So Friday (6/18) was another early wake-up. I forgot to say yesterday that Lion Hill Lodge also sucked because of the massive amounts of mosquitoes. I mean there had been mosquitoes everywhere we had been so far, but here they were so bad you felt like you would inhale them if you opened your mouth to breathe. Yuck. So while the room had netting around the bed, they were still in the room and whining and made you feel like you were being bitten even when you weren't. Double yuck. Anyway, I was glad we only stayed there one night.
Benjamin had suggested that instead of another game drive at Nakuru that morning that we head to Lake Naivasha to take a boat tour and see hippos. I was kinda bummed as we didn't really get to see that much of Nakuru, but everyone was excited about seeing hippos (I was too, just not as excited as they were) so we all jumped back in Jesus and headed out. One funny thing about Africa is the very random name-brand clothing that you see. This includes things like sports teams, fashion brands, and other name-brand advertising. So anyway, one of the game wardens at the park checkpoint had a porsche jacket on. Ben said that he should have it embroidered to say "My other car is a rhino." (which was even funnier in an English accent of course!) Ahhh Ben made me laugh a lot :)
So it wasn't too long before we reached Lake Naivasha. This was another home of Joy Adamson, but I think she lived there after she wrote Born Free. We were kind of surprised because this lake is pretty hidden, and even walking towards it, we didn't realize how close we were. I am not sure if it has a freshwater spring, or if it has an outlet, but it is a freshwater lake (compared to Nakuru which was not) which means it is a great habitat for thousands of birds, and, of course, hippos! So we walked down to the shore and jumped in a boat with our guide named Paul. I honestly expected to be kind of disappointed with this boat-tour-thingy, but I was really pleasantly surprised! We started off puttering through a very shallow, marshy part of the lake. We saw tons of different kinds of birds including pelicans, ibises, and egrets. Then we came upon a big mass of hippos! There were probably at least 20 of them. They were very fat and cute... although I think we were all a little bit nervous (as you hear about how dangerous they can be). Paul kept us at a good distance, but you still had that little voice in your head that wondered if there was one swimming underwater to tip over our boat! :) Then we headed for the deeper part of the lake and Crescent Island. As we passed part of the shore, Paul yelled to a man on the shore who proceeded to throw a couple of fish at us. When we asked what they were for, Paul said "breakfast!" I was kind of thinking that he meant breakfast for him, but it turns out it was breakfast for the African Fish Eagles!! We saw them high up in the branches of some very tall acacia trees. Paul let out a very high whistle and threw the fish into the lake... and down they came. They were huge and fast and VERY cool. He threw the second one, and a second eagle swooped down... made me glad that I wasn't a fish!! Then we landed on Crescent Island and climbed out of the boat. This island is where part of "Out of Africa" was filmed. When making the movie they brought a bunch of non-predatory animals to the island (giraffes, zebras, impala, wildebeests, etc.) so it is safe to walk around on the island and not worry about getting eaten. It actually felt very Jurassic-Park-ish (thankfully without the being-chased-by-dinosaurs part) to be just walking around with these wild animals. I suppose to Africans it is a lot like how I feel walking around with the deer, elk, and coyotes that live in Estes Park... but it was MUCH more exciting to me when it was zebras and giraffes :) The only dangerous part was the occasional big holes in the ground, which I selflessly discovered for the benefit of the group (aka fell into one of them and twisted my ankle). Oh well :) It's a good thing I can laugh at myself! The giraffes on the island were Masai giraffes, which are different from the reticulated giraffes we had been seeing so far. Where as the reticulated giraffes have a cleaner, more geometric pattern, the Masai giraffes have messier splotches. We had a blast watching them, especially the younger ones who were playing! So after a while it was back to the boat and back to the shore and off to the Masai Mara!
Unfortunately this meant another couple hours of "free African massage" of which we were very tired. However, we entertained ourselves with a hilarious conversation about the differences between American and English swear words and slang. I haven't laughed that much in a very long time :) By the end of the trip my delightful new friends had adopted me as an honorary Englishman and I can't wait to and visit them in London :) So anyway... we finally reached the Masai Mara. When I dream of Africa, this is what I will dream of... it was my absolute favorite place, and I could have stayed there forever. We stopped at the Sarova Mara Tent Camp first, and I have to say that we were all a little wary of having to stay in tents... until we saw their version of a tent!! They were the crème de la crème of tents! A permanent frame and roof was connected to a HUGE canvas tent. The floors were hardwood and the four-poster bed was huge :) The attached bathroom was permanent and made of gorgeous marble and tile. The shower alone was bigger than my whole bathroom at home! It was spectacular :) So after a quick rest it was off to the Mara. Being in love with the trees, I was always watching them as we drove by, and I stopped the van when I spotted some huge birds. After having teased Tim for several days about how EVERY bird (from a stork to a sparrow) was a vulture, I said, "Ok, really NOT kidding this time... aren't those vultures??" And they were! Very creepy and cool :) We saw several herds of gazelles, buffalo, and wildebeest. We were very excited as the annual migration of wildebeests had started early. They do not usually appear on the Mara until July, but there were already hundreds of thousands of them there. This meant a much better chance of spotting lions! Sure enough we came across a lion kill and a lion! He was a young male in pretty rough shape. I think he was probably still trying to hang around his pride and getting beat up for doing so. We named him William (Bill) and watched him for a while before moving on to more zebras and wildebeests. Finally as the sun was setting we found a herd of elephants, and watching them interact was a perfect way to end the day. We drove back to the lodge in a hurry as my fellow Englishmen were very excited to watch the English football (soccer) match that evening. Jessica, Jordan, and I went to dinner around 7:30ish as we were very hungry and were 2/3 of our way through dinner when our hostess told us that she hadn't realized who we were and that there was a special dinner arranged for us (that sneaky Benjamin!). So we took our drinks and followed her quite a ways away from the main hall to where a private dinner had been set up under the African stars (we saw the southern cross! yay!). It was close to a water hole (on the other side of a fence) and we were told to watch for lions and elephants that often came there in the evening to drink. We were joined by Ben, Kathryn, Tim, and Susan, and while we had already eaten quite a bit, we found a little more room in our tummies and enjoyed another delicious meal and some extremely tasty African wine. Unfortunately, even though Tim did his VERY accurate lion-call, we didn't see any animals... but we did have a wonderful time. Then we all headed back to the bar to cheer on England. Sadly the game ended in a 0-0 tie, but we had enough drinks and laughter to make up for it. My favorite part was when Ben's brother texted him "what a pile of pants!" which became my new favorite English phrase :) We all headed to bed very late, moaning as we had to be back in the lobby at 5am for our balloon flight the next morning... but all the fun was well worth it :) Click on this link to see the pictures!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Trip Report Part IV (The equator, Thompson Falls, and Lake Nakuru Safari)
So Thursday morning (6/17) I woke up at 4am. I don't know if I kept waking up so early because of the screwy time difference or because I was just so excited for more Africa... but anyway, I spent about an hour looking at the pictures from the day before on my camera. Then I was up and showered and repacked as we were leaving that morning for our next lodge at Lake Nakuru. We headed to the restaurant for breakfast at 6:30 but were re-directed as Benjamin had arranged a surprise private champagne breakfast for us! This was slightly ironic as he was always on our case about being on time in the morning, and it was his special breakfast that made us late to the van :) But anyway, after a yummy breakfast, we piled back in Jesus and headed south. By this time the novelty of driving through Africa had worn off a little and the roads were worse which made for a really not fun couple of hours. Also, every time the van stopped (at checkpoints or to get gas) we were just accosted by people. It is a very strange experience to be such a minority - and as such a minority we were very interesting to anyone who saw us. In addition to that, with the poverty in the country, we were a target to sell to and beg from. We closed the windows every time the van stopped, but this did not stop people from knocking and yelling at us. I never felt like we were actually in danger, but it was uncomfortable - even worse when it was children. This was probably another reason that the government and safari companies set up established stopping points (where we could get out) along the way.
