SAFARI
(Since my pictures wont load on here, here are some a friend took. Click on the Masai Mara album link http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cututiger/my_photos)
I’m not really too sure where to begin with this, as I know most of you just want to hear about and see pictures of the animals that I saw. So yeah… The four-day safari turned out to be a five-day one. This however came at an extra cost. Apparently it is low season and doubled with the World Cup there are few people wanting to do safaris. Though when I arrived at the Messiah Mara National Park there were vans full of people everywhere. I spent most of my time with an older Italian couple that are having one last holiday before they settle down to have children, our driver Ben who was an encyclopaedia full of knowledge and out cook Alex who on the whole did the best he could with what was available.
Day One
Left Nairobi a little after 10.30am. Had a late lunch at a budget hotel restaurant in this place could Narock. Here the road prepared us for what was about to come. There were pot hols everywhere and the side of the road you drove on was determined by what side appeared to look the best. The funny part was that on one section of the road leading to the park a large sign said “Your full levies have helped improve this road” making me question how bad it was beforehand.
We arrived at the National Park around 3pm and were taken to see a Messiah village (which they charged additional for). Here we were greeted by the chiefs son who was wearing amongst him traditional clothes, a fancy cell ph on his belt, fancy Nike sneakers and watch that looked like it would of cost a small fortune. He proudly showed us his big hat that he apparently only wears on special occasions. It was from a lion that he killed when he was 21 as a sign of manhood (it is now illegal for the Messaih to kill any game animals). He then nearly forced the male traveller to wear it and pose for a photograph with him. Once inside the village he explained the layout to us and lead us over to watch some men make fire. Then he gathered up some men and got them to do a traditional dance for us (him wearing his hat at times). We were then taken into one of his two wives houses (which women make). Inside it is very dark as they only have a small window so that the mosquitos don’t get in. There was one room for the children, a cooking/sleeping room for the adults and then finally a room for the young cows to sleep in a night to keep them safe. While inside the chief’s son tried selling us a lions tooth and claw (starting at about US$22 and coming down to about US$15 very quickly). We were then shown the area where young men get circumcised (they are about 17 years at the time) and where the young women (about 14 to 16 years) get what I refer to as FGM (Female Genital Mutilation). Finally we were taken to the “market” where we were surrounded by people attempting to sell arts and crafts to us. From here we were taken directly into the National Park where we were greeted by zebras, a baboon and its young and plenty of antelope. Not much latter we had the privilege of seeing cheetah. First it was just the mother. Then she slowly walked over to a rock where two of her cubs where. It was an amazing sight and out driver informed us just how lucky we were to see them, as they are so good at hiding in the grass. Just as we were about to leave (the park closes at 6:30pm) we were informed there were a pack of lions nearby. So we were able to see about 8 lions all chilling out just before they go out and hunt for their pray. To see all this and more in just a short time was just amazing and it was almost animal sighting overload.
We were then taken to the camp, which was more advanced than I thought it would be. We actually had beds (that were comfortable), proper toilets and would you believe it hot water showers! That evening I simply had dinner, talked a little to other people there around the campfire and then settled off to bed.
Day Two
The day started off not to early thankfully. I was blessed again by being able to see cheetah up close not long after we arrived inside the park. They are just such incredible and beautiful creatures. The most incredible part of the day was seeing heard of elephants of all ages together socialising, eating and just lazing around. They just walked out in front of us, not caring that we were there. I don’t think I will ever get sick of seeing elephants. Small fact for you, did you know elephants only sleep for 5 mins a day? It was around this time that we were also able to see giraffes up close for the first time eating the leaves and communicating with each other using their ears (giraffes I have learnt are mute). Just before seeing hippos (well mainly just their ears) and a crocodile (about 3meters, so only middle age) I was able to stand on the Tanzanian and Kenyan border. For lunch we were surrounded by a flowing river with hippos not to far, but also not too close and cheeky monkeys who ate whatever we left. On the way back the camp we saw much of the same as before. Though don’t get me complacent it was fantastic even if at times there were twenty other vehicles around us watching the same animals. Once back at the camp, it was a quiet late afternoon and evening of just relaxing.
