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Published: November 6th 2006
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We recently got back from our first ever African safari! We started in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, ominously dubbed "Nairobbery" and did a 4-day trip. The first three days were spent in the Masai Mara, followed by a day in Lake Nakuru.
We were travelling in a mini van which has a pop off roof for better game viewing with 4 other people - an Ecuadorian, an Aussie/Brit, a Japanese, and an American. After driving for most of the first day, we dumped our bags in camp (which was quite reminiscent of the Inca Trail in South America, but slightly posher!) before setting off for our first game drive from 4pm to 6.30pm. I didn't really expect to see much as we were limited for time, so couldn't go too far into the park. I was very wrong! We saw practically everything!
The first thing we saw were a herd of zebra and wilder beast. Soon after, we came across a group of vultures ripping a wilder beast carcass to shreds - makes for nice gorey photos! We also saw lots of giraffes at close range (Ursula, I thought about you!), three lionesses, three baby
cubs which were soooo cute, a herd of elephants, and the very elusive cheetah! After all that, I definitely felt I had got my moneys worth already!!!
After a night in camp, we woke up for a full day game drive and saw lots of animals from the previous night plus a leopard, hippos and crocodiles, and a baby elephant! There were also some very timid warthogs around, but they were very wary of the van. Nothing like the personality of the one in the Lion King!!!
That night we went to the lodge for a beer to see how the other half live (maybe we shouldn't torture ourselves!). On the way back, most of us got a ride in a van with the guide, but two people decided to walk. They were quite alarmed when they returned to camp and were told that it was very dangerous to walk at night, not because of lions, but because of wild elephants. Apparently, a tourist was walking at night a few years earlier and was killed by an elephant - eek!
On our third day, we did a morning game drive and saw a male
lion for the first time, which was amazing. He was feasting on, as usual, a poor wildebeast! Later on we saw a mother and three cubs again and they came right up to our van, at which point we all hastily shut the windows! It turned out that she just wanted to sit in the shade of the vehicle! One of the babies came right under the window and we all wanted to reach out and pat it but decided that mother wouldn't be too happy about it!
After a long but beautiful journey that afternoon on bumpy and dusty roads, spent waving at the local kids every ten yards, we spent the night in a hotel (luxury!). The next morning we took a final morning safari, this time in the Lake Nakuru National park. This was great as there were a billion flamingos (yes, I counted them all!) forming a pink carpet around the lake. We suddenly saw a lot of zebra and wilder beast scattering in the distance and then noticed a hyena running towards us carrying something suspiciously pink and flamingo-sized in his mouth - we had just missed a "kill" as they call them
here! Oh well, maybe next time, nice little vegetarian that I am!!!
This park was also great for rhino spotting, which we had missed in the Masai Mara. We must have seen about 8 adult rhinos plus a baby. Why are baby animals sooo cute?!
Luckily for me, there was a professional photographer on the trip with a zoom lens the size of a small child. I have talked him into sending me some of his close up shots!
Today we did the trip from Nairobi in Kenya to Arusha in Tanzania. We are going to start looking into safaris in the Serengeti area. If it is half as good as the Masai Mara, we'll be very happy!
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