Kenya
is Calling
July 30 – Today is the day we head to Nairobi. The trip has been booked for almost a year
with 18 travelers in our team: Jim W/Mary W/Heather W/Lisa W/Tom M/Vera M/Jim
G/Vivian G/Terry F/Mary F/Jackie W/Jaclyn W/Mark G/Scott G/Sheri G/Lynn
C/Carolyn M/Ken M).
The 3 from Cedar Rapids (Mark G, Lynn C/Carolyn M) met us in
Minneapolis and we all took off for the first leg of the journey on Delta #42
at 423PM. Our Florida team
(Jackie/Jaclyn) would be meeting us in Paris for the 2nd flight of
our trip.
July 31 – The
travelers coming from Minneapolis arrived in Paris at approximately 700AM and
we had a 4 hour layover in Paris.
Jackie/Jaclyn had just a little over an hour to make the connection and
then we would be on our way to Nairobi.
July 31 – We arrived at the Nairobi Airport at 1215PM,
gathered our luggage, found an ATM to exchange money for the Kenya Schillings
and located our contact from the Sheraton Nairobi to transfers us to our
accommodations.
The Four Points Sheraton Nairobi Airport was a beautiful
hotel and very welcomed after 2 – 8 hours flights. This would be our home for the first 3
nights of our trip. We settled in and
then went in search of their restaurant for some dinner.
August 1 –
800AM – Today we were picked up from the Sheraton to begin
our first day of adventure. Our 3 jeeps
operated by Nicholas, Sammy and Lenny took us to the Nairobi National
Park. Everyone was pumped to catch
their first wildlife in Africa. At
first, we saw impalas, warthogs, eland, Thomson’s gazelle, striped skunk, but
they were all a little farther from the road than I would have preferred. I had just gotten used to the idea of seeing
the wildlife from a slight distance and then things changed and we were able to
see zebras, giraffes, striped skunk, jackal, hippo and male agama lizard, close
to the road and could easily capture great photos. For lunch, we planned a stop at the Nairobi
Tented Camp. I assumed this would be a
simple picnic lunch style with sandwich, apple, chips, but no they had quite a
nice hot meal planned for us in their tented dining room. While we were there, Astra invited us to tour
the tented camp and take time to relax and enjoy our surroundings at the camp. At 3PM, we were back on the trail in our
jeeps searching for the next wildlife sightings, as well as mistaken sightings
(also known as an “ALT” - animal like thing).
We were able to see a white and a black rhino, ostriches doing their
mating dance, crocodile and wildebeest along with numerous, but beautiful
giraffes and zebras.
Animal Note: The black rhinoceros weighs in at 2,000 - 3,080
pounds, with a height of 5ft. 8 inches and a length of 10 ft. 6 inches. In 1960 there were estimated 65,000 black
rhinos, but today we have less than 2,500 in the wild. The rhino has been killed for its horn, which
is considered to have super healing powers.
A group of rhinos are called a “rhino crunch”.
Tidbit: Nairobi –
means cool water / Kenya – means male ostrich
August 2 –
800AM was the start of our day heading to the Giraffe Centre
(100 acres) where we were able to feed or KISS the giraffe. The Rothschild’s giraffe is on the
endangered list and the Giraffe Centre was started to help preserve them and
provide information about Giraffes.
Giraffes use their legs (solid bone and very heavy) to kick off their
enemies. They do not talk, but use their
ears to communicate to each other. We
would also be able to find these giraffes in Lake Nakuru National Park (one of
our travel stops in our itinerary).
Our next stop was to the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage where
they take care of the orphaned Elephants.
We were able to watch them feeding the elephants and we were able to
stand around the perimeter of the fenced area and if they came close to us, we
were able to touch them. The guides told
us each elephant’s name and their story.
In many cases they were orphaned due to humans, but some lost their
mother due to drought. They do provide
the opportunity to pay $50 per year to adopt an elephant and support the cause.
We made a quick stop at a local art market for the shoppers
in our group. The woman loved it and
the men hung outside by the door. Check
– shopping done for the shoppers! Well,
maybe……
The Talisman Restaurant was a recommended lunch spot where
we had a reasonably priced lunch, as well as time to relax in a great
atmosphere. We had to skip dessert to
be able to get everything in!
Our next stop was to Ocean Sole, which is an organization
that collects plastic flip-flops from the ocean and recycles them into
beautiful animals (elephant, rhino, turtle, dolphin, giraffe just to name a
few). They purchase the flip-flops from
those that collect them and provide local jobs to make their products. The scraps are made into mattresses and
donated to the community. They are currently
in the process of opening up a store in Florida to sell to the US market. They are also working to open up a factory
in Haiti to provide jobs and clean up their environment. Check them out on the web!
