Pilgrimage – 19 June 2010

Saturday was the only chance to take Janine out for her first excursion in Clara.

The weather was coolish, but that suits Clara perfectly. We decided to drive to Abingdon, the town were the MG factory was situated, and re-run the test drive, which Clara would have originally been taken on.

When we reached the town centre, we had to stop and watch the very English scene taking place. This was the annual election day for the Mayor of Ock Street. To start the proceedings, the town's Morris dancers were in full swing. We've seen Morris dancers before, and it's always entertaining to watch. But Abingdon also invited the Britannia Coco-nut Dancers, a legacy from pirate days in Cornwall, hence the blackened faces, and costumes.

The test drive was a triangular route out of Abingdon, with a bumpy edge to one side originally, used to test suspension rattles, and a smooth straight for wheel balance. Clara would have last done this 60 years ago!

A stop at Ewelme to show Janine the Almshouses and a delicious late lunch at The Fox & Hounds just before Turville, rounded off a pleasant drive.

Out and about near Nairobi – 12 June 2010

Our final day in Nairobi was spent with a driver taking us to the Elephant Orphanage and the Giraffe Centre. Even after seeing the real animals in the wild, this was a different look at these animals.

The baby elephants have been rescued from different situations, and are raised here until they are able to be released back into the wild. The keepers sleep with the babies, feed them every 3 hours, night and day, from large elephant sized bottles, help them throw dust over themselves. In fact, they teach the baby elephants everything they would normally learn from their mothers.

The Giraffe Centre was a close up look at five giraffes. A tall viewing platform allows visitors to feed the giraffes with animal pellets. The sight of a slobbering giraffe up close, is a bit daunting, but in the informative lecture given in the Centre, we learnt that giraffe saliva it a very effective antiseptic and antibiotic. So there is no danger posed to those hardy souls who opt to feed the giraffes mouth to mouth!! However reassured, we still washed our hands after the giraffes had slobbered over them.

We then asked the driver to take us to a shopping centre, to visit their Saturday market. It's not a large market, but we all found items that we wanted to purchase.

The real highlight of the day was dinner at the Carnivore Restaurant This is rated in the guide book we had, as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world. It was certainly a fun experience. A set price covers a three course meal, the feature of which is the main course, where a constant round of waiters offer different meats cooked on the open circular fire. The meats ranged from lamb, pork, chicken and beef to crocodile, camel and ostrich meatballs. The meat is brought to the table on swords or skewers and carved directly onto your plate. The salad for seven of us was the size of a salad for one at a normal restaurant. This is definitely not a place for vegetarians, but for the carnivores, it's a really fun experience.

Lake Nakuru – 11 June 2010

Northwest of Nairobi is Lake Nakuru National Park. We booked a day trip there with Gametrackers, and once again, Tom was our driver and guide for the day. This trip is equally unmissable, and complimented the previous trip. Amazingly, we had not seen any monkeys in the Mara, but the first animals to greet us at the Nakuru Park gates, were many monkeys. One with a pink lollipop was entertaining a group of school children.

The first sight inside the gates is the lake, with a pink fringe formed by the thousands of flamingos. The sight is stunning, and we spent some time admiring them, as well as seeing zebras and water buffalo drink at the stream running into the lake along with various other bird species including large storks.

But there is more to this park than flamingos, and we were able to compliment our previous safari experiences. There was a herd of 8 Rothschild giraffes, who appeared to be walking towards our vehicle, and ended up crossing the road just in front of us. This was an amazing sight. The other new animal was the white rhinos that were all around the southern end of the lake. The driver had to keep to the roads, but even so, was able to drive right up to a mother and baby. The fantastic thing from the safari trips was that every animal we saw, we saw really close; there was no staring into the distance or any need to use binoculars to possibly make out something “way over there”. The animals all performed fabulously, either walking right past us or sitting right beside the tracks. The rangers have obviously trained them well!

The day out was complimented by a superb buffet lunch at Sarova Lion Hill Lodge. We were able to glimpse how the 'other half' go on safari! A beautiful girl met us with warm towels, and we were taken through to the very extensive buffet lunch. The only aspect to mar the experience was the many mosquitos, something we had been spared in the Mara.

