Kenya: Lake Nakuru National Park

Rhinos!

Lake Nakuru National Park is located in the Great Rift Valley and 3-hour drive from Nairobi. Lake Nakuru used to renowed for its vast flamingo population in the past but rising water levels from heavy flooding has reduced this phenomenon. We saw rhinos at a safari at this national park. Entrance fee during visit was USD 60 per person. We went in through the Lanet Gate as that was the closest gate to the accommodation we booked. 

Safari in Lake Nakuru National Park are set route instead of off-road like Maasai Mara. 

Spot the bird

We got lucky and because there were jeeps stopping, the driver stopped too - lioness up on a tree. 

Different species of monkeys.

Lake Nakuru National Park is also a great birding destination as the soda lake is a birding hot spot. So yay to pelicans and flamingos. 

We also got lucky with giraffes crossing in front of the 4WD and a hyena walking passed when the cars in front of us weren't moving. Else the driver was in a rush to get out of the national park. 

We picked up a couple of eggs and 2 packets of noodles from a tuck shop nearby before the safari at Lake Nakuru National Park. On arriving back at the accommodation after safari, there was a small stall just before the entrance of the accommodation selling some hone grown veges. We bought a bunch of spinach, a tomato and an avocado. We cooked these (except the avocado) for dinner and topped up with the  bacons and sausages from the breakfast pack. We thought the veges looked like choy sum but were told they were Kenyan spinach. 

Eggs & noodles Ksh 135, tomato Ksh 20, avocado Ksh 20, Kenyan spinach Ksh 10

They were prepping to fry samosas when we were there so we returned later to buy some. When we went back again, they had 9 samosas left. The samosas had green beans and onions filling. We had not had samosas with green beans and onions filling before but we bought all 9 anyway at Ksh 20 each. Happy to report that they were tasty. 

Side note: Flamingoe eat Blue Algae to keep their pink hue.

Kenya: Chasing flamingos at Lake Bogoria

We left the Mara campsite early morning after breakfast and reached the accommodation we booked in Lake Bogoria around 1+ pm. There are very few accommodations available at Lake Bogoria, so naturally we stayed in Lake Bogoria Spa Resort. 

Our booking includes breakfast and we had lunch (food and a pot of Kenyan tea totalled to Ksh 2000)  at their restaurant. We find food portion in Kenya huge. We didn't finish the food we ordered for lunch and took away the leftovers for dinner. They were tasty though. 

Grilled fish, Ksh 900

Clockwise from bottom right: Fried Mbuzi served with ugali, kachumbari and spinach, Ksh 850

Lake Bogoria is in a geothermally active part of the Kenya Rift Valley, and is famous for geysers and hot springs. Lake Bogoria is also a location to spot pink flamingos. The initial plan was to visit in the evening before the reserve is close for the day. Luck wasn't on our side because maybe quarter way to the lake, it started to rain with no sign of stopping so we turned back and return the next day. By goodwill, the staff at the national reserve did not insist that we that we pay when we returned early next morning. The entrance ticket was USD 50 per person. 

Most of the website I found mentioned that Lake Bogoria opens at 8 am, however, on speaking to the very helpful staff at the hotel, we were told us that we can enter the national reserve earlier. If I remember correctly, we asked to enter at around 6 am. The hotel staff then called the Lake Bogoria office to inform them so we would not have any issues when we returned the next day. 

Unfortunately our flamingos chasing wasn't very successful. There were no lake full with flamingos. In fact, we didn't even get to where the hot springs area. Reason being the driver was worried that his 4WD would have trouble coming back up a road that he felt was too steep even though there were signboards indicating that there were accommodations in the same direction. He also told us it wasn't a good season to see flamingos and we will not see any, contrary to what the hotel staff told us. 

The only reason we saw some flamingos were because we insisted that he drove us as near to the lake as possible, even if we cannot get to the usual lookout. In fact, the reasons the flamingos took flight because the driver got off the 4WD a little too loudly and startled them. 

 

After that, we went back to the hotel for breakfast. We asked for the breakfast to be packed as we initially thought we would takeaway and eat on the way. We ended up eating in the hotel but having it packed turned out to be a good idea because we couldn't finish. 

Breakfast box consisted of egg, orange, apple, fruit juce, sausage, bacon, melt sandwich, cake, bottled water

The melt sandwich

Side note: It felt like Christmas has just passed and now Lunar New Year is in less than 2 weeks

Kenya: 3 days in Maasai Mara

Leopard cub

We landed in Jomo Kenyatta International Airport early in the morning. After stopping by the airport office to sort out my luggage that was left behind in Changi Airport due to the flight delay, we were picked up by a driver organised through the Maasai Mara campsite accommodation we booked. I gave the accommodation's phone number for the delayed luggage report and by the time we reached the campsite, the airline/airport staff had already orgnised for my luggage to be sent to Keekorok Airstrip to be collected the next day. 