We also visited and toured the Kazuri Beads Factory that has been open since 1975. The Kazuri Beads Factory employs 350 women and they make beads from a special clay. The beads are molded, shaped and painted and made into necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Their gift shop sold other items as well. These beads are sold around the world and for information you can check out their website (www.kazuri.com). Kazuri means “small and beautiful” in Swahili.
Shoppers were happy!
Our last stop after a very busy day was to the Karen Blixen
Museum. Karen Blixen was from Denmark
and she moved and bought a farm just outside of Nairobi. Her life story was made into the movie, “Out
of Africa” starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Yes, we had a couple of “super fans” and this was on their bucket list. Karen became a famous Denmark writer (penned
under Isak Dinesen), but to Nairobi she was a very strong woman who supported
the local tribe in providing jobs, health care, and education.
Animal Note: The
Rothschild’s Giraffe is found in open grasslands and thinly wooded areas. It can be distinguished from the Masai
giraffe by its paler, less jagged coat pattern and the legs are usually
unmarked below the knee.
August 3 –
800AM – We departed the Four Points Sheraton Nairobi Airport
and headed to the Amboseli Serena Lodge located in the Amboseli National
Park. The drive from Nairobi started
out on their busiest road that took you in the direction of Mobasa. The road into the park was long and like a
washboard. As we bumped around in our jeep, the guides told us this is our
“African Massage”. Our drive into
Amboseli National Park provided us with some wildlife viewing. We arrived in time for a beautiful buffet
lunch and checked into our room and relaxed before our evening game drive. Our rooms at the Amboseli Serena Lodge were
very nice, monkeys were numerous so we were warned to be sure our door was
locked to keep them out.
At 4PM we took off for our afternoon game drive. Amboseli is like a desert and it is very dry and dusty, which made for an interesting game drive. Our goal was to be able to view Mount Kilimanjaro and better yet to get a Big Five animal in the picture as well. We left armed with our hats, buffs, sun glasses and they were all very important items to have. The jeeps (and animals) kicked up the dust so much that you had to be very careful that your eyes were covered as much as possible. What an amazing park with sightings of Elephants, Warthogs, Wildebeest, Giraffes, Ostrich, Hippo, Cape Buffalo, Zebras, and a bonus was a viewing of the Cheetah, as well as a family of lions skirting around a pack of Zebras
At 4PM we took off for our afternoon game drive. Amboseli is like a desert and it is very dry and dusty, which made for an interesting game drive. Our goal was to be able to view Mount Kilimanjaro and better yet to get a Big Five animal in the picture as well. We left armed with our hats, buffs, sun glasses and they were all very important items to have. The jeeps (and animals) kicked up the dust so much that you had to be very careful that your eyes were covered as much as possible. What an amazing park with sightings of Elephants, Warthogs, Wildebeest, Giraffes, Ostrich, Hippo, Cape Buffalo, Zebras, and a bonus was a viewing of the Cheetah, as well as a family of lions skirting around a pack of Zebras
Animal Note: The leopard is mostly solitary, and it is
difficult to know how many are in each park. They mainly hunt at night, and
drag their kill into the canopy to eat. The black panther is also a leopard,
and is more common in Asia than Africa.
Tidbit: The Big Five – Elephant, Rhinoceros, Cape Buffalo,
Lion and Leopard
The Ugly Five – Vulture, Maribou Stork, Wildebeest, Hyena
and Warthog
The Little Five – Elephant Shrew, Buffalo Weaver, Leopard
Tortoise, Antlion, Rhino beetle
August 4 –
Early morning game drive (630AM) in search of the big game
in Amboseli National Park. Amboseli
National Park is the second most popular national park in Kenya and is located
150 miles southeast of Nairobi. It is
home to leopard, lion, cheetah, wild dogs, buffalo, rhino, giraffe, large herds
of elephants and much more.
Between game drives we had the opportunity to visit a Maasai
Village, Nature Walk or relax at the hotel.
The afternoon game drive provided us with a beautiful view
of Mount Kilimanjaro with herds of wildlife.
The elephants were plentiful and fun to watch sloshing around in the marshes, sweeping in the grasses with their trunks. The Hippopotamus also enjoyed those marshes and hung out there. Our highlight was to watch one Hippo sneak up on another Hippo and there was a chase to defend territory. It happened so quickly and those large hippos on their short legs could move pretty fast.
Animal Note: The lion generally eats zebra, buffalo, and
antelope in Kenya. Females are generally the hunters although males may get to
eat first. Mating takes place over three days before a male and female rejoin
the pride. Males are eventually kicked out of the pride while females stay with
the pride. They are most active at dawn and dusk, and are very social. A female
will care for her cubs for several months before introducing them to the pride.
