Naivasha Simba Lodge (Lake Naivasha) July 16-17

On the road again early, heading back toward the equator. Either Iris had too much coffee or our first pit stop was too far for her bladder because she insisted that Njoka pull over on the side of the road so she could relieve herself. In Kenya it is not that easy to pull over because the roads are fairly narrow and there's not much of a shoulder, but Njoka managed to do so. Iris scurried over to a small clump of bushes, not realizing that one of our other vans saw her and honked. Then a small boy who was walking alongside the road happened by (remember I told you earlier that all Kenyans walk). He was followed shortly by a mother with a baby strapped to her back. It didn't take long for a crowd to gather, and needless to say, we were cracking up in our van. Judy took a shot of Iris returning to the van, and when we asked Iris what took her so long, she said, "I had to manipulate myself...thank God for my Pilates class and my squatting competition."

Back and forth, crossing the equator over and over, we traveled above and around the Rift Valley, until we reached Thomson Falls. Close to Nyahururu, one of Kenya's highest cities (over 7,000 feet above sea level), on the Ewaso Narok River lies the beautiful Thomson's Falls.



















The 216 feet falls were named after Joseph Thomson who was the first European to walk from Mombasa to Lake Victoria in the early 1880s.


We were welcomed to the Falls by 3 Kikuyu women and a man with a pet chameleon.











On to the Sarova Lion Hill Lodge for a fantastic lunch buffet. A gorgeous lodge with some notable buffet items - chunks of dark semi-sweet chocolate & white chocolate; cashews (one of Kenya's main crops) - yes, I considered making up some homemade trail mix, but I couldn't find a small Ziploc bag. Again, fantastic soup and a salad bar where the staff tossed whatever items you requested in a delicious salad. Our crew was seated around a round table with a few empty seats available. Jamie, a young lady in our group who was 34 years old, said, "I need to sit with you ladies because I need some estrogen." We laughed and said, "Well, you won't find any here!"

The Lake Nakuru game drive after lunch was incredible! We spotted an amazing number of baboons (and we did NOT have to ask Njoka what sex they were, because as you can see from the pictures, "isn't is obvious??"










I could sit and watch the baboons and monkeys groom each other all day. They are so fascinating.












We also spotted our fourth animal belonging to the big five - the rhino. This particular species was the black or hooklipped rhino. The black rhino can weigh up to one and a half tons and is more aggressive than the white rhino. It also tends to be solitary, while the white rhino typically travels in herds. Black rhinos are usually are found in areas of dense vegetation. When it is ready to attack, it lowers its head, snorts and swiftly gallops up to 30 MPH.








Lots of buffalo, male waterbucks (with horns), zebras, herons and flamingos.














Up to the Baboon Lookout where lots of baboons drew shrieks from the local schoolchildren whenever they aggressively pursued the students. Forget having a snack because 9 times out of 10, the baboons were going to snatch it from you. I missed a great photo op because I had the wrong lens on when we crested the lookout. There was a young boy sitting on one end of a bench, and at the opposite end from him was a baby baboon and its mother. They all looked like they were at a bus stop waiting for the next bus. It was hilarious!















We drove to Naivasha Simba Lodge and unloaded our luggage. Before I left my room for another delicious dinner, one of the staff came to the door with mosquito repellent in a little packet that looked like a wipe. He opened it and placed the small rectangle on a cardboard-like cylinder on the desk. Then he switched on the outlet to warm the repellent so that it would work all night long. We were laughing because we thought the cylinder was for the internet. Our crew relaxed in the lounge with wine and beer after dinner - laughing about the phenomenal day we had. Then to bed in a very interesting room that had a little TV nook in a sunken area in the corner of the room. I watched a bit of the British Open while I caught up in my journal.

The next morning we were able to sleep in until 8 AM. Then at 9:30 AM we assembled in the parking lot for a one hour 10 AM river cruise on Lake Naivasha. We paid $25, received our bright orange life jackets, and walked a short distance to the small motorboat with Paul as our guide and driver. Paul was excellent! We motored out to see white pelicans, hilarious hippos, eagles and waterbucks.















Then we disembarked and Iris, Paul and I walked through the fields to see the animals up close and personal. We saw waterbucks, zebras, impalas, wildebeest and giraffes. Paul promised Iris and me that we would "walk with the giraffes", so he posed us near one giraffe and took photos and videos of us walking with the giraffe. It looks like we were closer than we really were in the final photos, but trust me, we were both very nervous about being so close to wild animals. Paul loved my camera, so I let him take as many photos as he wanted with it. Afterwards Paul performed his Hakuna Matata dance, which should be hilarious in Iris' video clip.





















Back to the lodge for a relaxing 1-hour deep tissue massage with Alice (with extra virgin olive oil). (Cost approximately $28). Alice is a single, 30 year old, beautiful woman, from a family of 12 - 5 brothers & 7 sisters. She has no children, and besides a 41 yr. old brother, she is the only one in the family who is not married. She was explaining to me that she is looked down upon in Kenyan culture because she is single and has no children. She also related to me that she hates going home for visits because her family continues to pressure her to marry and have children. Like all the hotel/lodge staff, she lives in staff quarters provided by the lodges since most of them are so remote from civilization. Most of the staff work 1-2 months straight and then have a week to 2 weeks off to go home or visit family. Some of them had very young families of their own that they didn't get to see very often because of their work schedules. And going home doesn't entail hopping in their car and driving because most of them have no vehicle. So they usually have some kind of hotel taxi that takes them as far as the main road bus or taxi stop, where they cram into small vans like they did in Egypt for the final leg of their journey. I should say almost final leg because the actual final leg of most journeys is done on foot, and can be several miles.

After my massage I joined Judy, Terry and Bonnie poolside for an Out of Africa cocktail that had assorted liquor and fruit drinks. I had to agree with Judy that the cocktails were pretty weak on the alcohol but that was all right by me. Judy thought her tequila sunrise was too weak, so she asked the waiter if she could have a double - and he brought her 2 tequila sunrises! We got a good laugh out of that one. Then Judy, Bonnie and Terry went to have massage treatments, and I read by the pool. I left the pool just as it was getting ready to rain. I just made it into my room as the downpour happened - the only rain of our entire trip.

We had a light dinner because we ate so much at lunch. Another great soup (cream of zucchini). Back to the lounge area, where we manage to commandeer the chairs in front of the fireplace. I asked Daniel, one of the staff, if we could build a fire since it was a little cold and damp from the rain. He agreed and gathered some wood, but the fire kept going out because the wood was still pretty damp. So Terry, the mistress fire builder, tried to direct Daniel where to properly place the shredded paper and cardboard (below the larger pieces of wood, instead of above them), and Iris took a great butt shot of Terry (to add to this blog later) while Terry was bent over rearranging the logs. So now we have a photo of two-footed game! Needless to say we were cracking up about that photo (no pun intended).















Back to rooms around 11 PM. Set alarm for 6 AM to walk to the jetty for some possible game shots before breakfast and departure.