Day Three
We arrived at the park a little after 6:30am with the sun rising over the hills!! Was taken up one of the many hills in the park to see the wonderful view and also to try and comprehend how big the park actually is. On the way down we were able to see giraffe again up close. Latter in the morning in the distance we were able to see baboons (with the help of binoculars). We came back to the camp around 11am and rested till about 3pm in preparation for our “easy” walk. One of the Massia who run the camp took us up a hill (I would almost call it a mountain), which is about 2600 meters above see, level. Because we were lead to believe it was going to be an easy walk we did this with no water. Thankfully we took our time getting up there and the guy told us about a lot of the plants and their uses (all of which I have now forgotten. Once up there I have to admit the view was great as we got a great view of the Park, were able to see where a lot of the homesteads were. In the evening we went to one of the nearby lodges to watch some of the football. This lodge is considered to be on the cheaper side, as it was only US$350 a night. For what I saw of it there is no way I would have paid that price. All the 100 rooms in the place were full though, so there are obviously plenty of people who do.
Day Four
Had another early start in the park. This time I was with a group who had a Mexican woman who was obsessing about seeing a cheetah. While we were able to see the most wonderful group of lions including three adult males walking around and playing with cubs this was not enough for her. We were also able to see buffalo for the first time today up close. When it was time to leave the park about 3 hours latter, the women was really upset about not seeing the animal, especially since I had seen cheetah twice. The rest of the time was taken up by travelling to Lake Nakuru on a road that was worse by a lot than the one that had lead us the park. One 30km stretch took us just over an hour to do. Though with the great views, the very friendly locals who waved at us it was not so bad. Spent the night in a reasonably nice hotel.
Day Five
Started the day at 5:30am in the hope that we could be at the park by 6:30am, this however did not occur. Just inside the park there were plenty of monkeys and baboons over our heads in the trees. As we started to approach the lake we saw a rhino on its own just standing around! In the background to this there were literally tens of thousands of flamingos (which from afar make the lake look pink) and albatross. Once at the lake we were able to get out of the van and walk around. Being outside and surrounded by such wonderful creatures who are mostly free to do what they want is a great feeling. Once back in the van, we saw dirty buffalo up close (they were almost eyeing us). Then it was on to seeing some giraffes (these ones were different from the ones at Massaih Mara as they have white socks. Fact time, did you know that the darker the colours giraffe’s patches are, the older it is? As we drove up to Buffalo Lookout we were able to see many, many monkeys do allsorts of monkey things. Once at the lookout we were greeted with three different views, the lake with all the flamingos, and the plans with animals scattered all over or the green forests. Once up there, I was so overcome by it all, I really just did not want to leave it. Once back down and watching some baboons in the trees right next to us we went leopard sighting hunting after being informed that they were nearby. Sadly after a 30min look we were unable to see any. So we figure we must have been about 2mins too late. Meaning I got to see four out of the five, Big Five. Sadly after leaving the park at about 11am I was put on a shuttle after being frisked and bag searched by to Nairobi.
Day One
Left Nairobi a little after 10.30am. Had a late lunch at a budget hotel restaurant in this place could Narock. Here the road prepared us for what was about to come. There were pot hols everywhere and the side of the road you drove on was determined by what side appeared to look the best. The funny part was that on one section of the road leading to the park a large sign said “Your full levies have helped improve this road” making me question how bad it was beforehand.
We arrived at the National Park around 3pm and were taken to see a Messiah village (which they charged additional for). Here we were greeted by the chiefs son who was wearing amongst him traditional clothes, a fancy cell ph on his belt, fancy Nike sneakers and watch that looked like it would of cost a small fortune. He proudly showed us his big hat that he apparently only wears on special occasions. It was from a lion that he killed when he was 21 as a sign of manhood (it is now illegal for the Messaih to kill any game animals). He then nearly forced the male traveller to wear it and pose for a photograph with him. Once inside the village he explained the layout to us and lead us over to watch some men make fire. Then he gathered up some men and got them to do a traditional dance for us (him wearing his hat at times). We were then taken into one of his two wives houses (which women make). Inside it is very dark as they only have a small window so that the mosquitos don’t get in. There was one room for the children, a cooking/sleeping room for the adults and then finally a room for the young cows to sleep in a night to keep them safe. While inside the chief’s son tried selling us a lions tooth and claw (starting at about US$22 and coming down to about US$15 very quickly). We were then shown the area where young men get circumcised (they are about 17 years at the time) and where the young women (about 14 to 16 years) get what I refer to as FGM (Female Genital Mutilation). Finally we were taken to the “market” where we were surrounded by people attempting to sell arts and crafts to us. From here we were taken directly into the National Park where we were greeted by zebras, a baboon and its young and plenty of antelope. Not much latter we had the privilege of seeing cheetah. First it was just the mother. Then she slowly walked over to a rock where two of her cubs where. It was an amazing sight and out driver informed us just how lucky we were to see them, as they are so good at hiding in the grass. Just as we were about to leave (the park closes at 6:30pm) we were informed there were a pack of lions nearby. So we were able to see about 8 lions all chilling out just before they go out and hunt for their pray. To see all this and more in just a short time was just amazing and it was almost animal sighting overload.