So our first real stop was the equator! The big science nerd that I am found this to be very exciting. Our demonstrator had a bowl with a hole in the bottom which he would fill up with water. First we walked about 20 yards north of the equator. He filled up the bowl and then as the water drained out the hole, he floated a match stick on the water. It spun counterclockwise, and even if you physically stopped it or spun it the other direction, it would correct itself to spin counterclockwise. Then we all walked about 20 yards south of the equator. This time the match spun clockwise and again would correct itself even if you changed it. Then the coolest part was we all went and stood on the equator - and the match does not spin at all!! If you make it spin in either direction it just stops! It's so neat :) Our demonstrator told us that the indigenous peoples of Africa have used this method for a long time to determine their north/south location. Very cool :)
After taking some pictures, we were off to our next stop, Thompson Falls. In order to get there, we started down into the Great Rift Valley. We didn't stop to take pictures as we were coming back on the way back to Nairobi... but it was a better view on this day than the day we ended up with. Anyway - it's huge. Enormous. Really REALLY big. It's been a long time since I've been to the Grand Canyon, but the rift is much much bigger. For a quick geology lesson - it is an area where the current African Plate (as in tectonic plate - not time-for-dinner plate) is being split into two plates. The area that we drove into (which includes Lake Nakuru) is known as the Eastern Rift valley. It is much more lush in vegetation than the Shaba area we had just been and was also cooler. There were a lot of coffee and tea farms along the road. So eventually we got to Thompson Falls (named after a Scottish naturalist - also who Thompson's Gazelles are named after) where the Ewaso Narok River jumps 243 feet down. (Just FYI the Ewaso Narok River is a tributary of the Ewaso Ngiro River - the same river we were on at Shaba - which also FYI translates to "the river of muddy water"). I have to say that Thompson Falls was just a big waterfall. Nice, but not all that impressive. I had more fun playing with the chameleons that a local guy had for tourists to hold (for a price of course!)
After Thompson Falls it was off to Lake Nakuru which we could see from a distance for a while driving down further into the valley. Lake Nakuru is an alkaline lake as it has no outlet and thus evaporation concentrates the minerals that are deposited by inlet sources. This makes it a perfect home for flamingos who feed on the algae that grow in the warm shallow water (by the way, flamingos are pink from the algae they eat - NOT shrimp!) So first we went to Sarova Lion Hill lodge. Honestly, this lodge was a disappointment after Shaba. The rooms were not as nice (especially mine which was like 5 miles away (slight exaggeration)) and the staff was certainly NOT as friendly or helpful (we had some issues here.) But anyway, we dropped our stuff and had lunch (one thing I never got use to on this trip was having an early breakfast and late - 2:00ish - lunch) but the bbq chicken, creamed spinach and waldorf salad was yummy!! Then we met Benjamin at the van around 3:30. He practically threw us in the van and floored it into the park. We were a little dumbfounded as we went flying past rhinos and buffalo and other animals we hadn't seen yet, but Benjamin said he had a surprise for us. So we finally got to our destination, and Benjamin told us that there was a leopard sleeping in the ditch about 20 feet from the car. (All the safari vehicles have radios to stay in touch and in case of emergencies) Now I was SO tickled as a leopard was #1 on my Africa list, and it turns out that it is also Benjamin's favorite animal. He had not seen one in over a year, so he was as excited as we were. Unfortunately, the leopard was apparently in no hurry to get up from her nap. We stayed there for a while watching for her, and watched as the troupe of baboons discovered her and barked an alarm... but she didn't get up. Fortunately, very nearby we saw a momma and baby rhino... and thus we met Julian. He was the most adorable little stinker :) We had a blast watching him challenge huge buffalo with no fear. It was hard to tell if the buffalo thought it was funny or annoying! At one point he was surrounded by about five or six adult male buffalo and you could kind of see him thinking "oh crap!" at which point Mom kind of strolled over to rescue him. We also watched him napping and nursing. He was SOOOOOO cute!!
AND THEN... we saw this beautiful spotted head appear from the ditch. I was so excited :) We watched the leopard watching the gazelles for a long time. You would think that all the willpower we were throwing out would have just sucked a gazelle right towards her, but they wandered close, and then far, and then closer, and then father... and then FINALLY she went for one. She was incredibly fast, but the gazelle spotted her and she gave up pretty quickly. Then she turned around and I think was quite surprised to see the audience that had gathered to watch her. She played it very cool and elegantly disappeared into the grass. It was the most incredible experience :) Benjamin was also thrilled as in the 10 years of being a safari guide he had NEVER seen a leopard hunting. So now in addition to the "happy bus" we were the "lucky bus" too :) We headed down to the lake to say hi to the flamingos (Ben named them Reginald Pinkington Smythe the I, II, III, etc... hee hee!) and then drove back to the lodge in the misty twilight. All the trees around Lake Nakuru are yellow-bark acacia trees. They really are this weird greenish yellow color and make the forests feel very alienish. We had another yummy dinner and then it was early to bed! This wasn't the best overall day of the safari (that's still coming up!), but the leopard and Julian were my favorite animals of the trip! Click on this link to see the pictures from this wonderful day.
