2018-Kenya
Friday 17 August and Saturday 18 August
Some of our good friends had previously taken the Discovery Expeditions and Adventures Africa tour. Lynn wanted to do it, too. So did our friends! So we signed up, immunized up, and set up.
If you want to just see the pictures: GooglePhoto
We left home at 8:30 AM. We're traveling with several friends. It was really convenient to carpool with Michael and Nancy (read their blog version!). We took the freeway on the way so we could determine if 71 South was commuter congested or passable. It was really light except for the Pfeiffer exit, which was completely clogged up. It turned out the lights were flashing red, so it was a four way stop.
Despite the exit delay, we made it to the Harwards in plenty of time. Nancy had just commented to Michael that she had finished packing and hoped the McCs get here early!
We had a prayer and drove to the airport. Mark dropped everyone off at the curb and took the car to long term parking.
The agent who checked-in our baggage was very nice, and very talkative! He just had to tell us all the details about a couple where the husband's passport was expiring and how he knew some senator and they got a new passport the next day.
After we escaped, it was on to security. Mark's backpack was flagged because of the snacks it contained.
Finally we were at the gate. Our tickets were peasant-tickets, so we needed to get our seats assigned. But we were too early, so we waited.
Finally the crew for our flight arrived. We got seats and ate some snacks. The plane was quite small.
It only took less than an hour to fly to Chicago. But we then taxied forever to get to the terminal! Mark commented: I didn't know when we got on the plane we were going to drive to Chicago!
Unfortunately, Delta doesn't connect baggage to British Airways, so we had to go out of security, collect our baggage, re-check in with British Airways and then go back thru security.We gathered our bags and took the shuttle to the international terminal, figuring to check our bags and have lunch somewhere. There was no one at the British Airlines counter, so we would not be able to check in our luggage for 3 hours. All the food purveyors were back at the terminal where we arrived. There was only a McDonalds available in this terminal, so we decided to take the shuttle bus back to our arrival terminal.
We dragged our luggage into the Marriott hotel and ate at their restaurant. It was a really nice, but quite expensive lunch.
We went back to the international terminal.
We went thru security and Lynn's bag was the problem this time.
After a long wait we flew to London Heathrow airport. It was approximately 6 hours of flight. It was a three-movie flight for Mark.
Arriving at Heathrow was fine, with another shuttle to different international terminal. The wait was much shorter, once they told us which gate to use. However we had to wait a couple hours in a crowded eating/shopping area before they posted the gate.
The Heathrow-Nairobi flight was the longest [8 hours], but somehow seemed easier than the flight from Chicago.
We landed in Nairobi and although the airplane was a big 747, we had to walk down stairs and across the tarmac to the awaiting shuttle; apparently the jet-way was broken.
When we left the building, there was our greeter/guide: Edwin, holding the Discovery Adventure sign. It was good to see him. It was about a 30 minute drive to the hotel, the Mayfair Southern Sun Hotel (map) in Nairobi. Our driver, Geoffrey, taught us some Swahili: jambo is the greeting - Karibu is welcome, asante is thank-you; and asante sana is thank you very much.
It was Saturday evening and we had ended our 30 hour travel phase.
Sunday 19 August
Sunday began with an amazing breakfast which included curried vegetables, omelets, various yogurts, croissants, and mango juice!
Our luggage was loaded into the back of our jeeps, we climbed aboard, 2 couples per jeep and left about 7:15 AM . We paired up with Stephen and Jan Clark with whom we shared a prior Discovery trip. Amos was our driver.
We drove north out of Nairobi for six hours to the Samburu National Reserve.
We learned that Nairobi means cold water. There are now 4 million people in Nairobi. There used to be more but the roads have enabled people to live at home with their tribes and commute into Nairobi for work. There are 42 tribes. The name of Kenya originally was kii nyaa meaning place of a male ostrich. When there is snow in the top of Mount Kenya the white against the black looks like a male ostrich. The British could not say the native word, so instead they said Kenya.
