My sister and I both woke up around 4:00AM and couldn't get back to sleep. So we ended up going down to the observation deck on "C" to see what was around. It was very misty, windy and rainy out...although not necessarily in that order. The night watchman (watch for elephants, rhinos and leopards) told us that the mist and rain kept the animals away and that they would probably come by in the morning after the fog cleared. Talk about your lazy animals. They do not seem to be aware of the amount of money I spent to get here so that I could view and take pictures of them. Talk about selfish.

There was not much to see so we ended up going back to the room and taking showers, getting dressed, packing and putting our bags outside the door. Then we went back to the observation deck and I worked on postcards until breakfast time. After breakfast we got back on the bus and headed back to Aberdare to pickup the rest of our luggage and our minivans.

Back at Aberdare I managed to not get charged a third time for the fruit punch. In case you are wondering I am definitely not bitter. We then headed off to Samburu Game Reserve. This might be an appropriate time to discuss the awesome responsibility that is laid upon the person who sits in the front seat of the minivan. My sister had this seat on the way to Aberdare and I now inherited it going to Samburu. The first responsibility is that you are to find smooth roads. I inherited quite the rutted path from a previous navigator (my sister) who shall remain nameless. I managed to find a nice main highway to Samburu for which I received insufficient credit. The next responsibility is to wave to all children and armed men who wave to the bus. The third responsibility is to find hither to unseen animals. A task I was to show proficiency with on this leg of the journey. The navigator was also responsible for distribution of water bottles from the cooler upon demand and finally they were responsible for the general well-being of the vehicle.

As I mentioned, I found us quite the nice road. Sadly, my powers were limited and every once-in-awhile the road ended rather abruptly and became dirt for a stretch as seen in the picture on the right. There were many interesting sights on the road as we wended our way north, back over the Equator. The land went from dry and brown, with some scrubby brush and thin goats to lush green fields with wheat and vegetables in the Highlands.

I noticed that the locals appeared to be grazing their animals between the road and the fences that were about 15-20 yards from the road. I asked our driver about this and was informed this was government land and that the people could use it as they saw fit and some people even planted crops on it. The only problem with growing crops was the every once-in-awhile the government sent bull-dozers through and cleared whatever was there, without any warning. Sure enough, once we got into the Highlands I saw rows of corn (maize) and other vegetables growing next to the road.

We passed quite a number of local buses the size of the truck in the picture to the left. A bus this size could fit a dozen people inside, and a couple outside. Additionally, there would be all manner of luggage, animals and furniture on the roof. People would wait by the side of the road and flag down a bus that would take them to the next village or many miles up the road.

When we stopped for gas (petrol) we were innundated with hawkers selling all of the usual small crafts local to a factory in Nairobi. It was best not to look at them or open a window if you did not want to buy anything, although you could get decent bargains if you held out for a minute or so. We were similarly swamped when we stopped to register with the authorities before leaving the asphalt highway and getting onto the biggest rut between Capetown and Cairo . . . soon to be part of the highway that connects all of Africa. Soon of course being a relative term that can losely be translated to "never".

We passed a number of small buildings like the one to the right and I thought to myself "what a good idea to go with a tour instead of finding that I was staying at a hotel with one room." Apparently "hotel" actually means "bar", but I am still not sure that I would want to go there even with the "Mt. Kenya view". Of course, each room comes with its own chicken, so how bad could it be?? There were also the very charming cafes like the one below.

We finally made it to Samburu and I was able to redeem myself for letting the roads slip by leading us directly to a nice group of Grevy Zebra that were grazing just off the road. We drove over and watched them and they walked right in front of the car. A little while later we came across several Reticulated Giraffe, and we saw some elephants off in the distance behind some bushes and trees. But the elephants were too far away for us to get a good look at them. We also so some gerenuk standing on their hind legs eating bushes some Common Waterbuck and some Beisa Oryx.

Once we were in the Park we opened up the top so that we could stand and look out in all directions. It was very pleasant riding around standing up (we had done so much sitting for the past few days). Samburu was also much hotter and the breeze was delightful.

