Lake Nakuru - Nairobi - Amboseli

We started our day bright and early with a game drive at Lake Nakuru National Park.  There were many more birds today, including heaps of flamingos, herons, egrets and pelicans.  We also saw white rhinos, giraffes, buffaloes, gazelles and a new animal for us- baboons.  There was a group of them of various ages playing around some trees.  Thankfully none of them jumped into the car!  Our drivers also took us to a waterfall where we got to get out of the van and stretch our legs.  We did find some lion tracks in the dirt while driving around, but unfortunately didn't get to see a lion in the park.

 

 

 

We drove back through Nairobi and stopped for lunch there as it was on the way to Amboseli.  It's been a couple weeks now since the horrible terrorist attack at the Westgate Mall.  I'm not sure if security is tighter now than it was beforehand, but all cars were being searched underneath before entering shopping centers and other locations.  Our lunch spot for the day was Carnivore restaurant.  As the name implies, it is a meat eater's paradise.  The waiters come around to the tables with different types of meat on swords and will keep returning to serve you until the group declares surrender by putting down a flag that's on the table.  I had some chicken, lamb, beef, ostrich, pork and crocodile.  We also got dessert included with the set meal, but my choc-chip blondie was really dry, which was disappointing.

After lunch we were back on the road to continue the drive to Amboseli.  Getting through Nairobi traffic was a bit of a mess (even on a Sunday afternoon), and then we had to deal with all the trucks on the highway which made it slow going at some points.  Driving here on two lane highways is interesting because people will cross over the double line into oncoming traffic to overtake vehicles- and that even includes the trucks!  This led to some dangerous games of chicken and near misses.  The scenery out to Amboseli was more red soil with some agriculture.  We passed through a few towns along the way with markets going on and tomatoes and red onions seems to be the popular fresh foods on offer.

We arrived in Amboseli after dark since we left Nairobi so late.  There were so many people walking along the roadside in the dark because the roads are not lit.  You would just see them in the headlights of vehicles.  We are staying at the amazing Amboseli Sopa Lodge which has wi-fi so I am back on the grid for at least a day.  Our dinner in the restaurant was quite good, and I hope to have some time to explore the grounds tomorrow after our all day game drive.