We learned the general religions are Christian, Moslem and Hindu .
Our new Swahili phrase was "Habari yako?" meaning How are you?
We passed Kenyata University. We learned Jomo Kenyata was the first Kenyan president when Kenya became independent of Britain in 1963. Kenyata was president from 1963 to 1978.
Trivia: The Kenya freedom fighters used to shout Uma-Uma (Get out, get out). The British heard it as Mau-Mau, hence the name of the freedom fighters.
Today we were advised we would be on a paved road all day. For an hour and 15 minutes we were on a divided highway, then a two lane road the rest of the way. Every two miles or so we had to slow down for speed bumps. We passed at least three Universities or colleges as well as many girls schools and boys schools. Our guide told us President Kenyata was big on education and road development.
We passed Del Monte pineapple fields. We saw many small farms that are manually farmed, and we were told that farm machinery is used on some big farms. We passed a saw mill with tree farms adjacent to it.
All the buildings seemed to be made of brick or concrete. Many of them had corrugated metal roofs. The only modern building was a Toyota car and truck dealership in a town called Nanyuki.
We crossed the equator at 11:05 am. There were three buckets of water around the equator sign, used by the locals to demonstrate (for a nominal fee) how water spins in a different direction of either side of the equator.
We passed Mt. Kenya, the second highest mountain in Africa. It was cloud-covered so we could only see the base of it.
Soon we came upon an electrified fence around large greenhouses. We learned Kenya grows roses for export to Europe.
Isiolo was the first real town we came to after heading north out of Nairobi.
Two hours north, we stopped at a tourist shop that sold African wood carving and paintings. They also had spears and drums.
When our driver stopped at a service station we exited the jeep and were surrounded by locals hawking their carvings and other items. Stephen showed some interest in some carved pieces and the negotiations started at $110. They eventually dropped to $3 a piece, but Jan (his wife) said No!
We saw goats, cows and monkeys on the road. There were often stalls set up along the road where people sold their crops, 2nd hand cloths and items.
Guards opened the gates to admit us to Buffalo Springs National Reserve. We immediately saw some giraffes, grazing from the tops of Acacia trees. Someone in our group spotted 5 cheetahs that were well camouflaged in the bushes. All the vehicles drove close to the bushes so we could see them.
We also saw warthogs, gazelles, zebras, kori bustard (which our driver said is the heaviest flying bird), and a troop of olive baboons (particularly interesting was a nursing baby hanging in underneath mom as she walked.)
We checked in at Samburu Simba Lodge (map), where we had lunch and an hour of downtime.
Then we took our evening game drive with Jackson. We were told we might see gerenuk, giraffe, gazelle, oryx, the grevy zebra, leopards, herds of elephants and crocodile.
As we headed out, Jackson asked if we noticed anything in particular about the nests in the Acacia trees. The trees are filed with nests of the weaver bird. He explained that these nests are placed predominantly on the west side of the trees. This way they absorb the afternoon sun so the nests can be warm all night.
Acacia tree with Nests
West-facing nest
First we saw vulturine guinea fowls, next impala then ostrich and gnut. Then we saw a gerenuk [a long necked impala] which eats shrubs from the ground up. We also saw her on her hind legs reaching up to get some food. We saw Thompson gazelles. They have a horizontal black line along their bodies. The impalas have an 'M' on their rears.
We spent some time chasing down a leopard by a stream. We eventually spotted her. She came down to the stream and we had a great view of her. She crossed the steam, went back up the stream bank and then we lost her in the underbrush. We learned how to recognize the difference between a cheetah and a leopard: a cheetah is long and higher off the ground. Their body is dotted and they have black streaks by their eyes called teardrops. The leopards spots are actually rosettes; several spots making one large spot, and they do not have teardrops.
All the other jeeps left, but Jackson waited behind. When it got quiet, the daughter of the original leopard came out, went across the road and climbed a small tree. We got some great shots of her while all the other jeeps came rushing back, too late to see this great image.
