FROM MAURITIUS TO KENYA

Off to Nairobi, only a 4 hour short hop from Mauritus.  Then came the next hiccup.  Steve had mislaid his printed visa – you are not supposed to need one as it is electronic, but their computer system was down so they would not let him in.  I had a copy of it on laptop and phone but both batteries had died.  They took him off to a room and had to wait 20 mins for the system to come up before they would let him in.  Then when we get outside no driver, and no phone charged to ring him.  Luckily we were only there panicking for about 10 mins when he turned up – he had been at a different terminal. Turns out Carol had printed copy all along.

The drive to the Wildebeest Eco lodge was interesting as we drove along the side of the Nairobi National Park and could see Giraffe from the vehicle.  The camp is lovely, a great garden setting with lake, trees and plants.  Lots of birds to watch.

A day in Nairobi and off shopping for our trip (emergency food etc).

Also a trip to the train station to buy tickets for our journey back from Mombasa at the end of our time here.  We got there at 8.30 and had to wait till 9 for it to open, then it did not open.  In the end a guard told us that the train was shutting down on 1^st August indefinitely for upgrades, there goes that plan. Kenya is a very Christian country with more sects all called different names in every small village.  Missionary must have been plentiful and varied.

Just outside of Nairobi we came across Giraffe wandering on the road and Zebra beside roaming with cows and sheep.

We had to stop as this was our first close encounter with the large wild animals. On to Pundas Millias Camp for lunch – great food.

The guide was saying this must be the worse road you have ever travelled on, we responded try some ozzie outback roads. On the way to the park we saw a number of birds, but the most amazing one to me was the Pin Tailed Whydah.

It has a very long tail and its flight is incredible.

Then into Nakuru Natonal Park. I wish we had had a whole day here as we did not see even half of the park.  Within minutes we had 2 lions right by the car and we watched them for about 20 mins.

They were just so close you could see all the flies on them.

There were monkeys, baboons, rock hyrax, wildebeest, buffalo, zebra, antelope (many types) and so many bird varieties.  The view over the lake was fantastic.  We also saw the elusive and hard to see Black Rhino – it was a fair distance away but great to see. In the same area some Zebra having a serious fight which was interesting to watch.

The interloper was eventually chased off.

Back to camp for another great meal.  I really like this camp, it is a shame we are the only guests.  It must be hard for them to make money. The camp has even more bird species than the park and I could have spent a whole day just in the camp grounds – lots of sunbirds and other small birds.

At this point I realised I had left my kindle under the pillow last night in previous accommodation.  Anthony our driver said he would ring them and I also sent an email.

Off to Lake Baringo – it is amazing how long it takes to travel in Kenya, partly traffic and partly bad roads. We have a self catering 3 bedroom cottage overlooking the lake (Roberts Camp).

We were told on arrival by the staff that you could not walk from the restaurant to the cottage at night without a guide due to the hippos that come up into camp – we hoped to see this but did not, although we heard them a lot at night and could see them in the water during the day.

 We went out on a small boat for a river cruise to spot birds, hippos, crocs and other wildlife.  Again just an amazing amount of bird life, quite incredible and so colourful.

Day trip to Lake Bogoria to see the Flamingoes – amazing.  There were so many, the lake is huge at 24 x 3.5km and the flamingos are in crowds all around the edge and then dotted all over the rest too.  They continually take off and fly in formation – to my eyes it looks as if they are on a conveyer belt.  They land walk forward in the group with the front ones taking off and landing at the back again.  Fascinating to watch.

Also a family of Ostrich here having a sand bath and then a dance.  We did a long trip to the Hot Springs but did not see that much, only a Kudu and a couple of birds.  The hot springs were OK but nothing particularly wonderful.

Back at Lake Baringo we took a walk with a guide who showed us 2 types of Owl and an Owlet.

Also spotted Kingfishers, Drongos and many other birds.

