One Week

It's been one week since we left home - and what an incredible week it's been!  We are in the southwest corner of Kenya today, at the Masai Mara Game Reserve.  It's hard to believe but every single day of this safari has given us more animals to marvel over, to take pictures of and to enjoy.

After a flat tire on our drive to Lake Nakuru and a delay the next morning to get a new spare, we had a long day driving here and so today, Chris, our driver, wanted to take us out on a full day drive.  By 11 a.m. we had seen 6 lions,  tens of thousands wildebeests,  a newborn topi (like an antelope), about 80 hippos and some huge Nile crocodiles.

We even saw the wildebeests crossing the river, something Chris has only seen 4 times in the last 9 years.

They seemed to like to gather on the road and coexist peacefully with zebras.

Game rules say you must stay 25 metres away from the animals but we still enjoyed the lionesses.

And the hippos - oh, they were so, so cool!!

My internet time never goes far enough!  We miss you all - Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

On Safari - Day #2 - Photos

Picture loading is so slow here but I did manage to get this one

that Bob took of the cheetah eating supper.

On Safari - Day #2

Africa Is . . .

- watching an elephant tear leaves and branches off a tree, while we eat lunch

- staring a Greve's zebra right in the eye

- chasing monkey's off the stairs up to your hotel room

- seeing a baby giraffe drinking milk from its mother

- tracking 4 giraffes as they amble along a rocky ridge

- observing 2 lionesses stretch and sun themselves on a fallen tree

- racing across the dusty red ground of the savannah to find a cheetah gulping down its supper

And all of that happened between 2 o'clock in the afternoon and 6:30 in the evening!!  It was spectacular day - the perfect way for Clarence and Sandra to  celebrate their 25th anniversary!!

On Safari - Day #1

Our first day on safari has been absolutely amazing!!!  We left Nairobi after breakfast and our driver had quite a challenge as he tried to load our 6 bags plus 2 bags from our travelling companions plus his bag.  Eventually one bag had to be sent with another group that was coming to this same lodge and we were off.

Driving through Nairobi was an experience!  Chris is an excellent driver and safely got us through all kinds of traffic with people walking everywhere.  At every traffic light people walk up and down between the cars, selling just about anything you can imagine.  The person selling pillows caught our attention!  We passed several of the embassies, the children’s hospital, many churches, stands along the roadside (including a pharmacy!) and 2 universities before we were out of town.  Along the outskirts of Nairobi, new areas are being developed and there is lots of construction.  Of course along with that goes the temporary living quarters, the tiny stalls selling bracelets or cigarettes and the unemployed waiting beside the road for someone to come and hire them to do a dayjob.   

The highway took us north to Mount Kenya and the Mountain Lodge, where we stayed for one night.    Right in front of the east side of the lodge building is a watering hole - and we have had a great afternoon watching animals!!  While we were finishing lunch, Sandra ran back to the room for a minute and then came rushing back to tell us that a herd of water buffalo was there.  And it just got better and better!!  Water bucks, warthogs, a cattle crane and blue heron were there first.  Then along came the Cape buffalo and soon a whole big group of Vervet monkeys came skittering out of the trees, right beside our room.  At first we saw just a few, chewing leaves and climbing on branches, but soon the whole area was crawling with them as they moved down the hill and crossed the open spot beside the watering hole.  

It wasn't long before a troop of olive baboons descended from the hills and gathered around the water hole.  They were all sizes, including several babies riding on mama's backs.  The dominant male paced around while they drank water and combed each other.  Soon they trooped off and the hole was quiet again with a few buffalo, the warthogs still digging and the birds poking along in the water.

At supper, one of the guides came around and asked if we'd like to be called during the night if any animals came around the hole.  Of course we said yes!  But unfortunately it was a quiet night and the only call we got was for a hyena - who had disappeared by the time we stepped out on the balcony.  The night before a herd of 25 elephants and a leopard had been spotted.

We are leaving Mountain Lodge now and heading to Samburu, north of here, for the next 2 days.  See you in the oven, as our driver says, because it's much hotter there!

Visiting the Elephant Orphanage

Today we drove to Nairobi National Park on the edge of the city (Nairobi is the only city in the world with a national park) and visited the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Orphan Project .  The Trust rescues orphaned elephants and rehabilitates them to return to the wild in Tsavo National Park, south of here.  In the past 28 years they have helped 88 elephants.

The orphans are kept here in the nursery project in the reserve in 3 groups according to their age.  This was our first glimpse of the smallest ones as they emerged from the wild with their keepers.  The group of keepers, who even sleep with the elephants, share responsibilities so the babies don't get too attached to only 1 person.

The project is only open to the public from 11 a.m. to noon each day during feeding time.  Pesi, one of  the youngest and newest orphans at 6 weeks old, is the last one in this group, I think.  They wear blankets to prevent them from getting a sunburn.

Every 4 hours they receive 5 pints of SMA Formula, similar to infant formula.