So our first real stop was the equator! The big science nerd that I am found this to be very exciting. Our demonstrator had a bowl with a hole in the bottom which he would fill up with water. First we walked about 20 yards north of the equator. He filled up the bowl and then as the water drained out the hole, he floated a match stick on the water. It spun counterclockwise, and even if you physically stopped it or spun it the other direction, it would correct itself to spin counterclockwise. Then we all walked about 20 yards south of the equator. This time the match spun clockwise and again would correct itself even if you changed it. Then the coolest part was we all went and stood on the equator - and the match does not spin at all!! If you make it spin in either direction it just stops! It's so neat :) Our demonstrator told us that the indigenous peoples of Africa have used this method for a long time to determine their north/south location. Very cool :)
After taking some pictures, we were off to our next stop, Thompson Falls. In order to get there, we started down into the Great Rift Valley. We didn't stop to take pictures as we were coming back on the way back to Nairobi... but it was a better view on this day than the day we ended up with. Anyway - it's huge. Enormous. Really REALLY big. It's been a long time since I've been to the Grand Canyon, but the rift is much much bigger. For a quick geology lesson - it is an area where the current African Plate (as in tectonic plate - not time-for-dinner plate) is being split into two plates. The area that we drove into (which includes Lake Nakuru) is known as the Eastern Rift valley. It is much more lush in vegetation than the Shaba area we had just been and was also cooler. There were a lot of coffee and tea farms along the road. So eventually we got to Thompson Falls (named after a Scottish naturalist - also who Thompson's Gazelles are named after) where the Ewaso Narok River jumps 243 feet down. (Just FYI the Ewaso Narok River is a tributary of the Ewaso Ngiro River - the same river we were on at Shaba - which also FYI translates to "the river of muddy water"). I have to say that Thompson Falls was just a big waterfall. Nice, but not all that impressive. I had more fun playing with the chameleons that a local guy had for tourists to hold (for a price of course!)
After Thompson Falls it was off to Lake Nakuru which we could see from a distance for a while driving down further into the valley. Lake Nakuru is an alkaline lake as it has no outlet and thus evaporation concentrates the minerals that are deposited by inlet sources. This makes it a perfect home for flamingos who feed on the algae that grow in the warm shallow water (by the way, flamingos are pink from the algae they eat - NOT shrimp!) So first we went to Sarova Lion Hill lodge. Honestly, this lodge was a disappointment after Shaba. The rooms were not as nice (especially mine which was like 5 miles away (slight exaggeration)) and the staff was certainly NOT as friendly or helpful (we had some issues here.) But anyway, we dropped our stuff and had lunch (one thing I never got use to on this trip was having an early breakfast and late - 2:00ish - lunch) but the bbq chicken, creamed spinach and waldorf salad was yummy!! Then we met Benjamin at the van around 3:30. He practically threw us in the van and floored it into the park. We were a little dumbfounded as we went flying past rhinos and buffalo and other animals we hadn't seen yet, but Benjamin said he had a surprise for us. So we finally got to our destination, and Benjamin told us that there was a leopard sleeping in the ditch about 20 feet from the car. (All the safari vehicles have radios to stay in touch and in case of emergencies) Now I was SO tickled as a leopard was #1 on my Africa list, and it turns out that it is also Benjamin's favorite animal. He had not seen one in over a year, so he was as excited as we were. Unfortunately, the leopard was apparently in no hurry to get up from her nap. We stayed there for a while watching for her, and watched as the troupe of baboons discovered her and barked an alarm... but she didn't get up. Fortunately, very nearby we saw a momma and baby rhino... and thus we met Julian. He was the most adorable little stinker :) We had a blast watching him challenge huge buffalo with no fear. It was hard to tell if the buffalo thought it was funny or annoying! At one point he was surrounded by about five or six adult male buffalo and you could kind of see him thinking "oh crap!" at which point Mom kind of strolled over to rescue him. We also watched him napping and nursing. He was SOOOOOO cute!!
AND THEN... we saw this beautiful spotted head appear from the ditch. I was so excited :) We watched the leopard watching the gazelles for a long time. You would think that all the willpower we were throwing out would have just sucked a gazelle right towards her, but they wandered close, and then far, and then closer, and then father... and then FINALLY she went for one. She was incredibly fast, but the gazelle spotted her and she gave up pretty quickly. Then she turned around and I think was quite surprised to see the audience that had gathered to watch her. She played it very cool and elegantly disappeared into the grass. It was the most incredible experience :) Benjamin was also thrilled as in the 10 years of being a safari guide he had NEVER seen a leopard hunting. So now in addition to the "happy bus" we were the "lucky bus" too :) We headed down to the lake to say hi to the flamingos (Ben named them Reginald Pinkington Smythe the I, II, III, etc... hee hee!) and then drove back to the lodge in the misty twilight. All the trees around Lake Nakuru are yellow-bark acacia trees. They really are this weird greenish yellow color and make the forests feel very alienish. We had another yummy dinner and then it was early to bed! This wasn't the best overall day of the safari (that's still coming up!), but the leopard and Julian were my favorite animals of the trip! Click on this link to see the pictures from this wonderful day.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Trip Report Part III (Samburu, Safari, and Swimming)
So Wednesday (6/16) I woke up again before the alarm went off (5:15am) and was wide awake, so I got up and showered. Kind of creepy side note - I had gotten up a couple of times during the night, walked around barefoot in the dark and such. So there is mosquito netting around the beds and apparently when Jessica woke up there was a HUGE spider in their net and another in their bathroom (and I saw it - BIG spider!) I'm very glad they were in her room and not mine!!
Anyway, I got up and then proceeded to watch the baboons playing in the trees by the river. This area, by the way, is one of the places that Joy Adamson (the lady who wrote Born Free) lived... and it was very surreal to sit there and watch something in real life that I had read described in such vivid detail. Also, baboons really do "bark" at each other. They are very noisy, but also fun to watch. We all met for breakfast at 7:00 (including fresh-off-the-tree pineapple... YUM!!) and then headed to the van to start our day.
