We woke up bright and early to meet our guide for the next few days. I think we all fell for him quickly. Peter (always pronounced with a British accent) is a kind, soft spoken person like most of the people we encountered throughout the trip. He made us all smile and we totally hit the jackpot! Not to mention he has the best driving skills I've even seen. More on that later!
We all "meditated" (aka slept like babies) at some point in the car, but there were beautiful views all around us for a majority of the drive to Lake Nakuru. We stopped in an area that looked over the land below that was just stunning. There were little shops along the cliffs that had very high pressure sales people and Tan got a 'Kenyan GPS" that was a map of the surrounding areas at the base of the mountain. The view was worth the haggling though! It was awesome!!
Peter asked us a little while into the trip if we wanted to see hippos…umm, of course! So we made a midday stop to stretch our legs and take a little boat out to explore the lake. We were surrounded by gorgeous scenery with hills and tress. We saw hippos and families sunning on the same beaches…not sure I'd want to be that close! Then our guide stopped to buy 2 fish from a couple of guys on shore. He whistled for an eagle above and it swooped down and snagged the fish only yards from our boat! It was fantastic! We also saw the home of Karen, famous from 'Out of Africa'. It was a gorgeous place with one of the prettiest views I can imagine.
We then took a small break and pulled into a cove. Another guide walked us through a field of zebra, wildebeest and deer. The animals on the land had been brought over from the Masai Mara for the filming of 'Out of Africa'. There were lions for the filming as well, but those returned home. All of these herbivores have remained here since.
We then took our motor boat back to shore and continued on to Lake Nakuru. Jackson enlightened us on the many uses for Twizlers along the way! Peter went to check us in to the park and told us, "beware, the monkeys may be naughty". There was no might about it! These monkeys were a hoot! They climbed into a neighboring car's front seat and taunted the people in the back seat as they took pics. The moneys were ready to grab and run off with any snack they could find too!
We dropped our bags at our hotel, the Lion Hill Lodge, and headed out for our first official safari! We popped the roof open and clustered together to catch of glimpse of some incredible animals! There were baboons in clusters everywhere and even with little babies on their backs. Our first drive was to the lake itself. There were thousands of flamingos throughout the lake. And we got to see the first of the BIG 5…water buffalo (the others are the elephant, lion, leopard and rhino). They were massive and lazy on the shore, but it was a beautiful contrast to the bright, pink flamingos. We walked a while there and took some jump pics. Along the way, Jackson developed a little crush on one of the girls in a passing safari van and Tan hooted to her as we passed…haha!
It was now time to explore the rest of the reserve and see what else we'd be able to check off our list. We spotted white rhinos with a baby by their side, lots of antelope, hyenas that appeared to have cornered a single water buffalo and plenty of zebra and little deer that I can't remember what they were called. Fun fact about the white rhino…they are actually grey just like the others, but were called "wide rhinos" for their wide mouths and that erroneously became white rhinos over time.
We made our way back to the lodge with a stunning, colorful sunset as our backdrop. Seth climbed on top of the roof for the bumpy ride back to our home base. We were 2 down on the BIG 5 and had a great day so far. A couple of people back at the hotel showed us video of elephant and lion encounters they had that day…we were a little jealous, but it just made us more excited for what we'd get to see in the coming days!
The lodge was gorgeous! Each room was in a little duplex cabin. There were no phones or tv, which were a nice break, but made us coordinate our plans a little earlier in advance. Nita and I scored room #1, the honeymoon suite. We had our own fire pit, balcony and a nice, big room!
On the way to dinner, we heard drumming and made our way to see the native dancers. Nita and I went on stage and danced with them. It was fun and tiring, the only downside is deodorant isn't quite as popular as in the US…and wow, it was stinky with all the sweating! J But it was a great time nonetheless. We then had our first buffet which was pretty good then headed down to the firepit after dinner. We were joined by a family from The Netherlands…and it was the same girls from the ride!!! Turns out the family was visiting for their grandpa's birthday and it was him, his daughter and husband, their 3 kids + a boyfriend. I think there was other family on the trip too…but these were the ones at the fire pit. Turns out the girls were 16 and 18…and I thought I was bad about young'uns!! J They were all super sweet and we sang happy birthday. Then it was their turn to teach us a Dutch campfire song. We all sang, Fur, fur, fur (fire, fire fire) and toasted to new friends. One by one people started to go to bed. Around midnight it was just Tan, Seth and me. We stayed up talking forever. We chatted with the guards and with each other. It was so relaxing. At some point, we had the bright idea to stay up and watch the sunrise. Seth napped on a couple of chairs and bailed to his room at about 5:00 am. Tan and I kept each other awake telling stories and made it to dawn. We walked back to Nita and my room and she was up. Well, we made it to sunrise, but the sun wasn't coming up over the lake…it was over the hill behind us…not quite so dramatic!! But it was worth it anyway! I guess this day blends into the next…so I will wrap up and move on to the trip to Masai Mara in the next post! J
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