One of the Best Game Drives We've Done!
Trip Start
Jan 20, 2010
1
22
23
Trip End
Ongoing
Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya
Thursday, March 25, 2010
We jumped on our truck early, and headed straight to the park. We were greeted by a family of Baboons who scared the living 'scheizen' out of us. Moses drove us through the main gate, and we soon came across the Lake, which is unfortunately slowly drying up. We catch our first glimpse of the 'donkey with stripes' aka the Zebra. They're pretty amazing creatures to see for the first time...but by the end of our trip, we'd seen so many of them that we didn't even give them a second look. Next on the list were the pink flamingo's. As we approached the lake, we could see a distinct pink colour ahead of us, but couldn't quite make out what it was. At closer inspection, there were thousands of flamingo's pretty much doing nothing but standing in the shallows of the lake. We jumped off the truck, and managed to get quite close to them, before scaring them away. Our feet and ankles were caked with mud, but seeing these giant birds with legs that seem no wider than a copper wire was pretty special.
Several pics later, we're cruising beside the lake and find a family of spotted Hyena's lazing about. Moses stops, and the little buggers didn't even budge...they weren't interested seeing us, and kept going about their business. Francis spots a white rhino in the distance, so we continue on our merry way to get up close and personal with him. We're literally 10 metres away, and the big guy gives us a stare before realising we're no threat, then plonks himself neatly on the ground for a rest. Buffalo's, more Zebra later, we decide to head to the scenic viewpoint to gain a better understanding of the parks landscape...this place is seriously beautiful!
By now it's close to lunch, so we're off again on our truck heading to our lunch spot, near a natural waterfall. On our way however, we spot several Rothschild Giraffe doing their thing in the wild. Literally minutes later, Moses slams on the brakes and is adamant he sees a leopard lying in a tree in the distance. 'Get the cameras out quick!' BUT, we have absolutely no idea where it is. Moses has to jump out of the truck, join us in the back and take us through branch by branch, leaf by leaf until we spot it. None of our cameras are equipped with a large enough zoom, and even the binoculars didn't do the trick. I managed to zoom in enough to barely make out a tail...'How does he spot things?' it'll never cease to amaze us.
We still haven't eaten, so go on our merry way. Someone shouts out 'Stop the truck!' and so Moses again brings us to a screeching halt, then backs up a little. Whaddya know...3 lions are taking a nap barely 5 metres from the road. You beauty...jackpot!! Unfortunately they weren't in the mood to play, but we still spent some time gawking at these vicious meat-eaters. We don't want to leave...this is soooo cool.
After eating a salad sambo on crunchy bread, we're off doing our best to spot more wildlife. We see Kobs, Zebra, Giraffe, Impala, loads of Elephant, along with more White Rhino. Within a few hours, we've seen 4 of the 'big 5.'
We left the National Park buzzing...back at the campsite, we hang out with the orphans...today was a lot of fun, and we slept in our tent to the sweet sound of rain.
'Some people...find they need animals to look at and to learn from. They have discovered that men, not beasts, are uncivilized'
- Cynthia Nolan, 'One Traveller's Africa' 1965
