Hello! I am catching up on my blogging...i have a lot to write after such a long gap.
The second part of the trip was from Kenya down to Tanzania. It was much more laid back than the first part- we had a lot more relaxing time at camp sites and fewer driving days. we also had more chill time because the truck had quite a few problems and so we had to hang out while it was fixed by the expert zoe (our guide and driver) - how she does it i have no idea but she makes Helena (our truck) go!
from nairobi we set off to fishermans camp on lake naivasha. it is a stunning campsite right on the lake. we spent the afternoon taking a boat to visit elsamere, where joy adamson lived and reared a lion and a cheetah- she is of the "born free" fame. we were treated to a very scratchy old video of her life story which was interesting as it showed how she reared the animals and regeneration work she and husband did in re-introducing captured animals back into the wild. it was also quite entertaining though as it was set in the 70's and very posh old english!
We also got tea and yummy cake at her house - that was obviously the highlight of the visit.
the next morning we did a walking safari around a small reserve and got really close, on foot, to giraffes, zebras, elans, impalas and many other brown jumpy things (as named by our driver zoe for all those animals that are brown, jumpy and look the same).
i also got a bit too close to some giant safari ants which decided to go up my trousers and bite my legs. i managed to get them out before they went too high but for the rest of the morning i had the weird sensation they were still up there. i wasn't the only one i hasten to add, and some girls who had them up their trousers had to drop them and beat them out! they get you when you are standing still so the trick is to keep moving...
this is a good time to detail my injuries in the line of safaring.
1. safari ants and a bite on the leg
2. cut toe (on a pesky tent peg)
3. cold (caught from a rare breed of animal, the elusive canadian from edmonton) - remedy - trusty lemsip supplied by a kind Brit.
4. the best injury of all- a marko of Zorro on my forehead by a crazed mosquito- it bit me 5 times across my forehead in a Z shape, in the middle of the night. i looked like a total weirdo for about a week. thankfully everyone lied to me and told me you could barely see it and i didn't have a mirror to look in, so i am sure i looked fine!
back to the safari. on the way to nakuru we stopped at another school and spent a day with the children. Dragoman is one of the few companies that spends time with community projects and it is such a great addition to the trip. we taught a lesson (i did england with another english lady)- i was floored when we asked the children if they had any questions about england for us, and one asked "what is the main export in the uk?". i expected "have you met the queen?" like my French students from years ago. i answered potatoes and steel?! i sounded convincing. i think.
the school also gave us 20 trees to plant in our memory so that when dragoman groups pass the school in years to come we will remeber our visit. it was a really sweet gesture and all the kids got invovled in helping us.
we stayed overnight in the grounds of a very rich school for white kids and africans- its a farming school called pembroke house. v posh and beautiful.
we then went to lake nakuru and did nakuru national park. this is the land of the flamingoes and they were every bit as pretty as i expected. the photos don't do them justice though.
nakuru NP is well known for its white rhinos and i expected to have to work a little to track them down, like we did the black rhino in the Masai Mara. But there has been a rehabilitation programme here for white rhinos which means there are loads. We saw about 15 during the day, and some really close too. They are beautiful creatures- so graceful despite their clumpy awkward size and shape. most of the ones we saw were wallowing in the mud as it was so hot. i don't blame them.
once again we saw lots of animals- hyenas, impalas, lesser and greater flamingoes, bushbuck (v rare apparently), rothschild giraffe (different to the masai giraffe due to the shape of the patterns on its body), pelicans....it rained in the afternoon so all the big game went into hiding, so sadly no lions or leopards.
our driver saw a leopard in a tree as we were driving- he said "look to your right!" so we did and then he said "no i meant your left!" by which point the leopard was long gone...i have never seen people move so fast, we jumped out of our seats! never mind.
the search continues....