We were then taken to the camp, which was more advanced than I thought it would be. We actually had beds (that were comfortable), proper toilets and would you believe it hot water showers! That evening I simply had dinner, talked a little to other people there around the campfire and then settled off to bed.
Day Two
The day started off not to early thankfully. I was blessed again by being able to see cheetah up close not long after we arrived inside the park. They are just such incredible and beautiful creatures. The most incredible part of the day was seeing heard of elephants of all ages together socialising, eating and just lazing around. They just walked out in front of us, not caring that we were there. I don’t think I will ever get sick of seeing elephants. Small fact for you, did you know elephants only sleep for 5 mins a day? It was around this time that we were also able to see giraffes up close for the first time eating the leaves and communicating with each other using their ears (giraffes I have learnt are mute). Just before seeing hippos (well mainly just their ears) and a crocodile (about 3meters, so only middle age) I was able to stand on the Tanzanian and Kenyan border. For lunch we were surrounded by a flowing river with hippos not to far, but also not too close and cheeky monkeys who ate whatever we left. On the way back the camp we saw much of the same as before. Though don’t get me complacent it was fantastic even if at times there were twenty other vehicles around us watching the same animals. Once back at the camp, it was a quiet late afternoon and evening of just relaxing.
Day Three
We arrived at the park a little after 6:30am with the sun rising over the hills!! Was taken up one of the many hills in the park to see the wonderful view and also to try and comprehend how big the park actually is. On the way down we were able to see giraffe again up close. Latter in the morning in the distance we were able to see baboons (with the help of binoculars). We came back to the camp around 11am and rested till about 3pm in preparation for our “easy” walk. One of the Massia who run the camp took us up a hill (I would almost call it a mountain), which is about 2600 meters above see, level. Because we were lead to believe it was going to be an easy walk we did this with no water. Thankfully we took our time getting up there and the guy told us about a lot of the plants and their uses (all of which I have now forgotten. Once up there I have to admit the view was great as we got a great view of the Park, were able to see where a lot of the homesteads were. In the evening we went to one of the nearby lodges to watch some of the football. This lodge is considered to be on the cheaper side, as it was only US$350 a night. For what I saw of it there is no way I would have paid that price. All the 100 rooms in the place were full though, so there are obviously plenty of people who do.
Day Four
Had another early start in the park. This time I was with a group who had a Mexican woman who was obsessing about seeing a cheetah. While we were able to see the most wonderful group of lions including three adult males walking around and playing with cubs this was not enough for her. We were also able to see buffalo for the first time today up close. When it was time to leave the park about 3 hours latter, the women was really upset about not seeing the animal, especially since I had seen cheetah twice. The rest of the time was taken up by travelling to Lake Nakuru on a road that was worse by a lot than the one that had lead us the park. One 30km stretch took us just over an hour to do. Though with the great views, the very friendly locals who waved at us it was not so bad. Spent the night in a reasonably nice hotel.
Day Five
Started the day at 5:30am in the hope that we could be at the park by 6:30am, this however did not occur. Just inside the park there were plenty of monkeys and baboons over our heads in the trees. As we started to approach the lake we saw a rhino on its own just standing around! In the background to this there were literally tens of thousands of flamingos (which from afar make the lake look pink) and albatross. Once at the lake we were able to get out of the van and walk around. Being outside and surrounded by such wonderful creatures who are mostly free to do what they want is a great feeling. Once back in the van, we saw dirty buffalo up close (they were almost eyeing us). Then it was on to seeing some giraffes (these ones were different from the ones at Massaih Mara as they have white socks. Fact time, did you know that the darker the colours giraffe’s patches are, the older it is? As we drove up to Buffalo Lookout we were able to see many, many monkeys do allsorts of monkey things. Once at the lookout we were greeted with three different views, the lake with all the flamingos, and the plans with animals scattered all over or the green forests. Once up there, I was so overcome by it all, I really just did not want to leave it. Once back down and watching some baboons in the trees right next to us we went leopard sighting hunting after being informed that they were nearby. Sadly after a 30min look we were unable to see any. So we figure we must have been about 2mins too late. Meaning I got to see four out of the five, Big Five. Sadly after leaving the park at about 11am I was put on a shuttle after being frisked and bag searched by to Nairobi.
1 comment:
Dear Kylie,
How are you? You must be home now. I'm in Manchester at Alex' place :)
I hope you're ok and that you're feeling fine,
Wieke
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