East African Tour : Kenya : Day 1: Nairobi to Lake Nakuru

Jambo !! Welcome to Kenya ...

Just to get your interest going on what might be to come, I thought I would start with what I consider to be one of my most treasured moments in East Africa ... watching the mighty Fish Eagle catch it's prey! What a privilege to experience the wonder of this amazing bird which, when it calls out, reminds me of Africa in a way that brings chills to my spine !

Africa is truly magnificent ... and if you have never been ... don't wait to go ...

Getting to Kenya was an experience in itself ... I had a 5 hour delay at Johannesburg airport due to a cargo plane dropping it's load on the Kenyatti International runway, effectively closing the airport down and causing chaos !! I eventually made it to Nairobi at about 6pm "ish-ish" and after a fairly hair-raising taxi ride, I was at the Hotel Boulevarde only 2mins away from the centre of Nairobi city and in the comfort of armed guards and a perimeter fence to keep out uninvited guests. I had dinner with a lovely German journalist named Verena - she was off on a different tour to mine, however, we had been on the same flight from JHB and were both travelling on our own so we hooked up for dinner and brekkie the following morning before parting ways.

Day 1 : Nairobi to Lake Nakuru

I met my Tour Leader, Martin ("Marty"), Driver, Patrick and Cook, Tito and also the first 12 members of our tour ... Ben & Amanda (Oz), Bryan (Oz), Craig & Narelle (Oz), Jo & Nick (UK), Dave, Troy & Andy (Oz) and Jen (Oz) ... our first stop took us to the local supermarket for some much needed supplies ... water, water, water !!! After that, we bumped along to our first viewing point of the Rift Valley.



We headed north west to Lake Nakuru and did our first game drive in the late afternoon once we had pitched our tents ... our first sighting of anything vaguely wild had to be a massive baboon ... a hint of the monkey business yet to come maybe??! Whilst at Lake Nakuru, we commenced our hunt for the BIG 5 which includes, Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Elephant and Buffalo ... we were lucky enough to tick off 2 of the 5 in Lake Nakuru ... Rhino - both black and white and Buffalo. Seeing a Black Rhino is actually a real privilege as they are quite rare to spot. They are a lot more aggressive than their more placid cousins, the white rhino who happily continue munching green grass without giving a hoot as to who might be around them. Lake Nakuru is also home to thousands and thousands of beautiful and fascinating PINK flamingos!! I believe that the only reason they are pink is due to the algae in the water that they eat which affects their colouring ... their dancing and prancing on the lake shore were quite spectacular to watch ... check out these pics ...







Day 2 will follow ... with more great game and adventures to see ... keep posted !!