One Owl was huge and another was really tiny, when you are not aware of that they are so hard to find

We would never have seen half of the birds without him.  Steve and I then went to see if we could get a close look at the Hippos from shore.  We were walking past a reed filled area with very shallow water when we heard an incredibly loud growl.  On turning we saw a Hippo about 4 metres from us (if that) and it obviously did not like us there. We backed up (Steve still taking photos) and it made a few more noises at us.

Lucky it was in the water as apparently if you find one on land and you are between it and the water they tend to attack.

Back towards Nairobi and Lake Naivasha. We went to the Lake and took a boat ride around the edge and then out to Crescent Island (where Out of Africa and Born Free was filmed). 

Here we walked among Wildebeest, Grants & Thomsons Gazelle, Zebra, Giraffe, Impala and Kongoni.

Crescent Island is also a bird sanctuary and there were a few interesting species but not the numbers of the more northern lakes.  In the Lake there were lots of Hippos, but the boat ride was disappointing as the guide was not considerate of the wildlife and fed things or made load noises to make them show themselves.  There were nice views and it was pleasant in general but at a large cost – not worth the money.

On to Camp Carnelleys – this is fantastic, lovely individual secluded cottages set in very treed area 30 metres from the lake with so many new and interesting birds – and hippo noises at night.  The food here was amazing.  Outside each cottage was a fire pit if you wanted one.

 I wish I could have spent a whole day here in the camp.  Our driver to know is Anthony who organised the whole trip but he leaves us here and has arranged another driver.  He has been great with the organisation and the information he is a good guide although a little annoying at times (he is trying too hard).  This is his first trip in his own business and he does not stop talking trying to make it all perfect – hopefully once he is more used to being his own boss he will calm down.

When we switched drivers this morning to Paul I finally got my kindle back – what a relief and so lovely that everyone is so honest.

Now to the Masai Mara – a longish drive due to bad roads.  Our accommodation here at Sekenani Camp is very luxurious, but not so keen on the hovering staff.

I preferred the less luxury options.  Still the view from our tent is amazing.

In the evening we saw what we later worked out was a Genet – a small African wild spotted cat.  We had lunch and then went off on an afternoon/evening game drive.  Our accommodation was inside the paying gates, but considered outside the park – we had to drive through a Masai Village to the main par.

The 6km of this road was incredible.  There were cute little Dik Dik and amazing small birds like the Purple backed Starling.  We took a long time everytime we went on this section in daylight as we were always asking the driver to stop.

Even though we knew how many Wildebeest migrate to the Masai it was still mind blowing how many there were – they just went on for ever, along with the Zebra with them.  Over the 2.5 days in this park we saw 2 Cheetahs –  many people never even see 1.

A Leopard, lots of Elephant, masses of Mongoose and lots of Lions as well as the other animals local to the area.

The bird I like best here is the Go Away Bird, with its lovely long tail and spiked headdress.

Unfortunately we did not see the river crossing as the last of the Wildebeest had crossed a few days prior but we saw something similar when they all went down to a waterhole to drink and then had to fight and scramble over each other to get out.

I have never seen so many birds of prey, eagles, vultures  etc as there was a lot of food around.  Many wildebeest die of exhaustion and there could be 20 or so birds fighting over one carcass.

We were lucky in the park as due to the bombings earlier in the year in Nairobi there are not many visitors anywhere and the most vehicles we saw at any one time was 6 but most often it was just us.

On the second evening in camp we were going down to dinner and saw a bright green snake, unfortunately it slithered away before we could get a photo but it looked like a Green Mamba – it was certainly a brilliant colour green.

Off to the Isebania border – this is not the normal route, most tours go in and out through Arusha but we like to go different ways.  It was a game drive to as most of the route was going through the NP, it was interesting how the scenery changed the other side of the park near the border.  There is a range of hills that divide the Kenyan and Tanzanian side. Our driver got lost going there and we went through very narrow mud tracks and little villages but we got there eventually and our Tanzanian driver was waiting. Don’t think the locals had seen many tourists.
Our driver Paul was good and a great guide with animals and although he did not know much about birds he was keen to learn from us.