Back to Nairobi – 10 June 2010

Sadly, this was the last day of our Safari, but there was time for one last drive through the Masai Mara reserve, on the way to the main gate. We didn't see any new animals, but it was a chance to see more of those we had already seen. This time it was a herd of buffalo that were “up close and personal”. On the drive home, we again saw zebras and wildebeests outside the park, and this time a group of about ten giraffes.

Sunrise Safari – 9 June 2010

An even earlier start got us on the road for a sunrise safari. The sun came up so fast, we missed the actual moment it came over the far hills. But in the soft early morning light, we saw a large group of elephants, right beside the road. If they had been any closer we would have had to share seats!

Then there were a couple of hyenas, another herd of 28 elephants, another 4 lionesses, a solitary lion, our first (live) buffalo, another hyena and then the treat of the day, 3 cheetahs, again so close they were almost strokeable.

Here and there various different vultures perched in the trees and we came across a smaller river with another hippo family doing exactly the same as their cousins of yesterday – absolutely nothing apart from popping their noses up to breath every so often.

After breakfast, we visited a local Masai village. The young men performed a welcome dance for us and lead us into the village, where the women also welcomed us. The women build the houses, and this takes three months. After looking inside a house – mud and dung construction, we were taken to inspect the handcrafts the women were selling.



The evening safari was based around searching for the elusive black rhino. Unfortunately they were too well hidden, but we saw a jackal, ostriches, Sausage trees with their peculiar sausage-like fruit and impalas as well as the various species of gazelles that are so plentiful. Despite the lack of new wildlife, the savannah with it's long grass and wide open crystal-clear vistas is truly beautiful. The variety of beautiful birds is fascinating too.

Second day on Safari – 8 June 2010

An early morning safari followed our 7 a.m. breakfast enabling us to see the animals out feeding, including a pride of five lionesses feeding on a buffalo carcase. Later we saw eight elephants reasonably close to the track before coming across the first signs of the coming wildebeest migration. Apparently zebras lead the way and we came across a herd of zebra all strung out in a nose-to-tail line sauntering steadfastly across the savanna. All we had to do was pick a spot and park and wait as the line of zebras and a few wildebeests filed silently across the road right behind us – a litteral “zebra crossing”. What an amazing sight.

Could it get better? The route eventually took us to the border with Tanzania and then back into Kenya where we visited a river full of hippos. An armed soldier took us for a walk along the river to see groups of hippos whiling away the day spending their time underwater to keep from getting sunburned. Also on the banks (fortunately the opposite banks) were two crocodiles.

Returning to camp we passed a family of baboons, our first Masai giraffes and even a lone tortoise ambling along the road. And everywhere there were Thompson's gazelles, Grant's gazelles and Topi.

After a brief rest, we went for a lateafternoon safari with warthogs, wildebeests, bat-eared foxes, ostriches and more, even closer, elephants. There were also many birds whose names we have already forgotten but the stork and the Secretary bird were special treats.



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Off on Safari – 7 June 2010

We left the comfort of Murray and Miriam's five bedroom house, and set off on Safari. Using the research done by Alan, we travelled with the Gametrackers company. We would recommend their safaris to anyone. The driver was excellent, with great knowledge, the cook made delicious hygienic meals with a very basic camp kitchen. All meals cooked over an open fire.

The drive from Nairobi enters the Rift Valley, after stopping at a view-point. The drive changes from city slums, villages then to farms and scattered villages and it's not long before some exotic animals come into view. The biggest market village was full of people in colourful African dress, and along the way we saw fascinating slices of life – people and donkeys carrying loads, mothers with babies on their backs, men and boys minding herds of cows, sheep or goats.

The trip took about six hours to reach the Masai Mara Park gates. Then we were able to do a late afternoon safari on the way to our campsite and it was not long before we saw elephants in the middle distance then came across 3 lions lazing in the late afternoon sun. These magnificent cats were so close we could almost stroke them.