It's just amazing how well their camouflage works.
After all that we saw two Guenther's dik-dik. There are 2 variety of dik-diks. They are the smallest of the antelope family.
As we worked our way back to the lodge, we got the beginning of a flat tire. Jackson came racing back to the lodge before the tire went completely flat. You don't want to be out on the African plains changing a flat tire.
There was a herd of 9 elephants outside our bedroom balcony. Other small animals walked up and down the sidewalk outside our room. We were told not to leave our doors open or we would be sharing our space with the wildlife.
Our room at the Samburu lodge
Lynn on the deck of our room
We can see elephants!
To sum it up:
First day in Africa; not bad!
Monday 20 August
We went on an early morning game drive before breakfast. Amos was our guide.
We watched the sun come up. It's surprising how fast it comes up. From nothing there to full sun takes about 3 minutes. The sun came up at 6:30 AM, and since we're on the equator, it will set at 6:30 PM.In the morning is the best time to see the lions and leopards. We did not see any lions. We saw ganuk, giraffe, grants gazelle, oryx, dik-dik, and guinea fowl.
Amos told us they only drive the jeeps off road for the cats. Elephants and hippos and giraffes are so common. If you find a cat, you spend your time there. All the safari company jeeps come and gather because cat showings are so rare.
The jeeps had found a leopard in a tree. Jim said It was the daughter of the one we originally saw yesterday.
Mamma, he said, would never pose in a tree. But daughter posed in several trees for us this morning. It was really great to watch her move as she went up and down several trees. As we continued driving, Mark's eagle-eye spotted two hippopotamus sunning near a stream. Amos said they spend the night on land and return to water during the day. We must have disturbed them because they got up and walked back to the steam. They had little birds resting on their backs.
On the way back to the lodge we saw a whole pack of baboons. The lodge places their garbage scrapes in a building at the edge of the complex and the baboons dumpster dive! They were all over the shed and adjacent water tower. It almost seemed like they were playing king of the hill as little ones tried to make it to the top of the water tower.
We were famished and happy to have breakfast when we returned to the lodge.
Right after breakfast, we took the optional visit to the Samburu village. These are traditionally nomadic people but now that there are schools, they've developed villages for the children and women.
Young warriors boys and young women sang two songs for us. They were dressed in bright fabrics and beaded necklaces. In the men's song they jumped really high as they sang. A tribal member stated that one warrior was having trouble with his balance because he had lost his arm to a lion 4 years ago.
Samburu young women and young men, ready to dance and sing
Mark and Village Chief
Villager demonstrating firestarting
These people have arranged marriages when the girls are 17 to 20 and the boys are 25 to 30. Eight to ten cows is the bride price. They never marry within their own clan because all children are considered brothers and sisters within the clan. At the time of the marriage, the woman goes to her husband's village. This village had about 20 families consisting of 230 people.
They are polygamists. The first wife is chosen by the parents. Successive wives may be chosen by the men with the approval of the existing wife. The husband keeps a separate house for each wife and can have up to 5 wives.
The houses are built by the women ages 14 to 45. They are made of sticks, which the men cut, and corrugated metal sheets. The roof is made of cardboard, cloth and string. Inside they sit and sleep on animal hides. There are three rocks to make a cooking stove. The roof could be opened to let out the smoke. It takes two to four weeks to build a house and the houses only last 1 year.
They eat fresh milk and blood, and meat from cows, goats and sheep. Those who have been schooled will eat other foods. Our host said he did not like fish or pork.
When they work, their wages are divided equally into self, family and community. They are very good at taking care of each other. Much of care is done thru the tribal Council.
They introduced us to the little children and their teachers. The children sang the A B C song. It was a little different than the traditional version we sing, so we sang the A B C song back to them as we normally sing it.
They showed us some of their hand crafted items before they demonstrated their way of starting a fire.
They gather donkey, zebra or elephant dung because its rougher dung. These animals only have a one chamber stomach. This is used as the base to catch the ember from the fireboard when they spin the spindle with their hands. For kindling they use dried palm leaves which they crumple up to a fine birds nest. They got the fire going in a couple minutes.
