We arrived in Nairobi in the early morning after a ten hour flight from London. We were transported through the busy streets to our hotel for a day of rest in preparation for the next day’s journey (I'll talk more about Nairobi in part two). Our driver Steven picked us up promptly at 7 am and we preceded to Samburu, which was a six hour drive. Our vehicle was a 4X4 Jeep that was very basic (re: no air con, air bags, etc.) We shared our journey with two other couples, one from England, the other Italy. The trip was long and tedious. Luckily the weather was never too hot. Along the way we saw small Kenyan towns, where the children always waved to us. The roads were bumpy and slow. The scenery was nice for a couple hours, but by the 4th hour it was wearing thin. We would have three other journeys like that, so if you can’t handle long, tumultuous drives, a road safari may not be for you!
We arrived in Shaba National Reserve in the afternoon. This would be our home base for the next three days as we explored the different parks in the area. Our accommodations, Sarova Shaba Game Lodge, were very nice. We had our own little cabin, a sparkling pool, and a restaurant in the tree tops. There were monkey's everywhere, which seemed a nucience to some, but I liked! The funniest part was the monkey’s loved to come try and steal food from the buffet, often times succeeding (the best being when one got a yogurt, figured out how to open it and drank it!). After a quick rest at the lodge, it was time for our first game drive. Typically you go on one drive in the early morning, rest during the heat of the day back at the lodge (when the animals are also resting), then head back out around 4 for an evening drive. We headed to Buffalo Springs National Reserve which was a short, albeit very rough, drive from our lodge. This whole region of Kenya is very arid and warm. It is located in the lowlands below Mount Kenya. It is very dusty and we would come back after drives covered. This being our first time out, Dan and I were super excited at any animal we saw. We did see a a lot that first day. They were spread out however and sometimes you might drive awhile before seeing anything. Our driver was very good though. He knew these parks inside and out and often got us to a good spot before the other safari vehicles did. That first day we were fortunate to see jackals, zebras, warthogs, gazelles, impalas, waterbucks, dik dik’s (tiny antelopes), gerenuks (antelopes with really long necks) an oryx, and three female lions. But the best part was seeing a cheetah. They are very hard to spot and we happened to see one that was on the hunt! She gave a waterbuck a chase for about 5 seconds, but ultimately let it go. Still, it was so cool seeing how fast she could run! We returned to the lodge, dusty, exhausted but very satisfied. We promptly went to bed after our buffet dinner; we had to be ready at 7 the next day for or second drive.
We headed back to Buffalo Spring the next day and pretty much saw many of the same animals. But this time we also saw giraffes, elephants and a pair of leopards! We had brought along binoculars for the trip but honestly most of the time we didn’t need them, the animals were unaffected by our cars and we were able to get really close. The leopards were my favorite as they were just chilling out high in a tree. Now I was glad I had the binoculars in order to get a close up on their cute little faces! My other favorite was anything baby. I feel sorry for our companions in the jeep, whether it be a baby elephant or a baby monkey or even a baby cow along the highway, they must have heard me utter the phrase “A baby! How cute!” at least fifty times.
On our way back to the lodge, we passed through Samburu Reserve. Here we got to see something really awesome: a heard of elephants making their way to the river for an afternoon dip! In Samburu we also had the chance to visit a Sambura/Turkana village. It’s hard to tell how much was set up for tourist sake (the dances, costumes, etc.), but the people still do actually subside there. They live in tiny huts (making my place seem like a mansion in comparison), have to take water from the river to drink and bath, and mostly eat a form of porridge for subsistence. We visited the ‘kindergarten’ where we were told if you learned to write you name in English and Swahili (they spoke their own language). you could graduate to primary school which was 30 miles away so you therefore had to board there. Overall it was an unforgettable experience and I’m glad to have be able to have done so. After handing out crayons and paper to the kids, we headed back to the lodge for an afternoon nap.
That evening we explored Shaba Reserve, where our lodge was located. Our driver warned us there wouldn’t be much wildlife in this park, and he was correct. We did get to see some animals (giraffes, waterbucks and dik dik’s) but we also got the chance to actually get out of the jeep for awhile. It was so amazing just to be able to stand out in the Kenyan wilderness. After snapping a few pics we drove back to the lodge. We had a long day ahead of us: another six hour drive followed by a game drive in the afternoon.
Our next destination was Lake Nakuru. It’s claim to fame is it’s thousands upon thousands of flamingos that make this lake their home. We arrived there just in time for a quick lunch and short rest before it was right back at it. The environment could not have been more different here. It was very green and lush, it even rained for a bit during our game drive. Compared to the first parks, the surroundings of Lake Nakuru had an abundance of wildlife. We saw tons of baboons, monkeys, common zebras, buffaloes, gazelles, impalas and waterbucks. They were right at the side of the road which made them so easy to see. It was in Lake Nakuru where we saw our first male lions, although way off in the distance. Through the binoculars they looked satisfied having recently eaten a poor zebra! Lake Nakruru is also the only time we saw white rhinos. They were so massive and at one point a herd of them passed right in front of our car! The lake itself was awesome. It was literally lined with thousands of flamingos and pelicans. So much in fact that from far away all you see on the banks was pink so you thought it was pink sand or something. It was so loud down there by the shore, with all the birds squawking and flapping their wings. We were aloud out here and got a few pics along with plenty of bird droppings on our shoes! We went back to our lodge, the Savora Simba Hill, for another buffet dinner and early bedtime.
Next up would be the most grueling drive yet: the drive to the Maasai Mara. But would it hold the biggest payoff? Find out in Part 2: Lake Naivasha, The Maasai Mara and Nairobi!
Until then enjoy these amazing pictures and videos we were able to capture: Kenya!
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