19th – 20th - Going home

Today was the last day in Kenya. We left the lodge to drive back to Nairobi and go to the airport. We were in no hurry, though as our flights weren’t until after 2200.

Not much happened on the drive back. My driver told me at one point that while we had been waiting to be let into Masai Mara on the first day he had taken a photo of us waiting outside the office with his phone and sent it to a newspaper. The photo was apparently part of an article the following day about the group of a minister and VIPs who couldn’t get into the park. My driver promised to contact the press outlets when he would have time to get a copy which he would then scan and send to me. Hopefully he will follow through with it one day!

Going back we passed through the great rift valley from where we ascended alone one of the sides. We stopped at a view point but to be honest it wasn’t that impressive. It looked mostly just like a very large valley as opposed to when I saw it in Tanzania where it was rocky and you could actually see a crack going through the landscape.

Coming back to Nairobi we were shown a couple of places in the city; the governmental area and some viewpoints before we headed towards the airport. Here we had a few hours to kill which was done at the airport’s only (small) cafeteria, and after some waiting we were finally on the plane and on our way back north again.

18th - Masai Mara

Let’s handle the disappointments first to get that out of the way.

The itinerary says about the two days in Masai Mara, day 7 (yesterday); “the next days we go on game drives morning and afternoon”, day 8; “Today we are once again going on game drives”. So my surprise (and disappointment) was great when I realized that we were having lunch back at the lodge and not going to be picked up until tomorrow morning when we are going back to Nairobi to catch the flight home. The long lunch break in Samburu and this frustratingly restless afternoon means that the 3 promised full day game drives were basically cut down to 2. Needless to say I am not planning on going with this company again.

Anyways, on with the other stuff…

We departed as planned at 0800. Today I had 3 guests with me in the car, a couple and their 2-ish year old daughter. Apparently their guide had to leave to assist some stranded tourists somewhere, so the 3 of them joined us to be delivered to the park’s airstrip where they would need to catch a flight to Mozambique. The guy was Icelandic living in Germany with his Spanish girlfriend (I assume as the spoke Spanish together). Within these couple of hours we share the car I felt a better social interaction going on than before on this trip. Obviously that might not sound like much after my previous rant, but I genuinely enjoyed their company even though I had to sacrifice some of my space in the car. All for a good cause!

Passing through registration was a breeze; we didn’t even stop on the way. I was told later that someone had made a phone call which had made it all the way up to Kenya’s minister of tourism who in turn had made some calls that had made it down to the registration office. He was apparently very unhappy hearing about a Danish minister and his group of VIPs being stuck at registration for hours yesterday.

Anyway; we saw a lot of game as usual, but no cats, not even lions. Someone spotted a leopard crossing the road and we (3 groups in 3 cars and a bunch of other vehicles) starting circling the area the leopard had walked into trying to spot it. But one had to have in mind that the area was still a 3-6sqkm area we were not allowed to enter which meant that the leopard could be hiding anywhere or even have crossed a road somewhere else out of sight and entirely left the area. So the search was without result.

We had a short break where I relocated into group 2’s car so my driver could get the small family to their flight. Coming back was uneventful and the rest of the day I believe has already been covered previously.

Black-backed jackal.

Vulturine guineafowl.

Banded mongoose.

Bored at the lodge in the afternoon until this small fellow came jumping by to take a look. Unfortunately he only stayed a moment before he disappeared up into the trees.

17th - Masai Mara

We left the lodge as planned at 0730 but reaching the park registration booth a couple of minutes later things started going south. Apparently the staff at the registration office (which was basically a large shed at a gate) hadn’t had their systems updated correctly so they hadn’t registered any transfer from the bank as payment for us (all 3 groups). They were not willing to let us through despite the guides being able to show a paper trail from the travel company and bank that the money had been sent.  This resulted in several phone calls. Then discussions. And more phone calls. Group 2 ended up going to the local town where their guide retrieved a wad of cash which was given to the park staff as payment instead – and off we went, almost 3 hours delayed.

Despite it being depressing that we had to wait for so long, less than half an hour in the park we managed to stop right in front of a small bush where two young cheetahs were relaxing in the shade.