The evening before, Benjamin had suggested that we visit a local village, and we were all game for that, so that was the first stop of the day. It was a very unique experience, starting with the women of the tribe welcoming us with a dance and "supa" which means "hello". Then they invited the women of our group to dance with them (which we did) they also put many necklaces on us and then men in our group. Then all of us were invited into the village. The women danced more, and then the men of our group were invited to dance with the men of the tribe. Then the men showed us how they made fire (pretty quickly!). This was followed by an introduction to their goats (herding is their livelihood - other villages we saw had cows, sheep, and camels too). They drink the milk, and often the blood of the animals, but rarely eat the meat. They gather wild vegetation for other foodstuffs as well. They were very confused when we named one of the baby goats! :) Then we got a tour of the school and one of their houses. Chili, a woman who had attended a missionary school and spoke pretty fluent English was our guide. She also helps teach in the school, and it was interesting to share perspectives with her. The children at the school were thrilled that we came to visit and sang us a couple of songs, including (oddly enough) "I'm a little teapot." Chili and I exchanged email addresses (I am assuming she walks several miles to the resort to have internet access) and I am looking forward to keeping in touch with her. As the Estes Park 3rd graders do a big Africa unit, I am hoping they will be able to send some care packages to this school. We also got to see the inside of one of their homes (very different from ours, to say the least). Chili also talked to us about the culture of the Samburu tribespeople - the roles of men and women (women do 90% of the work!) and their polygamous society. As the token single girl in our group, I received my first marriage proposal - a very good offer as I would be "first wife" but I had to decline. We ended our visit by buying some of their artwork and jewelry and then piled back in Jesus to head to another game drive. It's very hard to describe the experience that morning... I think I am still in the process of taking it all in. So while I certainly went to Africa for the animals, I am very glad to have had the experience with the Samburu people. Life sometimes is the most interesting when you least expect it :)
So then we drove to another park (I think it was called Isiolo, but that was also the name of the closest town, so I could be wrong). It was very hot, but there was also a really nice breeze. Benjamin said we were very lucky as that (breeze) was unusual for that area. We saw some zebras (both kinds), warthogs, ostriches, and more giraffes. We also found a troupe of baboons in the trees and several Grant's Gazelles and Oryxes. Benjamin stopped the van along the river when he hear a lot of birds making a racket. "They don't just make noise!" he said, and sure enough, we spotted our first lion. We got just a glimpse of him (Benjamin said it was a her, but looking at pictures, we think it was a him) and then he disappeared into the trees. We drove a little further along the way he had been headed and then Benjamin stopped the car. It took us a while to see what Benjamin had seen, but sure enough, we were being watched. Very creepy but VERY cool! I love those pictures :) Then we found a female elephant who's herd had crossed to the other side of the river, but she was quite content to entertain us for a while. We drove a bit more and found another herd of elephants including two delightful babies :) We watched them for a long time until they decided to move on down to the river. (Some of my favorite pictures are of the mom itching herself on the tree!!) Then we found a couple of giraffes (with a baby!) After a couple more hours it was VERY hot and very very dusty, so we were quite content to head back to the lodge. Many of the lodges welcome you with a cool washcloth that smells like eucalyptus - and it was disgusting to see how much dirt came off when we wiped our faces! We had another scrumptions lunch around 2:00 (a beef dish with fried bread and fresh veggies - and more "shooters" for dessert!)
That afternoon we had the option of going on a nature walk down the river, but Jess, Jordan and I chose to spend the afternoon in the pool instead. Ben and Kathryn also passed on the walk, and Tim and Susan went (but it sounded like we didn't miss much). We had a blast playing in the pool with my camera that could go underwater and laughed until we were in danger of drowning :) Then we went back to the rooms for showers and naps. In the evening Jessica and I had umbrella drinks (well, the umbrellas ended up blowing away in the wind, but we DID have umbrella drinks) and good girl-talk by the river while Jordan watched some football. Then we all went and watched the feeding of the crocodiles by the river and then had our own dinner. That night I had a pork stir fry. Yum-a-liscious! Jordan and I have great conversations/debates, so we really enjoyed dinner conversations. I was also entertained by the (cute) waiter who told Jordan that he could have free beer if he would leave one of his women (Jessica or I) for him. Jordan volunteered me, but I made him pay for the beer anyway :) After dinner we went and exchanged some money and checked emails at the hotel office. On the way back to the rooms, I unfortunately stepped on an acacia thorn. They are huge and very sharp and I had about 1/2 an inch go into my big toe. It hurt. Lots and lots of swear words. Luckily the thorns do not have any toxic chemicals on them, and we cleaned out my foot with hand sanitizer (which did NOT lessen the hurting!!) So all in all it was fine, but it certainly hurt for a couple of days. It was 11:00ish by the time I hit the pillow, but (other than the thorn) it was a really great day :) Click here to see pictures from this day.
Anyway, I got up and then proceeded to watch the baboons playing in the trees by the river. This area, by the way, is one of the places that Joy Adamson (the lady who wrote Born Free) lived... and it was very surreal to sit there and watch something in real life that I had read described in such vivid detail. Also, baboons really do "bark" at each other. They are very noisy, but also fun to watch. We all met for breakfast at 7:00 (including fresh-off-the-tree pineapple... YUM!!) and then headed to the van to start our day.