Tidbit: Groupings of Animals –
Parade of Elephants, Pride of Lions, Tower of Giraffes,
Congress of Baboons, Troop of Monkeys, Crash of Rhinos, School of Hippos, Gang
of Cape Buffalos, Leap of Leopards, Sounder of Warthogs, Coalition of Cheetahs,
Confusion of Wildebeest and Zeal of Zebras
August 5 –
After breakfast, we collected our picnic lunch from the
reception and headed back towards Nairobi and continued driving through Kenya’s
Great Rift Valley. This drive would be
approximately 7.5 hours depending on traffic.
We stopped for a picnic lunch at Lake Naivasha, where we saw that people
were taking boat rides to see the hippos, cows and goats were enjoying the
grasses, and some native folks were out there swimming. Our leftover lunch items we were able to hand
off to the staff at the park so that nothing went to waste.
Lake Nakuru National Park was created to protect the lake and its large flocks of Flamingos. The national park is inhabited by over 50 mammal species including, hippo, black & white rhino, Rothschild’s giraffe, buffalo and eland. A bird watcher’s paradise, as the park is home to over 450 bird species. The afternoon game drive took us into the park and around a part of the lake. We were able to see the flamingos at a distance and the rhinos were there too. We then went in search of the Rothschild’s giraffe and we were not disappointed. They were off a little in the distance, but they were there.
At 630PM, we headed to our the Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge
for our dinner and overnight. The lodge
was beautiful and the room were tiered along the hillside. Unfortunately, we arrived at dark and we
would be leaving right away in the morning.
This would have been a great spot (especially for birders) to take an
extra day and just relax, but time and money is always the concern.
Animal Note: Cheetahs hunt during the day, and generally
only eat fresh meat. When finished, they leave their kill for hyenas or other
animals to finish. Males can form coalitions of two to three brothers although
there is a group of five in Maasi Mara called the “Fast Five.” Females are
mainly solitary except when rearing cubs. Cheetahs can live from 6-12 years in
the wild.
Tidbit: Most Kenyans
speak 3 languages: English, Swahili and their local tribal language (44 tribes
in the area). The official language of Kenya is English.
August 6 –
We had an early morning breakfast and left from Lake Nakuru (5-6 hour drive) to Maasai Mara National Reserve, where we will stay at the Keekorok Lodge. Large prides of lions, elephants, giraffes, gazelles and eland can also be spotted in the reserve. The roads, as usual, provided us with a bumpy road and this time one of our jeeps (Nicholas’s jeep) took a bounce wrong and busted a shock absorber. Lenny’s jeep was ahead and they continued on and waited at the Maasai Mara gate, while Alan’s jeep was able to assist. Nicholas sent Alan off in search of a rope so that we could tie the shock absorber up as a temporary fix. Several drivers stopped to see if there was anything they could do. The game drivers are a close-knit network and really watch out for one another.
We had an early morning breakfast and left from Lake Nakuru (5-6 hour drive) to Maasai Mara National Reserve, where we will stay at the Keekorok Lodge. Large prides of lions, elephants, giraffes, gazelles and eland can also be spotted in the reserve. The roads, as usual, provided us with a bumpy road and this time one of our jeeps (Nicholas’s jeep) took a bounce wrong and busted a shock absorber. Lenny’s jeep was ahead and they continued on and waited at the Maasai Mara gate, while Alan’s jeep was able to assist. Nicholas sent Alan off in search of a rope so that we could tie the shock absorber up as a temporary fix. Several drivers stopped to see if there was anything they could do. The game drivers are a close-knit network and really watch out for one another.
We checked into the Keekorok Lodge in the late afternoon. We settled in and relaxed until 4PM when we headed out for our afternoon game drive in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Our 3 jeeps headed out in search of the cats. This was our first game drive in the park and we were all very excited. The park is home to 3,000 lions (250 Prides) and 70 leopards and 34 cheetahs (we saw 14 cheetahs by the end of our stay).
Animal Note: Zebras each have a unique pattern, and are a very adaptable animal because of the stripes. These stripes help a zebra regulate their body temperature, and are one of the only animals that you will find out around noon when most animals are in the shade. The baby zebras have the same length legs so that it is hard for predators to identify them when several zebras are standing together.
August 7 –
Today we had planned a full day game drive within Maasai Mara National Reserve with plans to go to the Mara River where the Wildebeest cross the river. We knew from our guides that the Wildebeest had made the crossing the week prior, but we still could possibly see some wildebeest or zebras making the crossing.