Throughout the day we had several sightings of lions, buffalo, elephants, giraffes and what else one would expect to see in such a place.

Unfortunately no leopards we seen but we found fresh tracks from one that had crossed a road not 10 minutes earlier.

In the afternoon the drivers must have received a call over the radio because they suddenly started driving at a much higher pace than usual. After ½-1 hours of hectic driving (which probably felt much worse than it was due to the bad road conditions) we ended up in a cluster of vehicles watching a rhino with two calves (I only saw one of them and it looked like a dirt mound).

We were back at the lodge at 1900, ready for another drive tomorrow at 0800.

Wildebeest.

Plains zebra (common zebra).

Buffalo.

Cheetahs.

Southern ground hornbill.

Masai giraffe.

Grey crowned crane.

Egyptian goose

Young male lion.

It's hard work doing nothing.

Storks.

Spotted hyena.

Rhino. The small dark bump you see to the far right is one of the calves.

16th - Lake Naivasha – Masai Mara

Today was a relatively uneventful day. We had a late departure from the lodge at 0900 which gave us a chance for a little extra sleep in the morning. I timed it so I had half an hour to have a walk around on the premises trying to get some shots of the local wildlife. The result was birds, zebras and a couple of waterbucks. But just walking around with the camera on my own shooting stuff was great in itself.

The drive was not as long as when leaving Samburu, but there was still quite a distance we had to travel. What made it worse was that at least the last third of the distance took most of the time as it was on gravel and poorly maintained roads. At 1630 we arrived at a Maasai village where we spent a couple of hours seeing them dance and being introduced to their daily village life. Their houses are very small (especially compared to Western standards) and apparently they move the village every nine years due to termites. It was timed in a way that when we visited we were able to see a few houses maybe 100m away starting being built as part of the new location of the village. We finished the visit with seeing the nearby school. It had 8 grades, 8 classrooms (with the size of one seen at home, if so large) and 650 students. Luckily we were there when they had left on vacation so we had more or less free reign at the school to see how it was.

After the visit we continued on to our lodge. No real roads, just tracks where other people had driven before. It took us almost half an hour to go not very far, but at 1830 we arrived safely at our new lodge.

Full day of game drive tomorrow, start at 0730!

Waterbuck.

Rueppell's glossy starling.

The lodges at Lake Naivasha.

Jumping Masai.

The inside of a Masai house. This is for a family of four. Just to the left from where I am taking this photo there is a room similar to what you can see in front to the left (bed room) and ahead to the right there is a small 1x1,5m room used for storage,

One of the class rooms. They were all this size.

15th - Samburu NP – Lake Naivasha

An early departure at 0700 was to take us from Samburu and down to Lake Naivasha. It was going to be quite a long drive (we wouldn’t arrive until in the afternoon) and at 1230 we arrived at Thompson Falls for lunch.

Our lunch was had at the lodge located at the falls, but to actually get to the falls and see them fully you had to pay admittance. I was disappointed to say the least – it was a worse tourist trap than anything else I have seen on the trip, or on any other trip I have been on here in Africa. The other group that was travelling the same way as I chose to pay to get to see it, but the moment they stepped past the entrance they were aggressively approached by two people who were dressed in traditional garbs who tried getting them to take photos with them followed by demanding payment which was double the entrance fee. Per photo. They even tried sneaking into the picture when they were trying to take photos of the fall so that they could demand even more money. The group took some quick shots and then left in a hurry, obviously not having the best time on the trip, and I am very glad I stayed on my side of the fence where you could see the upper half of the falls. It wasn’t even that impressive which was also confirmed by the others.

We soon departed and kept going to Naivasha. We arrived at around 1630 where we went on a boat safari for a couple of hours before going to the lodge. While on the water we saw mainly hippos, a few giraffes, water bucks and plenty of birdlife. The drive to the lodge was a short half an hour one. My room was huge, and because of the location close to the lake it would be possible to see hippos come up during the night and graze on the lawn, clearly viewable from the room. This also meant that if we had to go out during the night, like when going to have dinner in the restaurant, we would have to call reception for security to escort us. Under no circumstances were we allowed to go outside during the night without being escorted. On the walk to dinner we actually saw a quite large hippo walking around, the there was a reason why we needed the extra security.

