couple of pictures of the shore of the lake just before we left to head over there. What you see as a light pink hue that almost appears as sand, is actually Pink Flamingos who come to the lake to feed on the algae. Lake Nakuru is a saltwater lake (salty due to the soil conditions in the area) which is what is attractive to the Flamingos. Apparently, the area flooded a little while ago and made the salt content less which in turn, made it less attractive to the Flamingos. Hamisi had indicated there were many more Flamingos before so they must be moving to a different location.

This morning we were going to switch things up a little and Laureen and I sit in the back of the Land Cruiser. Up until now, our friends from the Toronto area were occupying that location given how small it was. We chatted about switching things up a little as I wanted them to have the ability to sit in the front as well. So, this morning, Laureen and I jumped in the back. I was surprised to find that the seat itself was much higher and I could sit quite comfortably in this location. There is even a bit of room to put my backpack through the hole into luggage compartment, freeing up even more room. I think I’m going to like it back here. 

As we were putting bags in the back of the vehicle, I noticed our driver putting in a backpack that I had not seen before. I thought it was strange at first but didn’t think any more of it. Once we were all packed, we left for the shore of the lake. Just before we got to the shore, there was another small body of water where a group of White Pelicans had taken up residence. 

There was also a small group of warthogs feeding nearby. Hamisi noted that warthogs were the most religious animal because they prayed while they ate.

Just a short drive away were the Flamingos. We were told that Flamingos were not naturally pink, but they turned that color as a result of the things that they ate. Apparently, the algae here affects the color of the Flamingos, turning them pink. We just sat and watched them for a while. enjoying both the sights and sounds.

While we were here, Hamisi got a call on the radio from the lodge indicating that they thought we had a bag that did not belong to us. Remember that backpack that I noticed earlier? It turns out it belonged to someone else at the hotel.  A van met us at on the shore of the lake and a very happy lady retrieved her belongings. 

We drove on a little further after enjoying the Flamingos and came across some of the other wildlife that we saw the day before.

I also was a bit captivated this morning by how beautiful the park itself is, even without wildlife in the photos. I remember as a kid watching Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom on Saturdays – and this was the landscape I remember. Now I’m here seeing it for myself. I tried to capture a few images of this amazing scenery (which may end up as my background on my computers).

I also took a safari family selfie (well kind of), from my vantage point from the back of the vehicle.

Next, we began the journey to Lake Naivasha. At one-point Hamisi took a “short-cut” on a very bumpy dirt road. This seemed to go on for quite a while, maybe because we were sitting in the back of the vehicle. I still find the back quite comfortable. Not sure Laureen is enjoying it as much. We finally made it to some pavement and drove a while longer until we turned into a place for a pit-stop. I like looking through all the wood carvings they have and already have my eye on some small masks of the animals we have been seeing. Back into the vehicle and then down the road to the shore of the lake.

The first part of this stop was a ride on a small fiber glass boat out on the lake to see more wildlife. The most anticipated was the Hippos. 

After the boat ride, which was about an hour long, we came back to shore and did a short hour walking safari on this private conservation land amongst the wildlife that is present. Yes, walking with the animals (if we start talking to the animals, that is an entirely different movie ;-).

When we were done, we jumped back into the vehicle and headed for the hotel where we will be spending the night – The Muthu Lake Naivasha Country Club for lunch and the rest of the afternoon was for us to explore the area, go for a swim or rest until dinner. Quite honestly, it seems as though all we do is move from meal-to-meal on this trip. The food has been amazing everywhere we have gone thus far.

We were also warned not to walk on the grounds after dinner (or when it was dark) as the hippos come up on shore and graze on the grounds. Hippos can be very aggressive, so stumbling across one in the dark might not bode so well. We have been told stories of tourists thinking that the hippos look cute and trying to take selfies with them, being stomped or bitten such that they have not survived. We'll be steering clear of the hippos for sure.

Looking forward to the Masai Mara tomorrow!

G'night all

Curt & Laureen

Tour Day 4 - Lake Nakuru National Park

[Tuesday, August 1, 2023]

Once again, we began this morning with a not too early start to the day as a 9:00 AM departure. The routine is now starting to become quite familiar.  We get up, shower, pack, eat breakfast and pile into the LC for our next adventure.  Today we had a couple of stops before we arrived at our destination for the day which is Lake Nakuru National Park. 

