The Excursion Reel

After our first few business days in Kenya, we took a hiatus to partake in some of the excursions we'll be sharing with our students.  I wanted to ensure that my colleague had first hand experience with everything we'll be doing once the program is underway, so that we both have the ability to manage student expectations from our own personal experiences.  The last four days amounted to A LOT of hours in the car, but I think every minute was worth it.

On Thursday we headed out to Nanyuki, which is about three and a half hours from Nairobi, to visit the equator, see Mount Kenya (check out this post for more on Mount Kenya), and have lunch at Trout Tree Restaurant.  It turned out to be a bright sunny day, but the clouds from the morning rains hid the peak of Mount Kenya.  It is often shrouded by clouds, so you never know if you'll get a glimpse of it or not.

Sakwa and I standing in both hemispheres at the same time...the lines pretty faded, but you can see it a bit right by my shoes.

My colleague and student

Fish and chips...yum!

We returned to Nairobi and headed back over to the K-1 Klubhouse to meet another one of our colleagues that we work with in Philadelphia, but who is from Kenya.  He graciously traveled all night from Kisumu the day before just to hang out with us in his home country.  We had a great time and stayed out far too late for our 6am departure time Friday morning to the Maasai Mara.

I can't believe so many WCU folks are together in Kenya!

Despite the late night, we were all up, packed, and ready to go when our ride arrived.  I think the excitement of going on a weekend safari gave us all the energy we needed.  We did, definitely, sleep most of the three and a half hour drive to our exchange point outside of the Mara National Park.  We made a quick stop in Narok, a town I'd visited briefly the last time I was in Kenya, just to grab a few things from the store.  I was happy to have some ndazi (fried dough, think triangle shaped doughnut but less sweet) and a Coke to replace my typically morning coffee caffeine fix.

About an hour later, we met up with Hamish and Lapapa.  Hamish is the son of Adrian, who owns Speke's Camp.  I've met Adrian on my past visit and was happy to get to know Hamish a bit on this trip.  Lapapa is a member of the Maasai community who works at the camp and he stayed with us on all of our game drives, as well as our transport into and out of the park.

Kenya has been having heavy, unseasonable rains this month so the regular route used by the camp was flooded and we took a very bumpy, rocky road into the park.  The route ended up being a lucky break because we came around a corner about an hour and a half into our drive to find two rhinos being escorted by rangers across the grassland.  Rhinos are typically a hard find in the Mara because there are so few of them.  It is likely that these two have been protected by the rangers since birth and they'll continue to be followed by them for life.

We also saw a range of other wildlife before we reached camp.  We arrived around 1:30 and lunch was waiting for us.  It was a refreshing, light meal of broccoli and sundried tomato salad, avocado tomato feta salad, and hummus with pita bread.  After lunch we were given about an hour and a half to rest from our full day of driving and then we were introduced to Patrick, who was our game drive guide.  He and Lapapa took us out for a late afternoon drive complete with sundowner beverages.  We headed back just before the rains began.

Welcome note in our room

Bathroom area with flush toilet.  The staff bring warm water for hand an face washing in the evening and morning.

Shower stall with a pulley bucket system that allows for warm showers despite no running water.

Main open tent with dining areas, seating and a library.

Buffalo

Buffalo and hyena

Hyena

This trip's money shot.  Elephants grazing

Ostriches

Zebras

I forget what these birds are called, but I think they're the national bird of Tanzania or Uganda.  They're also Amare's hair twin!

Sundowner cocktails

Storms rolling in

Back at the camp, we were served a three course dinner consisting of corn chowder, meatloaf with mashed potatoes and snap peas, and a pineapple turnover for dessert.  After a long day full of a lot of driving and excitement, I went to bed before 10pm for the first time in I can't even remember.  Back in our tent, our beds had been turned down and warmed with water bottles!  I can't say enough about the service and attention to detail at Speke's.

Water bottle in my bed for turndown service

We were awakened at 6am Saturday morning by Leeky, one of the two attendants for our tent, who provided hot water and milk for coffee in our tent and prepared the water for a hot shower.  After getting ready and having a cup of coffee on the porch of our tent, we headed over to the main tent to meet up with Patrick and Lapapa.  The plan was to spend the entire day out on the Mara with packed breakfast and lunch.

We headed off and within the hour were steps from two male lions making their way across the plains.  Then, not far off, we could see many other trucks circling what turned out to be an entire pride of lions taking turns feasting on a dead elephant while dozens of hyenas salivated in the background waiting for their chance at the elephant.

Sunrise

Lion selfie!

In the Mara, guides must stay on the paths created for them and if they are caught by rangers off of the course they are fined $150 on the spot.  However, because the dead elephant was there the rangers gave the drivers permission to get a closer look and then clear the area.  They wanted to remove the tusks from the elephant so that they did not become a temptation for guides or tourists trying to take the ivory out of the park.  Anyone caught trying to do that is immediately arrested and jailed.  The rangers remove the tusks and burn them.

Graphic, I know, but as Amare says, "It's the circle of life."

After the lion show, we drove to a quiet area near a pond and had a picnic breakfast, consisting of boiled eggs, bacon, toast, bananas, and yogurt parfaits, along with tea or coffee.  They set up a hand washing station and the whole meal was great.

We continued our drive seeing zebras, impalas, gazelles, buffalo, hyenas, ostriches, a variety of different birds, elephants, hippos and crocodiles.  I even spotted a lioness off in the distance chasing a baby warthog down.  It took her a few tries, but she finally caught it and we were able to drive over to where she was to see her resting after the chase with the warthog at her feet.

Large group of gazelles

Lioness with her warthog kill in the foreground (that grey bump in the grass)

Mongooses taking over the road!

We made our way to the banks of the Mara River, where hippos were bathing in the sun and playing in the water.  Patrick and Lapapa set up our lunch, green been salad, carrot salad, couscous, and a salad of zucchini, almonds, onions, and raisins, and we enjoyed eating while watching the hippos.

Lapapa getting the lunch area ready

Handwashing station

Lunch by the river

The remainder of our afternoon saw more animals and an hour long search for the elusive leopard that left us empty handed.  Our final stop was back to the lions with the dead elephant to see if the rangers had taken the tusks or if the hyenas had gotten a meal, but the lions were still feeding on the elephant, so not much was different from the morning.  The rains were coming in across the plains again, so it was a race to get back to camp before the paths got so muddy we couldn't pass.

This is Lapapa walking way up the road to assess the mud situation...BEFORE the storms rolled in!

We were back in camp in time for the rains to pass and get a beautiful view of the sunset, which I enjoyed from the main mess tent with a glass of wine.  Dinner Saturday was a haloumi and tomato salad with balsalmic dressing, beef stew with rice and veggies, and a merengue dessert with assorted fruit.  We sat by the bonfire for a bit longer and then went to bed happy and full.

Sunday morning Leeky woke us again and after getting ready we packed up the truck and headed out of the park.  Because the flooding had subsided a bit, we were able to leave the park using the route we should have used on the way in.  The drive was a bit longer, but the roads were in much better shape, so it was a worthwhile trade-off.  We stopped along the route for a final picnic meal and we got to see the border markings between Tanzania and Kenya, which was cool, and views of the Serengeti from the road.

One foot in Tanzania and one foot in Kenya!

Traffic on the way back to Nairobi lengthened our journey and we ended up being in the car for nearly ten hours.  The drive in had been about seven.  Despite the long hours in the car, we walked away with amazing photos and likely once in a lifetime sightings.