I guess the date on this posting is actually a lie, as we didn't really go to Lake Nakuru until the morning of April 21st; however, we arrived in Nakuru town and were supposed to go to the lake on Saturday. I say that we were supposed to go to the lake on Saturday, but this did not work out as planned. T.I.A. This is Africa.
After an interesting, though restful, night in our home stay, we had a quick breakfast and headed out of Nairobi for Nakuru, which is north-west of the capital. It took us nearly two hours to get out of Nairobi and its suburbs. I have to admit that we were glad to leave the craziness of Nairobi behind. The drive was quite pleasant, and we had a quick stop to view the Great Rift Valley. It was beautiful.
The rest of our trip to Nakuru was relatively uneventful. Or driver and guide for our time here in Kenya, Daniel, is very nice and more than willing to answer any question. Which I had many. Our itinerary for the day said that we and be staying in "Lux crater view apartments," and, again, this was to be taken literally. We pulled up outside of an apartment building and were told we had arrived at our destination. Interesting... We were starting to see a pattern in our accommodations and were a bit worried, but decided we would wait for the next day, when we were supposed to be staying in a lodge. Daniel instructed us that we would have a "short rest," then head out for our first safari drive of the trip. We were excited. However, he then realized that the clutch on our trusty safari while had broken; therefore, he had to go try to get it fixed. Of course, it took almost all night to get the clutch fixed, so we ended up with no safari drive and sending our afternoon in a random apartment. T.I.A.
Our visit to Nakuru, however, did not completely bomb. We were able to get up the following morning, Sunday, have a quick breakfast, and then go for our first official safari drive around Lake Nakuru National Park.
Lake Nakuru is known for its rhinos and flamingos. Unfortunately, because it is rainy season, the lake has flooded and changed the salinity of the water, which affects the growth of the blue-green algae, which is the primary food source if the flamingos; therefore, there are not as many flamingos present in the lake as usual. Daniel told us that the lake usually looks pink due to the flocks of flamingos; however, it looked much more blue than pink to us. We were still able to see some pretty large flocks of flamingos, though.
Additionally, we were unable to get to the far side if the lake due to flooded and impassable roads. The rhinos tend to spend their time on the other side if the lake. That meant to rhino sightings. Sad... We did see two rhinos from very, very far away, but Daniel told us that they are usually incredibly plentiful and right by the road. We were very lucky, however, to see three female lions literally in the middle of the road. They were not afraid of our car at all! One of the lionesses had been hurt, presumably by a water buffalo, but she looked like she would recover.
We also saw a male lion, but again, it was from very far away. Other signs at Lake Nakuru National Park included baboons, monkeys, water buffalo (who are apparently known in Kenya as the "black death" and will "wait and ambush" a human), and various beautiful birds.
After our safari drive in Lake Nakuru, we headed out to continue our Kenyan adventure!
After an interesting, though restful, night in our home stay, we had a quick breakfast and headed out of Nairobi for Nakuru, which is north-west of the capital. It took us nearly two hours to get out of Nairobi and its suburbs. I have to admit that we were glad to leave the craziness of Nairobi behind. The drive was quite pleasant, and we had a quick stop to view the Great Rift Valley. It was beautiful.
The rest of our trip to Nakuru was relatively uneventful. Or driver and guide for our time here in Kenya, Daniel, is very nice and more than willing to answer any question. Which I had many. Our itinerary for the day said that we and be staying in "Lux crater view apartments," and, again, this was to be taken literally. We pulled up outside of an apartment building and were told we had arrived at our destination. Interesting... We were starting to see a pattern in our accommodations and were a bit worried, but decided we would wait for the next day, when we were supposed to be staying in a lodge. Daniel instructed us that we would have a "short rest," then head out for our first safari drive of the trip. We were excited. However, he then realized that the clutch on our trusty safari while had broken; therefore, he had to go try to get it fixed. Of course, it took almost all night to get the clutch fixed, so we ended up with no safari drive and sending our afternoon in a random apartment. T.I.A.
Lake Nakuru is known for its rhinos and flamingos. Unfortunately, because it is rainy season, the lake has flooded and changed the salinity of the water, which affects the growth of the blue-green algae, which is the primary food source if the flamingos; therefore, there are not as many flamingos present in the lake as usual. Daniel told us that the lake usually looks pink due to the flocks of flamingos; however, it looked much more blue than pink to us. We were still able to see some pretty large flocks of flamingos, though.
Additionally, we were unable to get to the far side if the lake due to flooded and impassable roads. The rhinos tend to spend their time on the other side if the lake. That meant to rhino sightings. Sad... We did see two rhinos from very, very far away, but Daniel told us that they are usually incredibly plentiful and right by the road. We were very lucky, however, to see three female lions literally in the middle of the road. They were not afraid of our car at all! One of the lionesses had been hurt, presumably by a water buffalo, but she looked like she would recover.
We also saw a male lion, but again, it was from very far away. Other signs at Lake Nakuru National Park included baboons, monkeys, water buffalo (who are apparently known in Kenya as the "black death" and will "wait and ambush" a human), and various beautiful birds.
After our safari drive in Lake Nakuru, we headed out to continue our Kenyan adventure!
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