The second group came a bit later and they were running to the bottles!

After eating, they gently nuzzled and played with the keepers, reminding us of baby dairy calves!

Bob had knelt down so the people behind him could take pictures and this little guy came over to explore and nuzzle his toes!   Bob said his trunk felt so soft on his toe.

Soon the little ones returned to the forest and the oldest group came to feed.

The keepers shared the stories of the little ones and how they've been rescued from poachers or after falling into wells.  Some of them were abandoned by mothers when they were trapped or stuck in the mud.   At 3 years of age, they will move from the nursery to Tsavo and be gradually reintroduced to the wild where the other orphans have formed a family that they will join when they feel ready, at about 10 - 15 years of age.

I was glad to learn about the project and see how the Kenya Wildlife Service is working with the Trust to help this amazing animal.  They also have a rhinoceros project and we saw one of those little black ones too.  They aren't nearly as attached to human beings and are very solitary creatures.  

I took 177 pictures in the one hour and I'm sure Sandra took that many too.  Bob and Clarence were in charge of video footage which is pretty amazing!  I was very lucky to get a better connection today so I could upload these pictures for you - yeah!!!

Tomorrow morning we leave Nairobi and head 3 hours north to Mount Kenya to see monkeys and elephants in the wild - we hope!!

Things to Know

We are getting adjusted to the time and had a leisurely day in the area of our hotel.  Duncan, the tour company rep stopped by to confirm some plans for tomorrow and later when Clarence and Bob will head to Moshi to start their Kili hike.

Then we found a cash machine and successfully withdrew thousands of shillings!!  The rate of conversion is 100 shillings = $1.42 or 700 shillings = $10.00.  Of course none of this means much until you go out and discover your purchasing power!

So our benchmarks are:

500 ml bottle of Tusker beer = $75 shillings + $17 shillings deposit

bananas = $69 shillings / pound

5 cups of dry rice = $225 shillings

small veggie pizza(which was delicious!) + Coke = $485 shillings

toothbrush (yes, some were forgotten at home!) = $255 shillings

small bag of potato chips = $29 shillings

KitKat chocolate bar = $109 shillings

Clarence was trying on hats to wear while we are safari.  What do you think?!!  He's still looking :)

And the flower shop at the mall had this huge arrangement of 500 stems of roses for $4500 shillings.  It was gigantic - bigger than anything I've ever seen!  The shop smelled beautiful with all the colorful arrangements waiting to be purchased.

I have lots more pictures but uploading them is painfully slow so I'll have to save them for later.

In other news - we've killed 4 mosquitoes between our 2 rooms now so the mosquito nets are being used tonight.  Unknown to us, our bedroom window (the screenless kind) was open to the pool area so it was an open invitations for the little guys.  We closed that up and Clarence was a quick catcher, before any of us got bit.  And a very close card game of Kaiser was won by the guys tonight, on a lucky handoff of the dreaded -3 point card!  You can be sure that a rematch will be played soon!!

Arrived!

We are safe and sound at the Jacaranda Hotel in Nairobi!  After 23 hours in airplanes, it was wonderful to see the sign that said "Krueger Family" through the glass at the airport and walk out to meet our driver and find our safari vehicle.  It's nearly midnight here and we are going to call it a day but I wanted to show you a few pictures of what we saw today.

9:30 a.m. - De-icing the plane in Edmonton as it was covered with frost after the coldest night (-8) we've had this fall.

10:05 a.m. - circling away from the airport and heading east across Leduc County.

2:50 p.m. - Preparing for landing in Toronto.

8:10 a.m. - Chocolate shop in the Zurich airport.

9:39 a.m. - Flying out over Zurich (the countryside was so beautiful here - we all want to come back!)

5:05 p.m. - Flying over the Kenyan highlands - Mount Kenya, a dormant volcano, is somewhere in this area.  This picture is especially for Meadow, who watched a show about the volcano recently.  I'll get a better picture on Monday when we drive out here.

8:50 p.m. - Our room at the Jacaranda Hotel, complete with mosquito net over the bed.

9:10 p.m. - Clarence and Bob toasting with the local Tusker beer, Sandra and I using Diet Coke and tomato juice to celebrate our arrival in the hotel restaurant.

We are tired but happy to be here and very much looking forward to tomorrow when we can see more.  It was dark by the time we cleared customs (with only Bob having to open his hiking bag - they wanted to know if everything in it was for his personal use or if he was bringing things in for others) so our first impressions were of:

warm temperature,                

many trees with flowers,              

traffic driving on the wrong / right side of the road,

people wandering between vehicles stopped at traffic lights selling pillows, apples, balls - pretty much anything you might want, the driver said,

payday revelers heading out for a night on the town,

local taxi vans stuffed with people weaving in and out of traffic (M - think Krakow bus!),

and a very helpful man from African Horizons Safari and Travel company.

Tomorrow the real fun - and serious picture taking - begins!!

Good night!