Jul 26, 2010 - Safari - Lake Nakuru!

Rained last night, we danced in it! Hotel had a lukewarm shower, lovely change :) Am dreaming of hot showers when I get home, cannot wait! Flamingos at Lake Nakuru was incredible, just a long line of pink! Did not manage to complete the Big 5 sadly, we found rhino but no leopard! Were very close to seeing leopard though, came to the area minutes after it was spotted. Spent a long time hunting for it. At one point Jackson was looking out the wrong side of the van with binoculars and we were all like do you see it? And he was like, No, im...

Jul 16, 2009 - Rhinos within reach

We left Karen Blixen Camp feeling we could have easily enjoyed a couple more days …relaxing by the hippo pool awaiting other wildlife getting a drink. We had about a 6-hour drive to Lake Nakuru National Park. We also killed about an hour changing money and filling the safari vehicle with diesel. We spent the first 2 hours bouncing along on dirt roads that varied from bad to worse. Finally some nice new pavement….followed by really terrible conditions in the construction area….then finally smooth sailing for the last 1.5 hours....

Oct 5, 2008 - Rhinos of Lake Nakuru, Kenya

10/5/08 Driving from Uganda back into Kenya, the landscape became flatter and drier as we approach the Rift Valley. This geographical phenomenon has been formed by the tectonic plates pulling apart and extends from Malawi all the way up to the Sahara Desert. Surrounded by craters and mountains, the Kenyan valley is home to the usual variety of wildlife as well as some interesting geothermal activity. We visited Lake Nakuru, a "soda" lake with salt that provides a home to hundreds of pelicans and pink flamingos. We watched as a trio of hyena...

Sep 25, 2008 - Lake Nakuru National Park

Met Zac at 730am and drove just over an hour to get to Lake Nakuru. Once at the Lake we saw the masses of pink flamingos feeding. There was a hyena running at the Flamingos but it really didn't stand a chance as they just flew away from him. It was quite a sight seeing all these birds gathered in this one place, there was a lot of chirping going on. Within the park we were lucky enough to see numerous groups of Rhino in their family groups with babys. We were about 3 metres away it was so unreal seeing them as they were huge. We couldn't...

Feb 4, 2006 - A room with a view.

A couple of months ago, Evan and I were driving up by Lake Naivasha and we spotted off in the distance, a fancy looking hotel perched on the side of a big hill. We later determined that it was the Great Rift Valley Lodge. So while Evan was out of town in January, I booked up an overnight at this cool place. [He paid when he returned :)] We started the journey an hour later than we had planned. Not unusual for us. The drive was mostly pleasant, until the last 11 or so km which was on some of the bumpiest/dustiest road I have ever seen....

Jan 10, 2006 - Lac Nakuru

Le 10 janvier (jour 6) nous partons - toujours très tôt le matin - vers le parc national Nakuru et traversons ainsi le "Great Rift Valley". Le rift est une coupure qui s'est produite dans l'écorce terrestre il y a ?? milions? d'année, alors qu'une très longue bande de terre s'est effondrée de quelques mille pieds, laissant des murs abrupts de chaque côté. On dit que cette bande de terre traverse presque toute l'Afrique du nord au sud, allant de l'Égypte au Mozambique et qu'elle mesure de 1 à plusieurs kilomètres de large. On y voit entre...

Nov 26, 2005 - A hiking we shall go...

(Note: in the front pocket of my shirt, I had a tiny tin of Burt's Bees lip balm. You will see what I am talking about when you look at the pictures. If I had known it looked so stupid, I would have put it in my pant's pocket.) While I was in the States, Evan went hiking up near Lake Naivaisha in Hell's Gate National Park and touring near Lake Nakuru, which has an obscene amount of flamingos. He told me about how lovely it was so on Thanksgiving weekend, we headed up. We spent Friday night in this cute little place in the town of Naivasha...

Oct 10, 2005 - Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, South Africa

For the past 3 weeks I have camped, safaried, walked, sweated, shivered, suffered severe sunburns, heat stroke,ear infections, loss of balance, some dehydration and severe blistering and infections from mosquito bites while visiting in the deepest parts of Eastern Africa.To put it simply it has been the most exhiliarting part of my journey thus far. All the sights, sounds, smells and tastes surpased all my expectations. It has not been the easist way to see Africa but it has been the most rewarding and Africa gets into and stays in your...

Aug 11, 2004 - Africa Days 1-2 - Nairobi & Lake Nakuru National Park

I'm finally here! After all these years of waiting it's here! I flew out from Sydney on Friday night 9.30pm. Mum, dad, Bec, Scott, Bronte, Craig, Bec & Staci all came to see me off, it was great to have so many people wanting to come to the airport. The flight to Dubai was long, but Emirates give everyone individual screens & I could pick whatever movie I wanted at any time, it was a great set up, although I did miss out on seeing the end of Finding Nemo, so not sure if he was ever found :-( Arriving into Nairobi was like arriving into...

Aug 7, 2004 - Lake Naivasha and My Introduction to the African Wildlife

On Saturday, Evan took me and one of his coworkers, Chris, to Lake Naivasha. It is about an hour's drive from Nairobi. On the way there, we passed some incredible poverty. The kind that you see on the news. I have never actually seen anything like this and it was a bit overwhelming. There was also trash everywhere. And my first glimpse of animals were donkeys, which are everywhere. Evan pointed out the they are the only beast of burden native to Africa. There were also lots of sheep, goats, and chickens. Not exactly the exotic wildlife I...