Pelicans.

Marabou stork.

African jacana.

African spoonbill.

Hippo being sneaky.

Pied kingfisher.

Hippo getting caught being out of the water.

Great egret.

Hadada ibis.

From here on there is not much said about the trip itself but rather about the groups and social interaction on this trip. If you can’t stand reading a (very) long rant, feel free to skip it, you will not miss anything regarding the trip itself.

We are three groups travelling with the travel company on two different routes. We all arrived in Nairobi with the same flight and had the day in the city together, and we will all also depart on the same day. The first group is a group of 6 almost-retirees, a card club travelling on their 40^th anniversary. They were also the people I went to the bar with on the first night, and they are all very nice people. They go their separate way after Nairobi, but will meet up with us (the two other groups) again when we reach Masai Mara.

The second group is going the same way as I. They are two boys (14-ish and 17-ish), their parents and the mother’s father. The kids are… kids. The father doesn’t understand English at all so he needs everything translated, and the grandfather understands basic English but replies in Danish (if at all) followed by a “how silly they don’t understand what I am saying”-laughter/snicker. He is also very loud. Awkwardly loud. None of them seem to be used to travelling and some of them are more verbal about how they prefer things to be like at home. The grandfather was shocked – almost offended – when he found out that there was no TV at the Samburu lodge. The oldest kid prefers buns and rice and is annoyed there isn’t more ketchup in his life, and the youngest will aim for the fried/breadcrumbed fish at the buffets (buffets for all meals (with only a few exceptions). Training for the trip to India just got a bit harder) and not much else if he can get away with it. The discussions at the meals don’t seem too bright, and they are from Lolland. Say hello to family Redneck. And the kids brought iPads to use as cameras. For a safari. I am rolling in my grave in advance.

The third group is me. This means I have my own rooms and the only passenger in the vehicle. Some of the rooms hold up to 4 people and the vehicle is a modified Toyota Hiace so despite it feels a little weird being alone under these circumstances it gives me a lot of room to move around on.

Because the second and third groups are going the same way we have had the same table at Samburu. I wasn’t able to sit anywhere else; when I came down for breakfast and tried to get my own table to have a meal in peace I was quickly stopped by the staff and referred to the “correct” table. It wasn’t until today my driver realized that I didn’t actually know these people before and that we were just separate groups who happened to be travelling the same way. I don’t know if that has something to do with me getting my own table here at Naivasha. In any case it is a pleasant change.

The reason why this suddenly is bursting out is because of the minute long (short) walk to the restaurant tonight. Security had picked up a group of 4 before reaching my lodge and they were chatting away like they had known each other forever, just like it feels after a couple of days in a group when travelling with G Adventures. On this trip we get picked up in the morning at departure or for a game drive and at the end of the drive we get unloaded and informed when we will be picked up the following day, and from then on we are on our own. That in itself is fine, though if having the choice between dining with group 2 or alone, if there is any doubt, I would prefer the latter. On these kinds of trips I very much prefer equal-minded people. People who love travelling, meeting new people and cultures despite those are different and have different traditions that we have at home. People who don’t make me cringe and wanting to apologize to the staff and the locals.

The reason why I decided to travel with this company was because it was the only one who had a safari in Kenya during the Easter holiday. I love travelling with G Adventures and Kipling Travel (the latter for the summits and technical treks (with the exception of Kili)), because they all start the trip with a briefing with the entire group where the guide(s) go through the itinerary and get people to present themselves to each other. On almost every trip every day is concluded by a briefing where we go through the day’s activities and what the following day will bring. That in itself strengthens the social bonds much more than this (the combination of group 2 & 3) ever will.

It is important to mention that this trip is not a disaster despite I might be making it sound like one. Locations, game drives, weather, living conditions, sightings, food, etc. is still not bad. The only thing really dragging it down is the groups of the trip (saying this taking into consideration I haven’t had much interaction with group 1 due to our different routes). I don’t think it is until now I full understand the true meaning of “The trip would not have been the same without you”. The social level and interaction in the groups one (I) travel in is so much more important that I believe I have ever been aware of. With that I need to give a shout-out to Stephan & Jaco, Ina, Mira & Thomas, Elaine, Veronica, Matt, Bo, Monica & Maja, Tashi, Keri, Jules & Melina, Jack, Choloe, Gary & Anne, Rob & Laura and everyone else not mentioned. The trips I have been on with you would not have been the same without you. I miss you all. 