The evening before, Benjamin had suggested that we visit a local village, and we were all game for that, so that was the first stop of the day. It was a very unique experience, starting with the women of the tribe welcoming us with a dance and "supa" which means "hello". Then they invited the women of our group to dance with them (which we did) they also put many necklaces on us and then men in our group. Then all of us were invited into the village. The women danced more, and then the men of our group were invited to dance with the men of the tribe. Then the men showed us how they made fire (pretty quickly!). This was followed by an introduction to their goats (herding is their livelihood - other villages we saw had cows, sheep, and camels too). They drink the milk, and often the blood of the animals, but rarely eat the meat. They gather wild vegetation for other foodstuffs as well. They were very confused when we named one of the baby goats! :) Then we got a tour of the school and one of their houses. Chili, a woman who had attended a missionary school and spoke pretty fluent English was our guide. She also helps teach in the school, and it was interesting to share perspectives with her. The children at the school were thrilled that we came to visit and sang us a couple of songs, including (oddly enough) "I'm a little teapot." Chili and I exchanged email addresses (I am assuming she walks several miles to the resort to have internet access) and I am looking forward to keeping in touch with her. As the Estes Park 3rd graders do a big Africa unit, I am hoping they will be able to send some care packages to this school. We also got to see the inside of one of their homes (very different from ours, to say the least). Chili also talked to us about the culture of the Samburu tribespeople - the roles of men and women (women do 90% of the work!) and their polygamous society. As the token single girl in our group, I received my first marriage proposal - a very good offer as I would be "first wife" but I had to decline. We ended our visit by buying some of their artwork and jewelry and then piled back in Jesus to head to another game drive. It's very hard to describe the experience that morning... I think I am still in the process of taking it all in. So while I certainly went to Africa for the animals, I am very glad to have had the experience with the Samburu people. Life sometimes is the most interesting when you least expect it :)
So then we drove to another park (I think it was called Isiolo, but that was also the name of the closest town, so I could be wrong). It was very hot, but there was also a really nice breeze. Benjamin said we were very lucky as that (breeze) was unusual for that area. We saw some zebras (both kinds), warthogs, ostriches, and more giraffes. We also found a troupe of baboons in the trees and several Grant's Gazelles and Oryxes. Benjamin stopped the van along the river when he hear a lot of birds making a racket. "They don't just make noise!" he said, and sure enough, we spotted our first lion. We got just a glimpse of him (Benjamin said it was a her, but looking at pictures, we think it was a him) and then he disappeared into the trees. We drove a little further along the way he had been headed and then Benjamin stopped the car. It took us a while to see what Benjamin had seen, but sure enough, we were being watched. Very creepy but VERY cool! I love those pictures :) Then we found a female elephant who's herd had crossed to the other side of the river, but she was quite content to entertain us for a while. We drove a bit more and found another herd of elephants including two delightful babies :) We watched them for a long time until they decided to move on down to the river. (Some of my favorite pictures are of the mom itching herself on the tree!!) Then we found a couple of giraffes (with a baby!) After a couple more hours it was VERY hot and very very dusty, so we were quite content to head back to the lodge. Many of the lodges welcome you with a cool washcloth that smells like eucalyptus - and it was disgusting to see how much dirt came off when we wiped our faces! We had another scrumptions lunch around 2:00 (a beef dish with fried bread and fresh veggies - and more "shooters" for dessert!)
That afternoon we had the option of going on a nature walk down the river, but Jess, Jordan and I chose to spend the afternoon in the pool instead. Ben and Kathryn also passed on the walk, and Tim and Susan went (but it sounded like we didn't miss much). We had a blast playing in the pool with my camera that could go underwater and laughed until we were in danger of drowning :) Then we went back to the rooms for showers and naps. In the evening Jessica and I had umbrella drinks (well, the umbrellas ended up blowing away in the wind, but we DID have umbrella drinks) and good girl-talk by the river while Jordan watched some football. Then we all went and watched the feeding of the crocodiles by the river and then had our own dinner. That night I had a pork stir fry. Yum-a-liscious! Jordan and I have great conversations/debates, so we really enjoyed dinner conversations. I was also entertained by the (cute) waiter who told Jordan that he could have free beer if he would leave one of his women (Jessica or I) for him. Jordan volunteered me, but I made him pay for the beer anyway :) After dinner we went and exchanged some money and checked emails at the hotel office. On the way back to the rooms, I unfortunately stepped on an acacia thorn. They are huge and very sharp and I had about 1/2 an inch go into my big toe. It hurt. Lots and lots of swear words. Luckily the thorns do not have any toxic chemicals on them, and we cleaned out my foot with hand sanitizer (which did NOT lessen the hurting!!) So all in all it was fine, but it certainly hurt for a couple of days. It was 11:00ish by the time I hit the pillow, but (other than the thorn) it was a really great day :) Click here to see pictures from this day.
Trip Report Part II (Safari Day 1)
So Tuesday morning (6/15) I woke up at 4:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. I re-organized my suitcase and backpack as I had brought a bunch of stuff for Jessica and Jordan and then took another heavenly shower. I laid around and watched soccer (of the 26 TV channels, 18 of them had soccer on) until a little after 6:00 when I called Jess and Jordan's room (we were meeting for breakfast at 6:30, so I knew they were up) and then took them all their stuff. We went down to breakfast together where we enjoyed the first of many delicious meals (more about the food later). We then went back up to finish packing as we were meeting the rest of our safari crew and our driver in the lobby at 7:15.
We all piled in the van (later named Jesus - the Spanish pronunciation) and made our introductions. Benjamin, our driver for the week is a native Kenyan who has been doing game drives for 10 years. Kathryn and Ben are from London where Ben manages 3 pubs (that's right, I've now got connections!) and they were on their honeymoon. Also on their honeymoon were Tim and Susan, also English, who were in the process of transitioning between London and New York. I have to pause here and say and extra-special thank-you to the Safari Gods because we got SO lucky with our safari crew. They were HILARIOUS and we had so much fun together. Benjamin called us the "happy bus."
So we were off!!! Or... so we thought. Because we proceeded to get stuck in the worst and scariest traffic jam ever. I honestly do not know how we didn't die at least 400 times...and add to that the fact that we had to keep the windows closed (for safety reasons - more on that later) and it was humid and about a million degrees inside the van - and Nairobi has VERY bad air pollution... I was miserable. If this is Africa, I thought, I want to go home. But, thanks to Benjamin, we didn't die 400 times, and we finally made it out of the traffic. The "suburbs" of Nairobi are full of very dilapidated buildings and make-shift camps. As the country of Kenya has between 30-40% unemployment, there is ALOT of poverty. It was certainly an eye-opener. However, the further from the city we traveled, the more we got into farm country. 75% of those that are employed in Kenya work in agriculture. There were pineapple, coffee, tea, wheat, corn, and many other kinds of farms. Another big crop for Kenya is roses, and we saw miles and miles of greenhouses. Anyway, the no-speed-limit was a good thing for us, as we were way behind in time from the traffic jam - so we made pretty good time for the rest of the 6 hour drive. Also, the pollution got much better out of the city, and the high 70's temperatures, while cool for native Africans, was really nice. The best part about the drive for me was all the different kinds of trees. I LOVE African trees. One funny anecdote - while driving out of Nairobi, Susan and I saw a bunch of huge birds in a tree. Tim instantly said they were vultures (which they definitely were NOT) and so from then on, EVERY bird we saw was a vulture :) Anyway...we stopped once at a designated spot (apparently a place that is approved by the Kenyan board of tourism for being safe) to have a potty break and do a little shopping. This was my first introduction to bargaining, and thank goodness for Jordan, who got my purchase of a really pretty big canvas silhouette painting thingy down from 14,000 shillings to 5,000 shillings!! ($65 dollars). We also drove past Mt. Kenya, but sadly it was covered in clouds so we couldn't see the top of the 17,057ft peak. The other rather-not-fun part about the day (and many days to come) was the state of the roads in Kenya. They are... basically... CRAP. And thus travelers often receive what is known as the "Free African Massage" aka getting bounced around ALOT. It was very much like riding in the back of a camp van (for those of you who can relate). So, needless to say, we were all VERY happy to finally reach our first lodge. This was the Sarova Shaba Game Lodge located on the banks of the Ewaso Ngiro River. Luckily Benjamin had radioed ahead to have them hold lunch for us (as it was 3:00 by the time we got there) and we were STARVING. We toasted to our survival and had a delicious lunch. We dashed off to drop our stuff off in our rooms, took a few quick pictures of the local vervet monkeys, and then it was off for our first game drive.