Mark noticed that there were a lot of granite rocks, which could be used for flint and steel fire-starting and asked "Why do you use sticks?" The leader said it was easier. He added in the evening, if there are wild animals around, if you pick up a granite rock and throw it, it will spark as it skips off other rocks and scare the animals away.
We walked over to a well which Jim's foundation, Maji-Ya-Watoto (water for children) had constructed. It was good to see these children getting drinks in their hands from the well. Young children came to fill bottles with water, then took them home in a wheel barrel.
We drove back to the lodge for lunch then got our swimsuits and jumped in the pool to cool off.
Geoffrey was our guide for the evening run. He is very good at spotting birds. He pointed out eagles in the trees. They were hard to see as they looked like broken branches. Carol also spotted a lilac breasted roller.
We saw many giraffes. A giraffe's lifespan is about twenty years. They sway side to side as they walk because they step with both right legs and then with both left legs.
We saw common water bucks, male and female ostrich, a herd of grevy's zebras. They started to bolt as we drove up, but another jeep herded then back toward us. They have thin strips that go all the way down their legs.
Our most exciting sighting was a cheetah family. At least ten jeeps were trying to view this family far in the distance. We could barely make them out. Eventually they started moving toward us. The mom appeared to be hunting. She was very alert. One of the cubs emulated the mother and the others played.
In the drive back to the lodge we saw the common zebra. Its stripes are wider than those of the grevy zebra.
Tuesday 21 August
Out for the early morning run Steven was our guide. We were joined by Ava and Barry. We saw a lovely sunrise.
We saw oryz grazing. They turned their backs on us so we did not get a good picture. We saw some birds as well as an eagle's nest. Then we got word of a lion sighting! So our guide took off lickety split, back almost to the lodge and then on past to an area we haven't been in previously. We had to search a bit to find them. But then we saw it, a lion!
We positioned our jeep in a great spot to see the lion. Then, out from the brush came a second lion. The first jeep was so intently focused on the original lion they didn't even see the second! Mark called for them to turn around and they were surprised.
The two lions settled down to wait for ...
A couple impalas were having a headbutting event and didn't realize the lions were watching them. As they fought closer and closer, bashing their antlers, the closest lion edged forward about 2 feet at a time to get closer to them!
The impalas finally saw the lions and started making a throaty hash-sound which warns any impalas in the area that there is danger. They left in a hurry.
The lions settled back down to continue waiting. More impalas and other larger animals passed by. They never separated enough for any of them to become lunch.
It was our turn for breakfast, so we went back to the lodge.
We packed our luggage and loaded up the jeeps to head out for a three hour drive to Sweetwaters Serena Camp. Enroute we stopped at another African carving store. The stores sell carvings made or teak, ebony or rosewood. Mark wanted to get an African spear. They are made of three parts. The handle (made of wood), the tip, and the base (made of metal). They separate, which makes it easy to get home. But they cost about $30, and Mark is not ready to spend that much.
We also came upon a sign warning of elephant crossings. Apparently that section of the highway is on the path between two natural reserves between which the animals migrate back and forth.
We were told that the people we were seeing along the roads are Somali refugees and that the town of Isiolo is mostly Muslim now. There are no land rights per se, the people just squat on the land. As we get closer to town we see more mosques. We learned that Nanuki is home to major British military training facilities.
The road from Nairobi and Samburu used to be a dirt road, then the Chinese paved it. Way back then, the trip to Samburu was done in two days.
We drove south from Samburu about 2.5 hours before turning west on a dirt road to Sweetwaters Serena Camp (map). That was tough! Dusty, bumpy and kind of scary as the drivers went pretty fast. Finally the entrance to Ol Pejeta Conservancy, a 90,000-acre not-for-profit wildlife conservancy in Central Kenya's Laikipia County.
