Blogs from Kenya, Africa - page 8

This was a highly anticipated leg. A couple of pretty special places for us to visit and they did not disappoint. Also, some really unexpected delights. As usual, I prefer to allow the photos to tell the story. Panoramas: 1&2 Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwe side...looking to Zambia. 3. Samburu river view. 4. Maasi Mara dawn. Next, we fly to Singapore for a brief stay then an 8 day cruise up the Malay Peninsula to Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Phuket.... read more

We left the lodge at 7am for another game drive around Lake Nakuru taking a packed lunch from the lodge with us. We started by going down to the lake shore where because there were fewer people the flamingos were much closer. Flamingo Bee-eater Lilac-breasted roller African hoopoe Fish eagle Spotted hyena Lions White rhinos with baby Rothschild’s giraffe Ostrich Impala Grant’s gazelles Eland Water buck Buffalo Silver-backed jackal Agama lizard Warthog Zebra Colobus monkey Baboons Vervet monkeys As there hadn’t been many flamingos at Lake Nakuru Moses drove us down to the shore of Lake Elmenteita for lunch in the hope that more of them would be there. They weren’t (just a small flock again) but it was a beautiful picnic spot just outside Oasis Camp. We then heade... read more

After breakfast and admiring the little red-rumped birds that were flitting about the lodge grounds we set off driving past the Aberdares. We had originally wanted to visit the Aberdare National Park and it did look beautiful, but we saw similar habitats whilst hiking on Mt Kenya and apparently it is very hard to see the wildlife here – unsurprising give the dense forests. It was a long drive today but we stopped for lunch by Nyahururu Falls (Thomson's Falls) where we had to fight off shop owners and traditionally dressed posers! We did have one worrying moment when the minibus engine seemed to misbehave – but after poking it a bit all seemed fine. From here it wasn’t much further round to Lake Nakuru National Parkwhere we went straight into a game drive. It was ... read more

Us & the team were all picked up from Meru Bandas at 7am after watching a beautiful dawn and driven down the track through the bamboo and hardwood forests and out of the National Park. Sadly we didn’t see any elephants on the way. We were driven through lots of coffee, tea & banana plantations and tall grass for cattle feed. We had a brief stop to show us a tea plantation and were told how they just pick the top two leaves every 7-10 days - after hiking the mountain our legs did not appreciate the steep loose soil slope up to get there! We also passed the tea market and coffee processing plants in the village. We then headed to Chogoria where we waited for Moses in a café that had amazing fresh juice ... read more

Up at 4:15am to pack & get breakfast in time to leave at 5:15am to hike the few kilometres up Point Lenana (4985m). Very steep and had to do a lot of scrambling over rocks with the help of steel cables – this is the highest via ferrata in the world! It was bitterly cold (our water bottles started freezing over!) but the stars were amazing! We made it to the summit after an hour arriving shortly before sunrise with a thin band of orange light along the eastern horizon. Watching the sun come up over Kenya was rather epic, it was even a clear enough day to spot Mt Kilimanjaro on the southern horizon! From here we had a long hike down the Chogoria route, starting with a stretch of rather nasty scree on which ... read more