14th - Samburu NP

Today was spent on game driving in the national park. We left the lodge in the early morning at 0730, came back around 1200 for lunch and relaxation, went out again at 1600 with a final return around 3 hours later. Dinner and readying to leave for Lake Naivasha at 0700 tomorrow morning.

So despite the itinerary saying it would be a full day worth of game drive it fails to mention the 4 hour break we had in the middle of the day back at the lodge.

There was obviously stuff to see on the drives but the density of the wildlife doesn’t seem as high as I had hoped. Most of the sightings today were of animals we already had seen yesterday, but today we managed to see the 5 lion cubs we were chasing yesterday while still being parked on the road. That’s at least an improvement. And there are plenty of elephants and giraffes.

Kori bustard.

Abyssinian Roller.

Red-and-yellow barbet.

Vervet monkey.

Guenther's dik-dik.

Rueppell's glossy starling.

Superb starling.

Gerenuk (waller's gazelle).

Vulturine guineafowl.

Young baboon grabbing on to a older family member.

Elephant.

Grevy's zebra

13th - Nairobi – Samburu NP

Getting up at 0600 was surprisingly easy considering the little sleep I had had on the flight down. Also, apparently the entire bar tab issue had rustled my vacation calm more than I was aware of as I hadn’t fallen asleep until after 0100. I went down for breakfast and informed my bar company of what had happened which resulted in a lot of surprised and offended reactions. Luckily the reactions weren’t pointed at me so the matter was quickly settled.

We left at 0730 and drove north towards Samburu NP. The drive was quite uneventful except when crossing the equator. Here we were presented with the Coriolis Effect; they had a bucket with a small hole in the bottom and a couple of matchsticks which were laid on the water’s surface. 10m north of the equator the matches and water streaming from the hole twisted clockwise, south they would go counter-clockwise, and right on the equator the water would drain straight out resulting in the matches not moving. I was surprised that the difference was so obvious despite the three testing spots were so close to each other. I suspected foul play, but even when trying to stop the matches with your finger they would automatically start twisting again the correct direction when letting them go.

We arrive at the lodge in Samburu at 1430 where we had our lunch before departing on our first game drive in the afternoon at 1600. Being an afternoon game drive it was only 3 hours, but in that time we managed to see giraffes, impalas, onyx, elephants, dik diks, lions, a caracal (my first sighting!) and several other. Quite a successful start on the trip!

We returned at 1900, and the rest of the evening was spent on dinner and relaxation. Breakfast tomorrow at 0645 and departure for the morning game drive at 0730.

We are using the same drivers and vehicles for both transport and game drives. The vehicles are Toyota Hiaces which have been refitted with a raisable roof so you can stand up and look out without having to look through windows, strengthened suspension, reinforced bottom and sturdy tires. Unfortunately the roof is just 5 cm too low for me when it’s raised so I’m not able to stand straight. It makes it easier when alone in the vehicle so that I can lean up against a seat decreasing my height enough to make it more comfortable. The drivers/guides are local so they drive like any other Kenyan. None of this came as a surprise, but what did come as a surprise was that they were willing to drive off the road in the NP even though they are fully aware they are not allowed to do so. My shots of the lions in the park could only be done because the driver went 20-30m off the road, within 5 meters from the lions. But I honestly don’t really care; all my previous safaris the drivers and guides have been very strict about staying on the roads and not disturbing the animals so this new behavior surprised me a little. I have asked him not to do this again and I think he fully understood my intention. I know that they do it to give their customers a better service, but I hope that he will stop doing it. 

Equator.

Dragonfly minding it's own business on the lodge's pathway.

Common agama.

Reticulated giraffe.

Yellow-necked Spurfowl. A couple of these were crossing the road when we were looking for the lions.

Caracal.

The lion family with two large females and several young of different sizes.