Sweetwaters is almost exactly on the equator. We stay in big tents with built-in luxury bathrooms and showers. Right out from our tent is a watering hole where all kinds of animals come.
We had lunch, relaxed a little then it was back in the jeeps for another excursion. This park contains what they refer to as "the big Five," elephants (Tembo or Ndovu), lions (Simba), leopards (Chui), rhinoceros (Kifaru), and water buffalo (Nyati). We are now at 6,000 ft. The elevation at Samburu was 2,700 ft.
Here there are hardly any acacia trees and those that are here are the yellow acacia. It was once erroneously thought that the yellow dust from this tree caused yellow fever. There are many eucalyptus bushes providing some shade for the animals.
We drove for what seemed quite a without seeing any game. Our driver pointed out the lilac-breasted roller (a colorful bird on a tree). We also saw helmeted guinea fowl. We saw a warthog mom with 3 young ones. Then we saw zebra and impalas.
Suddenly our driver took off. There was a rhinoceros sighting. Two rhinos and a baby. We took some pics and then the jeeps drove away. We went back to where we had been, and Amos realized that the rhinos were probably coming to the watering hole near us. He asked if we wanted to see them at the hole, which we did, so he maneuvered the jeep to a great spot.
Sure enough, the rhinos walked right over. We had a great spot to see them come and drink. Other jeeps came too but we had the best view.
We left the water hole then saw common zebra and cape buffalo. The cape buffalo looks almost like American buffalo in profile. They are different in the face and horns. Then we saw reticulated giraffes.
Again our driver took off. There was a male and female lion sighting. Of course there were a bunch of jeeps gathered when we arrived. These lions were very laid back. No fun rushing or attacking. Here we learned about lion mating practices. They were on a honeymoon which lasts a week or longer. They copulate about 150 times a day and hang out quietly in between. We witnessed the copulation and growling and swatting of the male by the female upon withdrawal. Jim told us the lion has a barbed penis and this is painful for the female.
Leaving them we came upon two herds of impalas.
Sweetwaters turns out to be a great place to see a lot of animals.
Wednesday 22 August
We boarded the jeep. The first thing we saw was Mount Kenya. Next we saw buffalo crossing the road ahead of us. The cape buffalo have a home range. They are distinguished by a hump at the neck. They cannot raise their neck.
Then we saw antelope running toward us using their speed to get away from the hartebeest.
Inside an electrified fence area, we saw the last two northern white rhinos. They are not native to Kenya. They were brought here from a zoo for protection. The last male died a couple months ago of old age. One of these two has a bad leg probably caused by the stress of walking on concrete at the zoo. They put a southern white rhino in with them to teach the mom and daughter how to graze.
The black rhino is smaller than the white rhino. They have a larger mouth which is useful because they are browsers and eat bushes in addition to grass. Black rhinos are solitary and are generally found in and around the bush. If you should happen to see two at once it is either mother and her cow or they are mating. They like to keep safe from the sun by wallowing in the mud. The mud acts as a sun screen and insect repellent for them. White rhino are social and they are often seen in a family group or herd.
We passed by the rhino graveyard. It has about a dozen or so gravestones that mark the graves of rhinos that have died, typically from poachers. One rhino horn brings about $350,000. on the black market. Apparently rich, billionaire, Chinese fund poachers using helicopters and armed mercenaries to kill and harvest the horns.
We saw a mama and her two baby warthogs. Our driver told us that they back into their holes and night so they can come out at full speed. Their necks do not turn so they cannot see behind them.
As we drove around, Carol spotted a lion! There were in fact two lions. While parked to view the lions, we noticed there was a zebra leg and a impala skull on the ground. We were probably in the dining room.
Later Jackson stopped next to a small Acacia tree. He explained the acacia trees in this area don't grow tall because the giraffes eat the tops. He rolled down the window and pointed out a peculiar bulb that was around the twigs. He explained that this causes the whistling sound when the wind blows.