My unaccompanied luggage arrived in style

We found our accommodation from Booking.com and stayed in Talek. The campsite we booked, Olkinyei Mara Tented Camp was just outside Maasai Mara's Talek Gate. Our booking was full board and we booked airport pick-up and game drives with them. 

We are not big fans of organised tour groups though there are places where it is a necessary. We read stories around self-driving around Kenya and may have scared ourselves a little so our plan was to engage a driver to get around. We took a chance and asked for them to organise a driver for us too. Luck wasn't on our side this side as the driver/guide was very poor even though all other services we had were excellent. Just to be clear - this poor driver/guide is not our guide in Maasai Mara. The guide assigned for our game drives in the Mara was excellent. 

We were unsure if we would be too tired for an afternoon game drive on the day we arrived. By the time we had lunch and decided that we wanted to go for a half day game drive, it was passed 2 pm and the campsite recommended if we wanted to visit a Maasai village instead as one needs to leave the national reserve by 6 pm. So we visited a Maasai village on the day we arrived and 2 full days of game drives during our stay in Maasai Mara. 

Dinners and lunch on arrival day was at the campsite, all other meals were picnic meals at the national park. Dinners were 3 course meals and there were no repeats of food served on the days we were there. They were delicious so we finished everything even though we were stuffed.

From L to R: Day 1 to day 3

Picnic lunch photo where food isn't obvious because I'm too short

Maasai Village Visit

We were driven to a Maasai village and were greeted by one of the villagers who acted as the guide around the village. We were told that they are members of one family, some are step siblings but still one family. It started with a dance, followed by a 'jumping competition' among the men, and then showed us how to make fire. After the demonstrations, we were shown the inside of one of the mud houses which had 2 bedrooms and a kitchen. The visit ended with selling of souvenirs/trinkets by the villagers which we didn't end up getting anything.

Jump!

Gadget to start fire

Maasai Mara

The national park opens at 6 am, so that was the time we started our game drive. One can also take hot air balloon but we didn't. 

We are happy with just seeing the animals in the foreground of these balloons at ground level. 

We visited in early September but the stars didn't align and we missed the Great Wildebeest Migration. That said, Maasai Mara was still the highlight of the trip. Safari against the vast scenic expanse of rolling African savannah plains hit differently. 

Across the 2 days, we saw 4 of the Big 5 in Maasai Mara - short of the rhinos which we later spotted at the Lake Nakuru National Park. 

We caught the lion had his meal with jackals and vultures hovering around waiting for any leftovers. 

 A lioness walked passed our jeep to quench thirst after feed. 

A lion looking towards our direction and roared. Our guide said he was calling for his family. We left as the lion seemed to be angry at the end. Not sure if our guide was pulling our legs but we did see a pride of lions after. 

'Safari is like fishing', said our guide. 

We waited for a leopardess and her 2 cubs to wake up, saw the cubs trying to follow their mother to another location. The smaller cub had difficulty trying to climb up a small slope and tried different ways to follow the mother's footsteps. We were all rooting for this little cub. 

Later we found the leopardess at another location, it was thought that she might start hunting but she ended up sleeping, without the 2 cubs. 

Elephants in pretend fighting. 

The African Buffalo that interestingly isn't part of the big 5 ugly animals. We were close to this buffalo when we asked to get off the jeep to mark our territories. We were told by our guide that it wasn't safe as this one was too near.

At a nearby river were these hippopotamuses semi-hiding in the water. We didn't know at that time that these were as good as we can see them till the river cruise in Zambia. 

Looking at 5 cute cheetahs lazing in shade with a restless one that ended up rounding the jeeps around. 

We didn't see the Great Migration but we saw many wildebeests, zebras and impalas. We saw a small queue started to form but the migration was not meant to be. Our guide also drove us to see zebras and wildebeests crossing a river as minor consolation.

We looked into Tanzania from the border.  

5 impalas jumped across a small stream, one after another as if giving us chance to take a good picture, but I still got a blur one. 

Caught a stationary 'Kenyan Express' aka Pumbaa aka warthog. They are fast!

One of the national birds in Kenya - the lilac-breasted roller. 

Our second day game drive ended as it started to rain closed to 5 pm. As the guide/driver drove us out of the Mara, a full rainbow was in sight. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Mara, it was magical and we talked about returning even before we left. The African safari is something to be experienced. 

Side note: To go or not to go?