But the best was yet to come. We came up on a couple of vans pulled over looking out to the right. I did not see anything and then one of the people pointed toward the ground. I thought at first that they were pointing to a sign on the ground but then I saw something under a bush. At first it looked like a black and white stripped snake but then I realized it was a Cheetah!! It was only a few yards from the road. It was somewhat concealed by the bush but I shot a few pictures anyway. Unfortunately, when the bus in front of us moved on so we would get a better view the cheetah got up and walked to the other side of the bush. We could not backup because another bus had arrived so we just moved on.

Then we came upon a mother and baby elephant by a small stream. They came up so close I had to swap lenses. They probably came within 10-15 feet of the vehicle. We spent so much time checking out all of the animals that we were the last ones to the lodge. We were greeted with hot towels and fruit juice. After the dust from the ride the towels were welcome indeed. We were sent directly to lunch and were surprised at being the first ones there. Everyone else had gone to their rooms first.

Just to mix things up, lunch was buffet-style! There were a number of Maasai warriors about and they carried sling-shots to keep the Black-Faced Vervet Monkeys at bay. They were all over the place, in the trees, by the pool, on the roof. Any food left without a guard would soon disappear. The rains from the night before had filled up the river that ran past the lodge. It had been dry for seven months. We were informed that they fed Crocodiles and a leopard at night, and sometimes a rare Striped Hyena would show up.

Being that we had arrived late we missed the 2:30 Maasai Dance Performance. We were told to sign up for Camel Rides, a Nature Walk, a Bird Walk, the Maasai Dancing, and Massages if we were interested. Anne and I signed up for Camel Rides (as did Anne and Kate) and Anne also signed up for a massage the following afternoon. After lunch we went to our rooms...Anne and Kate were in the farthest room and ours was next door. Mom and Dad were almost the farthest room in the other direction. Maybe I should have been nicer to Alex?? Nah.

Our beds had mosquito netting again. We got changed and cleaned up and headed back out for an afternoon game drive. We saw quite the collection of animals. Maribou Storks, dik-diks, impala, cape buffalo, black-faced vervet monkeys, beisa oryx, a bunch of miscellaneous birds, some giraffe and yet another antelope, the Grant's Gazelle. Then we came upon a family of six elephants, including two small babies . . . small being a relative term of course.

The elephants were the first animals to attract a herd-o-minibuses. Within a few minutes there were 6-7 buses in the area. After we had watched the elephants for awhile we headed over to the river and came across a lone male elephant and then a group of zebra, impala and Olive Baboons on the far side of the river. We saw two more lone male elephants, each with a limp - one back-right leg the other back-left leg.

No more animals of note unless you count the plethora of termite mounds. They were all over the place. New ones, old ones, tall ones, short ones. Some still in use by termites, some in use by other animals, some just abandoned. They were an annoying tan color, annoying because they were easy to spot and easy to mistake for a lion sitting under a tree. Which they were not. In fact, we spotted nary a single cat. Ah well, maybe tomorrow.

We arrived late back at the camp. They do the leopard feeding at 6:30 and we did not get back until 7:00. We did spot a crocodile (Nile) in the river and the usual birds. Dinner was at 7:30 but I waited awhile to see if the leopard would show up. It did not. However, the crocodile came up out of the water and just a few feet from the low, all too low it seemed, stone wall that marked the edge of the viewing terrace. The hotel personnel noted this fact and brought out some raw meat for the croc. Apparently, as the water only arrived that day, the crocs have been 'hibernating' in the mud for the past several months. But they apparently knew the schedule well enough to pop by for a bite at dinner time.

No sign of the leopard so I headed in to eat. I was informed, by unreliable sources, that the leopard showed up shortly after I went in, but by other, equally unreliable sources, that it showed up at 9:30 PM. No real idea when and if it did show up but I vowed to wait all night the following evening if necessary to see a leopard. I had only seen the one at The Ark for a brief time and wasn't able to take a picture of it.

< Previous | Next >