This part of Africa is very arid and hot. It is surrounded by 8 very old volcanoes and thus has a very rocky and unique landscape (kind of like Craters of the Moon in Idaho for those of you who have been there). It was late in the afternoon, so not incredibly hot, but definitely very warm. Anyway, the first thing we saw was a giraffe!! He was a lone male reticulated giraffe and was very cool :) This was followed by a guinea fowl and then our first elephant. Just to give you an example of how much I love my safari crew - it wasn't even MY idea to name the animals we saw :) and thus this handsome bull elephant was dubbed Bernard (pronounced Bernerd - the British way!) We watched him for quite some time, and then drove further to a lookout point. Another funny Tim-ism was when he was trying to point out some animals off in the distance and said they were near the tree -- the one with green on the top and brown on the bottom. The smartass that I am proceeded to ask him if it was the tree that had a vulture in it :) Oh dear :) On the way back we saw Bernard again (he was in the road, and thus had the right of way) and then a gerenuk gazelle (also known as a giraffe-neck antelope as they have a crazy-long neck). There were also a lot of tiny gazelles known as dik-diks which I don't think I ever got a picture of, but who are smaller than Sherlock! We made it back to the lodge as the sun was setting, had a quick rest in our rooms, and then Jess, Jordan, and I met for a fantastic dinner around 8:00. For dinner that night I had lamb-kabobs, caramelized butternut squash, fresh stir-fry veggies, and delicious bread. For dessert we had what I think is triffel - a alcohol soaked fruit-jam-concoction covered with cream. They were in shotglasses and were SOOOOO yummy. I think I had at least 3 of them :) After a lot of good conversation, we agreed to hit the sack, and I think I hit the pillow around 9:30 listening to the tune of African insects and the soft song of the river. I was already in love :) Click on this link for the pictures from this day.
We all piled in the van (later named Jesus - the Spanish pronunciation) and made our introductions. Benjamin, our driver for the week is a native Kenyan who has been doing game drives for 10 years. Kathryn and Ben are from London where Ben manages 3 pubs (that's right, I've now got connections!) and they were on their honeymoon. Also on their honeymoon were Tim and Susan, also English, who were in the process of transitioning between London and New York. I have to pause here and say and extra-special thank-you to the Safari Gods because we got SO lucky with our safari crew. They were HILARIOUS and we had so much fun together. Benjamin called us the "happy bus."
So we were off!!! Or... so we thought. Because we proceeded to get stuck in the worst and scariest traffic jam ever. I honestly do not know how we didn't die at least 400 times...and add to that the fact that we had to keep the windows closed (for safety reasons - more on that later) and it was humid and about a million degrees inside the van - and Nairobi has VERY bad air pollution... I was miserable. If this is Africa, I thought, I want to go home. But, thanks to Benjamin, we didn't die 400 times, and we finally made it out of the traffic. The "suburbs" of Nairobi are full of very dilapidated buildings and make-shift camps. As the country of Kenya has between 30-40% unemployment, there is ALOT of poverty. It was certainly an eye-opener. However, the further from the city we traveled, the more we got into farm country. 75% of those that are employed in Kenya work in agriculture. There were pineapple, coffee, tea, wheat, corn, and many other kinds of farms. Another big crop for Kenya is roses, and we saw miles and miles of greenhouses. Anyway, the no-speed-limit was a good thing for us, as we were way behind in time from the traffic jam - so we made pretty good time for the rest of the 6 hour drive. Also, the pollution got much better out of the city, and the high 70's temperatures, while cool for native Africans, was really nice. The best part about the drive for me was all the different kinds of trees. I LOVE African trees. One funny anecdote - while driving out of Nairobi, Susan and I saw a bunch of huge birds in a tree. Tim instantly said they were vultures (which they definitely were NOT) and so from then on, EVERY bird we saw was a vulture :) Anyway...we stopped once at a designated spot (apparently a place that is approved by the Kenyan board of tourism for being safe) to have a potty break and do a little shopping. This was my first introduction to bargaining, and thank goodness for Jordan, who got my purchase of a really pretty big canvas silhouette painting thingy down from 14,000 shillings to 5,000 shillings!! ($65 dollars). We also drove past Mt. Kenya, but sadly it was covered in clouds so we couldn't see the top of the 17,057ft peak. The other rather-not-fun part about the day (and many days to come) was the state of the roads in Kenya. They are... basically... CRAP. And thus travelers often receive what is known as the "Free African Massage" aka getting bounced around ALOT. It was very much like riding in the back of a camp van (for those of you who can relate). So, needless to say, we were all VERY happy to finally reach our first lodge. This was the Sarova Shaba Game Lodge located on the banks of the Ewaso Ngiro River. Luckily Benjamin had radioed ahead to have them hold lunch for us (as it was 3:00 by the time we got there) and we were STARVING. We toasted to our survival and had a delicious lunch. We dashed off to drop our stuff off in our rooms, took a few quick pictures of the local vervet monkeys, and then it was off for our first game drive.
