Lake Naivasha - Lake Nakuru - Mount Kenya National Park
This is a historic journal, from our trip to Kenya and Seychelles in 1986, taken from notes I wrote at the time. Apologies for the poor quality photographs.
12.11.1986 - 12.11.1986
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Kenya and Seychelles 1986
on Grete Howard's travel map.
Wednesday 12th November 1986
After breakfast we leave Lake Naivasha and head out of town, then north. Turning off the main road onto a dirt track, we see impala, waterbuck and even a few baboons.
Lake Nakuru
Arriving at Lake Nakuru, we find it wonderfully non-commercialised. There is nothing there but us and a million or so flamingo plus a few other birds.
We spot what we think is a hippo in the lake, a thought which is disputed by a couple of the others. “They are just rocks”. The others soon change their minds when the rocks get up and walk off.
We are just leaving when we hear a noise – a hippo coming out of the water with her little baby. What a fabulous bonus.
Crossing the Equator
At the Equator we stop for photos, on our way to Nyeri and Outspan Hotel where we have lunch.
Outspan Hotel
A beautiful place, with a colourful garden full of jacaranda trees. When the wind blows, it rains blue petals – magical!
Mount Kenya National Park
We continue to Mount Kenya National park and Mountain Lodge.
Mount Kenya
Black and White Colobus Monkeys
Mountain Lodge
This place really is something else. Built of all wood, each room has its own balcony and there is a viewing bunker right down by the watering hole. When we arrive, there are a few buffalo, bushbuck, warthogs, a young elephant and some sykes monkeys at the waterhole. I find it hard to grasp the fact that these animals are wild, not semi-tame and placed there for our amusement.
The sound of the jungle, the noise of the buffalo horns smacking together, the birds and the frogs, a hyena laughing, the call of a distant elephant, the crunch of the forest hogs eating – these are sounds I will never forget; together with the smell of the rainforest and the eeriness of the tall trees lit up by the floodlights against the dark background of the African sky.
Sykes Monkey, Pied Crow and Hammerkop
Giant Forest Hogs
A hyena comes out of the jungle, grabs something and disappears back into the forest.
We go to bed knowing the game watchman will wake us if any animals we particularly want to see appears – we wrote out preferences and room number in a book. Such service, and so well organised. At midnight we get a call to see a genet cat, that's all.
Posted by Grete Howard 05:13 Archived in Kenya