Today we had planned a full day game drive within Maasai Mara National Reserve with plans to go to the Mara River where the Wildebeest cross the river. We knew from our guides that the Wildebeest had made the crossing the week prior, but we still could possibly see some wildebeest or zebras making the crossing.
Our first sighting was a fresh kill and numerous vultures
fighting to get a piece of the meat. The
noise they made and the numbers of them that were there for the feast was
incredible.
The Mara is vast and we bumped along the roads in our jeep
with views of the huge wildebeest herds, zebras, giraffes, waterbucks,
Thomson’s gazelles, impalas, hyenas and more.
Amazing!
We stopped for a wonderful picnic lunch under a tree, but
the flies (brought by the wildebeest) drove us crazy. It was soon time to move on out!
It was now time to head to the Mara river where we saw
zebras thinking about crossing several times, but very skittish and so we never
did see them cross. There was a huge
crocodile waiting for them in the water and if they would have crossed there
would have been a take down by that croc!
Not today! In the Mara, we also
saw the Hippopotamus hanging out and enjoying the coolness of the river.
We stayed in the park trying to get a good sunset picture
with the acacia tree. Then we went back
to the Keekorok Lodge for dinner.
Animal Note: Masai Giraffe – giraffes can gallop at speeds
of up to 35 mph. Males can get to 18 ft
and females 16 ft and they can weigh 2,400 pounds to 1,500 pounds respectively.
Tidbit: There are 3
levels of safari guides. There are 7,000
plus bronze guides, 700 silver guides and 33 gold guides. It is a 7.5 year process with years of
experience and tests, as well as research for the gold guides. They provided us with information on the
animals, birds, insects, plants, the tribes and their country.
August 8 –
Today was our final game drives and a chance to try to see what we could see. The desire was to find the leopard and any other cat we could find. We left the lodge at 630AM, with our jeeps heading in different directions to enhance our chance of finding the elusive leopard. There are 70 known leopards in the park and we searched and searched and it was not to happen; however, we did happen upon the “Fast Five Cheetahs”. They looked thin and the guides thought today would be the day they would be on the hunt. We snapped our photos and waited patiently for some action. We saw some Impalas in view (they seemed skittish), but the cheetahs seemed in no rush and eventually settled under a tree for shade. Our morning game drive was coming to an end at 1130AM, so we had back to the lodge for lunch, pool time, hippo bar and relaxation.
Today was our final game drives and a chance to try to see what we could see. The desire was to find the leopard and any other cat we could find. We left the lodge at 630AM, with our jeeps heading in different directions to enhance our chance of finding the elusive leopard. There are 70 known leopards in the park and we searched and searched and it was not to happen; however, we did happen upon the “Fast Five Cheetahs”. They looked thin and the guides thought today would be the day they would be on the hunt. We snapped our photos and waited patiently for some action. We saw some Impalas in view (they seemed skittish), but the cheetahs seemed in no rush and eventually settled under a tree for shade. Our morning game drive was coming to an end at 1130AM, so we had back to the lodge for lunch, pool time, hippo bar and relaxation.
At 4PM we were all ready for the afternoon drive and wanted
to check back on the cheetahs to see if they were still there and if they had
already completed their hunt. Wow! They were still in the area and they had not
had their kill. A research vehicle was
in the area also to monitor the cheetahs.
It wasn’t a long wait and soon the cheetahs were up and starting to
slowly wander towards a herd of wildebeest.
They spaced themselves out in a line formation and slowly crept towards
the wildebeest. They actually used the
jeeps as a hiding place and crouched down until they were ready to pounce. Once the decision was made, they took off
quickly towards their intended wildebeest.
Two of the cheetahs took down the target and the 3 others were there if
needed. Then the feasting began…..
August 9 –
The morning started off with a hot breakfast and today we transfer back to Nairobi. We left the Keekorok Lodge at 800AM and arrived at the Eka Hotel around 2PM. We checked in for our day room at the Eka Hotel and then had a late lunch at the hotel.
The morning started off with a hot breakfast and today we transfer back to Nairobi. We left the Keekorok Lodge at 800AM and arrived at the Eka Hotel around 2PM. We checked in for our day room at the Eka Hotel and then had a late lunch at the hotel.
One last shopping trip at the mall across the street and
then time for a rest and shower before heading to the airport. Our guides (Lenny, Nicholas and Alan) were
with us until the end! At 830PM, we were
transferred to the Nairobi Airport Hotel for an 1150PM flight on KLM #566 to
Paris. We gave hugs and thank-you to our
wonderful guides that took us on amazing game drives to see the animals/birds
in their natural environment. We leave
Nairobi with a little more knowledge of the country and its people and a desire
to go back.
Asante Sana Kenya!
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