This part of Africa is very arid and hot. It is surrounded by 8 very old volcanoes and thus has a very rocky and unique landscape (kind of like Craters of the Moon in Idaho for those of you who have been there). It was late in the afternoon, so not incredibly hot, but definitely very warm. Anyway, the first thing we saw was a giraffe!! He was a lone male reticulated giraffe and was very cool :) This was followed by a guinea fowl and then our first elephant. Just to give you an example of how much I love my safari crew - it wasn't even MY idea to name the animals we saw :) and thus this handsome bull elephant was dubbed Bernard (pronounced Bernerd - the British way!) We watched him for quite some time, and then drove further to a lookout point. Another funny Tim-ism was when he was trying to point out some animals off in the distance and said they were near the tree -- the one with green on the top and brown on the bottom. The smartass that I am proceeded to ask him if it was the tree that had a vulture in it :) Oh dear :) On the way back we saw Bernard again (he was in the road, and thus had the right of way) and then a gerenuk gazelle (also known as a giraffe-neck antelope as they have a crazy-long neck). There were also a lot of tiny gazelles known as dik-diks which I don't think I ever got a picture of, but who are smaller than Sherlock! We made it back to the lodge as the sun was setting, had a quick rest in our rooms, and then Jess, Jordan, and I met for a fantastic dinner around 8:00. For dinner that night I had lamb-kabobs, caramelized butternut squash, fresh stir-fry veggies, and delicious bread. For dessert we had what I think is triffel - a alcohol soaked fruit-jam-concoction covered with cream. They were in shotglasses and were SOOOOO yummy. I think I had at least 3 of them :) After a lot of good conversation, we agreed to hit the sack, and I think I hit the pillow around 9:30 listening to the tune of African insects and the soft song of the river. I was already in love :) Click on this link for the pictures from this day.
Trip Report Part I (the not-so exciting travels to Africa)
So I figured I would do this day-by-day to break it up a little, or it is going to be pages and pages long :) So I'll start at the beginning and go to the end and attach links to pictures along the way. Feel free to read as much or as little as you like. Likewise, when you get to the pictures, feel free to skip through if you get tired of looking at the animals (although I could never get tired of looking at them.)
So I started off from Estes Park at 6am on Sunday, June 13th. I had dropped Sherlock off at his doggy-sitting neighbor's house the night before and after smooching Fatness on the head and filling up his food bowl, I was off. It was raining and cold (snowing on the hilltops) and the river was just under floodstage, but I made it down the canyon just fine and to my Aunt Barb's house in Denver. I left Cujo in her garage and she drove me to the airport, where I had my first giddy-international-traveling-experience when I got to swipe my passport to get my plane tickets. I stopped by the Mangelsen gallery (to look at Africa pictures of course) and then went through security. Mom was flying back from AZ the same morning, so I met her at her gate and we chatted for a while before she went to claim her suitcase and I went to find something to munch. My flight left DIA around 11:30 and got to Detroit just fine. I did a couple laps of the Detroit airport (since I was about to be sitting for a LONG time) and then boarded my flight to Amsterdam. I sat next to a very nice Russian lady who was on her way to visit her family near Moscow. She thought I was a little crazy to be going on a safari. I was very excited about watching the free movies, however the plane's system was screwy and they had to reset it several times. Luckily the airline steward on my side of the plane was hilarious!! He did a song and dance routine while passing out drinks, talked up the "suquient" airplane food, and overall just made me laugh :) The movie system never ended up getting fixed correctly, but I messed with it and somehow figured out how to fix mine. I also then fixed my seatmate, the guy across the isle, four people on the way to the bathroom, and a couple of other people who came looking for "the girl that can fix the tv thing." I should have asked for tips :) I ended up watching two and a half movies and did not sleep at all for the 8ish hour flight. I then had about 3 hours in the Amsterdam airport... which was very boring. I also think they are dumb because you have to go through security at every gate, so to get onto the plane for Nairobi I had to do another security check. The second flight (also about 8ish hours) was not as much fun. It was a much bigger plane and I felt very sardine-like. I watched some more movies and napped a little, but was VERY glad to get off the plane. I was lucky to be close to the front of the plane because that meant I was close to the front of the line to get my visa, which went just fine and I got my luggage just fine (although it was a little un-nerving as there were military with very big guns walking around the airport). Then I stood in line again to not declare anything, and finally exited the airport. I won't type the large amount of swear words that went through my head upon seeing the MASSES of people waiting outside the airport with signs and such... but I finally found my name and the very nice safari lady took me away from the chaos and stuck me in a car to the hotel. This was followed by my first (of many) terrifying experiences with African traffic. First of all, they drive on the wrong side of the road - which is weird enough in itself. But I think I could get use to that if they actually had ANY kind of rhyme or reason to their driving. It is, in a word, INSANE. Thankfully Peter (my driver) seemed to know the rules of the chaos (as there are no lanes, no speed limit, and no one pays attention to the few-and-far-between stoplights). I almost kissed the ground when we got to the hotel in downtown Nairobi, (but instead gave Peter a nice tip) and got checked into the Sarova Stanley Hotel (ironically sharing the name with the famous Estes Park Stanley - although I checked the history and, while equally old, are not related). I had a very nice room... but the far-and-away best part was the incredibly wonderful shower. I think any shower would have been wonderful after that much traveling, but this extra-big-tub and extra-water-pressure-shower was heavenly. I might have set the world record for longest shower :) Then it was pjs and bed. I think I hit the pillow around 10:00pm Nairobi-time. I had made it to Africa!!