The first stop was the equator at a place called Subukia, Kenya which turned out to be a typical tourist trap. To get to the washrooms, we had to walk through the little market they have setup. Of course, the moment you walk through the market you have multiple people attempting to sell you something. It’s not that the items are not interesting, they most certainly are and I’m sure that if we were not at the beginning of our trip, we might have purchased several items already. There is also the issue of what we can bring back in the form of carved wood items. It certainly isn’t easy to find a clear delineation of what is allowed and what is not. 

We also were corralled and taken to a demonstration of how water will swirl depending on where you are in relation to the equator. The first demonstration is about 10 meters North of the equator where the water revolves in a clockwise direction. 10 meters south of the equator, the water revolves in a counter clockwise direction. Then they go stand on the equator and the same demonstration shows that there is no rotation in the water. It was kind of cool to see this. After you observed the demonstration, you could purchase a certificate that showed you had been at the equator. We took another group selfie at the waistline of the planet.

Our next stop was only another hour and a half down the road and was known as Thompson Falls. It’s a spectacular waterfall from a very high location and there are several British constructed buildings which now serves as the Thompson Falls Lodge. There were also some similar, but newer looking buildings on the other side of the steep riverbank which was also a hotel. While we were taking photos of the falls, there were a couple aggressive vendors trying to get us to come to the little market that was about 70 yards closer to the falls. None of us were interested but they were still rather insistent. When our driver returned, one lady who had been standing there the entire time complained to him that none of us went to their shops. He laughed her off. We hopped back into the LC and headed for the Lake Nakuru Lodge.

It is interesting how fast the weather changes here depending on where you are located. At the equator it was rather hot and dry. As we drove you could feel the air cool, and it looked as though we would see rain. We also came upon the Great Rift Valley which is where two tectonic plates have separated a little and created a valley that stretches from Lebanon to Mozambique. 

We arrived at Lake Nakuru Lodge and got settled into our rooms and then headed to the restaurant for lunch. Our rooms, although a little rustic, had a clear view of the lake and the start of the game reserve. 

A quick lunch and we had some time to rest before our game drive which was scheduled for 4:00 PM. With the time, we went back to our rooms to get settled and just take in the spectacular scenery.  We were warned to make sure that our patio door was locked as there are baboons in the area (and yes, we saw them hanging around), and they will get into your room and make quite the mess apparently. Lock checked a few times before we left.

We started the game drive and right away we came across a grouping of Rothschild giraffes. These are like the ones we saw at the Giraffe Sanctuary in Nairobi. 

Next our guide heard on the radio that a leopard had been spotted, but part of the way there it was reported that the leopard decided he had enough and jumped down from his tree perch and disappeared in the forest. It seems like certain tourists are known for being too noisy when they come across wildlife which spooks them, and they leave. 

We next came across a pride of lions (female and some cubs) and numbers of cape buffalo.

We drove around a little more looking for more animals and it began to rain, so we closed the top of the vehicle. The rain makes things quite slippery, so more care was needed as we drove and passed other safari vehicles along the narrow roads. As we were not seeing too many more animals, and we had been driving for about two hours, Hamisi decided to head back to the lodge. While on the way there, I saw several baboons cross the road in front of us, in a bit of a hurry. Shortly after we saw a male lion cross. He must have been chasing the baboons. We drove up and parked and I caught a few pictures of this majestic beauty, here is one of them.

Back to the lodge we went, and our safari family met for dinner at the restaurant at 7:00 PM.  When we arrived, there was a bit of an altercation going on between a Caucasian and Asian man. They were sort of blocking the entrance to the restaurant and it almost appeared as though it was going to end up in blows. A nice dinner and conversation with our safari family as well as a short chat with Hamisi about the early start for tomorrow. He wants us to be at the lobby, ready to go for 8:00 AM. This might give us a bit of head start over the larger number of people that we are seeing as we progress. Our driver indicated this would be the case and that when we arrive at the Masai Mara – we should expect to see dozens and dozens of vehicles.

Looking forward to seeing some flamingos tomorrow at the lake.

G’night all.

Curt & Laureen