He had Lynn shake the bulb. Ants crawled out of the bulb. He then described a symbiotic relationship that the bulbs the ants and the tree have. The giraffes try and eat the tree leaves, the ants come out and bite the giraffe, which protects the tree.
He pulled over to point out a Guff bird. It makes a sound that sounds like guff. We saw a brown snake eagle and some starlings. The starlings are very colorful.
Then, back for Breakfast.
After breakfast, we met Jim near our tents. There are two rows of tents. Jim explained that when his tour group reservation comes in, the owner keeps this first set of tents for Jim's clients. The second row of tents are back from the from the watering hole, and although they are a second story so you can see out , they are not as good and you don't have half as good a view from the patio.
Our second game run was great, too. We were with Jim and we saw
Lions, elephant, giraffes
Cheetah
Defassa Waterbuck
Grants gazelle
Jack gazelle (only seen here)
We saw two lions sitting on a dam which formed the edge of a watering hole. Several female reticulated giraffes had gathered to drink but the lions made them nervous. To drink they must widely separate their front legs to get their heads low enough to reach the water. This would make them very vulnerable. They appeared more nervous when the lions went down the back side of the dam because they could no longer keep an eye on the lions.
Impalas also approached the watering place on high alert. It is common for lions to attack at the watering hole. An elephant came up on the right side of the Harward's jeep. He did get a drink before wandering off in the other direction. Approaching another watering hole two groups of elephants crossed the road in front of us. We saw a baby that could hardly get a place by the water. Another male was being pushed away. He was not mature enough to mate but he was getting too old for the group the "tween awkward years". There was a field full of zebras waiting to drink when the elephants left. After drinking the elephants gave themselves dust baths.
At one point, we came upon a solitary elephant very close to the path. He was ripping up grass with his foot. He then used his trunk in a wrapping motion to gather it, and then picked it up with his truck-fingers. We were really close to him and at one point he seemed to get upset. Our driver started the engine which cause the elephant to backup. We then left the area, to go to a cheetah. After the cheetah we went back by the elephant we had been watching earlier. Four jeeps plus a car had been observing the elephant. We were the last jeep to pass by, and as we did the elephant became angry and started to charge us. I was in the back of the jeep had a very clear view of him coming. He raised his trunk and trumpeted at us. Our driver stepped on the gas and the elephant did not chase us.
But it was very exciting. An elephant can easily tip over a jeep. At some point in this drive Jim had us observe that the elephant always has one tusk shorter than the other. He observed that this is like our left or right handedness. He uses one side more than the other.
It was time to return to the lodge. As we drove back, we came across a herd of zebras blocking the road. Traffic jam in Africa!
In the afternoon we visited a Chimpanzee sanctuary. We learned that humans are the greatest threat to chimpanzees due to logging and the bush meat trade. The wood is used for expensive furniture and certain monkey parts are used for voodoo. There are two groups of chimps here separated by a water barrier; chimpanzees cannot swim. We first saw 4 chimps left to right William 18 years old and the boss of the 17 chimps, Nankura (25) the boss until a year ago, Uroharu (29) means being bald, and Dufa a female age 26. Being the boss of the group involves size popularity and sexual activity. Nankura lost his canine teeth and therefore would not do well in fighting anymore.
This facility is to help abused Chimpanzees. They use an implant to prevent pregnancy. They have had a couple of oops babies. The youngest of these is now 25. We saw Poco who has bad cataracts. They cannot do surgery on him because he would not leave it alone to heal. He was rescued 38 years ago by Jane Goodall. He is usually seen with Socrates, another chimp, who grooms him. Chimpanzees grooming one another strengthens bonds between them. Chimpanzees are not native to Kenya.
On the way back to our tents, we stopped at the Equator sign for some pictures. But first we had to read the warning sign about how there are wild animals around and it's all at your own risk. We took a group picture and then some couple's pix.
Everyone made it back into the bus without getting eaten. As we drove away, Jim noted some buffalo and said they are more dangerous than the lions, and that If he had seen them, we wouldn't have gotten out of the bus!
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