So I started off from Estes Park at 6am on Sunday, June 13th. I had dropped Sherlock off at his doggy-sitting neighbor's house the night before and after smooching Fatness on the head and filling up his food bowl, I was off. It was raining and cold (snowing on the hilltops) and the river was just under floodstage, but I made it down the canyon just fine and to my Aunt Barb's house in Denver. I left Cujo in her garage and she drove me to the airport, where I had my first giddy-international-traveling-experience when I got to swipe my passport to get my plane tickets. I stopped by the Mangelsen gallery (to look at Africa pictures of course) and then went through security. Mom was flying back from AZ the same morning, so I met her at her gate and we chatted for a while before she went to claim her suitcase and I went to find something to munch. My flight left DIA around 11:30 and got to Detroit just fine. I did a couple laps of the Detroit airport (since I was about to be sitting for a LONG time) and then boarded my flight to Amsterdam. I sat next to a very nice Russian lady who was on her way to visit her family near Moscow. She thought I was a little crazy to be going on a safari. I was very excited about watching the free movies, however the plane's system was screwy and they had to reset it several times. Luckily the airline steward on my side of the plane was hilarious!! He did a song and dance routine while passing out drinks, talked up the "suquient" airplane food, and overall just made me laugh :) The movie system never ended up getting fixed correctly, but I messed with it and somehow figured out how to fix mine. I also then fixed my seatmate, the guy across the isle, four people on the way to the bathroom, and a couple of other people who came looking for "the girl that can fix the tv thing." I should have asked for tips :) I ended up watching two and a half movies and did not sleep at all for the 8ish hour flight. I then had about 3 hours in the Amsterdam airport... which was very boring. I also think they are dumb because you have to go through security at every gate, so to get onto the plane for Nairobi I had to do another security check. The second flight (also about 8ish hours) was not as much fun. It was a much bigger plane and I felt very sardine-like. I watched some more movies and napped a little, but was VERY glad to get off the plane. I was lucky to be close to the front of the plane because that meant I was close to the front of the line to get my visa, which went just fine and I got my luggage just fine (although it was a little un-nerving as there were military with very big guns walking around the airport). Then I stood in line again to not declare anything, and finally exited the airport. I won't type the large amount of swear words that went through my head upon seeing the MASSES of people waiting outside the airport with signs and such... but I finally found my name and the very nice safari lady took me away from the chaos and stuck me in a car to the hotel. This was followed by my first (of many) terrifying experiences with African traffic. First of all, they drive on the wrong side of the road - which is weird enough in itself. But I think I could get use to that if they actually had ANY kind of rhyme or reason to their driving. It is, in a word, INSANE. Thankfully Peter (my driver) seemed to know the rules of the chaos (as there are no lanes, no speed limit, and no one pays attention to the few-and-far-between stoplights). I almost kissed the ground when we got to the hotel in downtown Nairobi, (but instead gave Peter a nice tip) and got checked into the Sarova Stanley Hotel (ironically sharing the name with the famous Estes Park Stanley - although I checked the history and, while equally old, are not related). I had a very nice room... but the far-and-away best part was the incredibly wonderful shower. I think any shower would have been wonderful after that much traveling, but this extra-big-tub and extra-water-pressure-shower was heavenly. I might have set the world record for longest shower :) Then it was pjs and bed. I think I hit the pillow around 10:00pm Nairobi-time. I had made it to Africa!!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Africa!
Well it will take me a while to go through all the pictures and write a good trip report, but it's in the works! The bottom line is that I had the time of my life :)
Saturday, June 12, 2010
And OFF WE GO!!!
Ok, so in about 25.5 hours I will be up up and away to Africa!!!! I added a Nairobi clock to the blog so you can see what time it is in Kenya :) Jessica and Jordan are bringing their laptop from Nigeria, so if there is internet available, I might be able to do updates. Chances are I'll update Facebook before the blog, but I will also check email if I can. I'm off to try to get the suitcase to close!
Bon Voyage!!
Bon Voyage!!
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Summer time! And the livin' is easy.... :)
YAY for summer!! Sleep, pj time, sleep, hammock time, sleep, fat kitty time, sleep, book time, sleep, friend time, sleep, dog time, sleep, flipflops, sleep, icecream, sleep, mountain hikes, sleep, sleep, and sleep!! Ahhhhhhh :)
The last week of school was awful. We got an absurdly unreasonable "paperwork" deadline dumped on us on Monday and the stress of everything just made for an awful week. The kids were pretty poorly behaved, grades were also due, and everyone was pretty upset about the stupidness of the administration. On top of that, other people were mean and rude and just didn't help my week be better at all. However, at the very end of the last day with kids (Thursday) I finally broke down and got a little shmoopy with my kids and told them how special they were as my first real class and how I would never ever forget them. I started to cry a little which was immediately followed by 22 amazing kids tackling me in the biggest and best group hug that has ever existed. Yet again, I realized, it's really all worth it. (But I am still so happy it's summer!!!) Then all the teachers walked the students out and waved goodbye to all the buses... followed by lots of cheering :)
Friday I cleaned out my room, finished the miles and miles of paperwork I had to do, and shoved everything else in cupboards :) This was followed by celebrating with friends :) Saturday I slept, slept, spent some time in the hammock, and then slept some more. I also had a cookout with friends and enjoyed celebrating summer some more! Sunday was a lazy day (more sleep) and then Monday I had a wonderful holiday with my local bff wandering around an art fair, eating icecream, a fun hike, and having dinner. So far this week I've gotten very little accomplished and it has been heaven :) I did a little Africa shopping (more to come tomorrow... if I get up in time!) and took the animals for their annual vet checkup. Other than that, I cannot describe how delicious it is to have NOTHING to do.
Also the countdown is REALLY on now!! We're down to single digits people!!!
9 days and counting!!!!!!!!!!
The last week of school was awful. We got an absurdly unreasonable "paperwork" deadline dumped on us on Monday and the stress of everything just made for an awful week. The kids were pretty poorly behaved, grades were also due, and everyone was pretty upset about the stupidness of the administration. On top of that, other people were mean and rude and just didn't help my week be better at all. However, at the very end of the last day with kids (Thursday) I finally broke down and got a little shmoopy with my kids and told them how special they were as my first real class and how I would never ever forget them. I started to cry a little which was immediately followed by 22 amazing kids tackling me in the biggest and best group hug that has ever existed. Yet again, I realized, it's really all worth it. (But I am still so happy it's summer!!!) Then all the teachers walked the students out and waved goodbye to all the buses... followed by lots of cheering :)
Friday I cleaned out my room, finished the miles and miles of paperwork I had to do, and shoved everything else in cupboards :) This was followed by celebrating with friends :) Saturday I slept, slept, spent some time in the hammock, and then slept some more. I also had a cookout with friends and enjoyed celebrating summer some more! Sunday was a lazy day (more sleep) and then Monday I had a wonderful holiday with my local bff wandering around an art fair, eating icecream, a fun hike, and having dinner. So far this week I've gotten very little accomplished and it has been heaven :) I did a little Africa shopping (more to come tomorrow... if I get up in time!) and took the animals for their annual vet checkup. Other than that, I cannot describe how delicious it is to have NOTHING to do.
Also the countdown is REALLY on now!! We're down to single digits people!!!
9 days and counting!!!!!!!!!!
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