Naivasha - Days 18-21


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Africa » Kenya » Rift Valley Province » Lake Naivasha
June 16th 2010
Published: June 20th 2010
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My good friends Maggie annd Paul whom I met in Jordan had kindly let me stay at there house in Naivasha for a coulple of nights before I relocated to their other house in Nairobi before I caught my flight back to England. I say house in Naivasha but it is more like a safari lodge -very luxurious, especially compared to where I have been staying elsewhere on my trip.

On the drive up to the house we drove past a hippo who was feeding outside the water at night!!

On my first morning in Naivasha I had a wander round the lakeside, it was part of a private wildlife park but my hosts worked for the people who owned it. It was fantastic as it was very similar to Hells gate NP as you could walk round on foot but for me it was free - woohoo. A safari truck was driving past when I was walking and he stopped and asked me what I was doing there but I said where I was staying and he was OK with it, but he did ask wasn't I afraid of the buffalos. Apparently these are the no.1 killer of humans (excluding mossies) in Africa - hippos being second. Obviously I said I wasn't scared - mostly due to ignorance!!

The park was great I was walking past giraffes, wart-hogs, antelopes, flamingoes and vervet and colobus monkeys, zebras, plus the hippos in the lake. As I was on foot the animals were even more skittish than usual and they were always watching me. Maggie had arranged for me to go on a game drive in the Oserian private park in the evening - for which I was very grateful - it is very exclusive and normally you can't get access unless you are starying in the luxury lodges. Recently Danny Devito, Angelina Jolie and some Brunei pribcess had been staying there. This was so far removed from my last safari - staying in a tent with no hot water and squat toilets!!! The family who owned the park also owned the flower production company who owned the house where I was staying. All profits generated from tourism are dedicated to the conservation of the Oserian Wildlife Sanctuary and game corridor, the wildlife it supports and the sustainability of surrounding communities.

The park is 18,000 sqkm and had 15 white rhinos, of which 5 I saw - one had the longest horm I'd ever seen - phnaar phnaar:-)

They also had Grevy Zebras, which are an endangered species, they are bigger than normal zebras, but have round ears (that look like eyes from a distance and thinner stripes). These 2 very rare additions to my catlogue of animals seen was like the icing on the cake - to see and endangered species - wow!! I also saw the one male lion that inhabited the park, there are also daily sightings of leopards - but I missed out on that. Also saw a couple of tawny eagles.

If you had loads of money this would be a great place to combine with a normal safari - such as Masai Mara.

Aftre the drive we met the other guests of the park who were paying many thousands more than I was for sundowners and canapes round a camp fire - very civilised indeed. It was during this time that an unwelcome guest may have hitched a ride - see later.

We then drove back to one of the luxury lodges for a drink, (in May 2010 it won the good safari guide award for the travellers choice best safari property) then after around half an hour I went to sit down at the bar when I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my leg near my calf. I didn't think anything major of it immediately but the pain started increasing and it was spreading up and down my leg. I thought I must have had a thorn or something in my trousers so I went to the toilet to investigate, I had long trousers on and I put my hand upmy trouser leg and felt something hard - calm down ladies:-) I then started to roll up my trouser leg and all of a sudden I saw a scopion dangling down. At that point Paul came in and I shouted the obvious it's a ******* scoorpion and he bravely got a towel and pulled it off my leg and dispatched it to the afterlife. By this point the pain had become intense and I was starting to get a little dizzy and had to sit down. Vitually my whole leg was in waves of pain - obviously I kept a stiff upper lip:-) and kept a brave face:-)

I was then driven to the clinic that was provided for the workers by the flower company - which was handy and was given a local anaesthetic and am antihistamine injection in my butt. Aparently it was very rare (reminds me of my safari) to be bitten by a scorpion in Kenya - Paul had been there 8 years and never seen one. The Doc told me that it can only be fatal if the poison reached the heart so if you are bitten on your chest or if you are a child then you face the greatest risk. He said the only thig I would feel was pain - very reassuring. Anyway I got about 2 hours sleep that night and the intense pain lasted for around 7 hours and then it started to subside and was replaced my pins and needles that lasted for around a day.

I couldn't walk much the next day so I longed in the garden and watched the vervet monkeys at play - how cool to have wild monkeys in your garden! Then I was driven back to Nairobi and we all went out for a fantastic Indian, ready for my flight home the next day.

I shall never forget my short trip to Africa, especially all the animals I have seen. The people are extremely friendly and helpful which made up for the fact that there were very few backpackers around. I have just visited 5 sub-saharan countries so far and I shall be back at some point to see some more. I'm hoping though that next time, I will not be in as much pain:-)


Oserian Sanctuary info: -





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23rd June 2010

David what a lucky escape you had with that Scorpion and the pain on your face tells it all. I bet you were glad when the pain eased. The Lodge looks fantastic, and a nice way to end a wonderful holiday. No doubt you have loads of antidotes to apraise people with. After your mother reads about the Scorpion she will be glad you are home!! Take care.
23rd June 2010

sorry about the scorpion!!

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