Kenya Part 3: Nakuru (and Nairobi)
It has now been three weeks since I returned from the beautiful country of Kenya. It is also time for my third and final blog post about my time exploring this incredible country (links to parts 1 and 2 can be found in the right hand colomn).
After three days in the Maasai Mara, followed by a day in Naivasha, I headed to Lake Nakuru National Park, an hour's drive to the North East. The next day we set out for a morning game drive about an hour after dawn. There was something eerily majestic about the haze and low morning sun which silhouetted the birds that were feeding on the shoreline...
I'm obviously not the only one who wanted to escape the British winter in favour of a warmer clime. Sometimes the truth is hard to swallow...
Everywhere I went in Kenya, the "circle of life" seemed to be epitomised. This zebra foal proved very popular on Facebook and certainly has the "aawwww" factor... I'm sure it will grow up one day and become a fine lion's dinner...
Just in case I spoilt that image for you, here's another one of the mother and child enjoying a paddle...
While I'm at it, here are two more from the "aawwww" series. A shy giraffette (I'm pretty sure that's not the official term but it will do)...
...and a baby babboon, or babbyoon(?!), likely to be only a few weeks old. It's funny to think that baboons are often consider vermin in Kenya as they rummage through dustbins and cause a nuisance (similar to urban foxes in the UK). Could you be angry at this little chap?
We didn't come across any rhino in the Maasai Mara so it was rewarding to find a few in Nakuru. Here are two (white rhinos) enjoying a bit of rough and tumble. I think I'll leave them to it...
Nakuru also boasted its fair share of birdlife. It is home to one of the largest colonies of flamingos in the world, with tens of thousands coming to the lake to feed on the algae in the right season. Unfortunately, however, it wasn't the right season!! I did manage to see a few but I would love to return another time to see the shoreline awash with pink.
So not many flamingos but if anything can fill the void, a pelican can.
After quite a few eagle sightings already on the trip, Nakuru allowed me to get more up-close-and-personal with them.
We spotted this tawny eagle in a nearby tree, tearing into the carcass of a red-legged stilt (which I assume it had caught)...
We were about to move on when the sighting suddenly took a very dramatic twist. An African fish eagle swooped in from nowhere, scaring away the tawny and hijacking his lunch! I wonder what a fish eagle would look like with an eye-patch and a peg leg...
It was time to say goodbye to Nakuru but not before heading up to Babboon Cliff to see the lake in its glorious entirety...
Nairobi Sunbirds
My 5 day safari had flown by and I was sad to see it come to an end. I headed back to Nairobi where I had a full day to kill before catching a late flight out. I decided to do some of the more typical tourist activities, not usually my cup of tea. Having been spoilt by so many animals in the wild, the baby elephant sanctuary didn't have quite the same appeal as it might have done a week earlier. Having said that, if you do choose to visit Kenya, it's worth a trip to see the great work the sanctuary is doing for young elephants that are orphaned when poachers kill their mothers for ivory.
Later on, I visited Bomas of Kenya to see their traditional dance display. The highlight for me, however, was an old tap that I found nearby (what a weirdo!). I know everybody loves a good tap but this one was better than most , attracting at least 3 different types of thirsty sunbird in the 15 minutes I spent watching with my camera...
This final image makes me chuckle. You often see sunbirds and hummingbirds with their wings spread out but when they're tucked in, it almost looks like he has his beak stuck in the tap. How embarassing!
Thank you once again for taking the time to read my blog. Hopefully, I've been able to give you an insight into some of the beauty that Kenya holds. I will be doing more blog posts in the near future with topics yet to be decided. As mentioned in previous posts, if you are interested in purchasing prints of any of my images or if you would like to fund my next holiday (you never know!), please get in touch at info@robinboot.com.
Also, if you would like to know more about safaris in Kenya, I can recommend speaking to www.africanbreezetours.com.
Asanti na kwa heri ya kuonana (thank you and see you soon!)
