Nakuru Game Park

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We began the day with a later breakfast than normal, hoping to let everyone catch up on their rest.  We arrived at the Nakuru Game Park around 10.  Checking in there is a case study in Kenyan government inefficiency. You have to go in to the service counter, pay your admission fee, they add your entire party’s fees together, add a fee for the vehicle, and load your admission “key” on a smart card.  Then they give you a receipt.  Then you re-board your vehicle, drive to the gate, which is actually attached to the office building, show your smart card, and receipt, sign a register, list your first born sons, and wait 5 minutes.  Then you can go in.  There are no maps available, and very few signs.  Fortunately between Mauryn, Arrington, and myself we figured out where we needed to go, sort of.

The area has had tremendous rains, the lake is overfull so some of the roads near the lake are underwater a couple of feet.  The park service has been busy building up the roads, but they were still working on some of them today.  Our first road choice was bad, we found a dead work truck blocking the road that had water on both sides.  After a turn around we got on the right track and encountered baboons, water buffalo, and zebras.  Then as we rounded a turn we saw, not 100 ft from the road, a very large rhino.  Rhinos do not usually like to be seen so they can be one of the hardest of the “Big Five” to witness.  But this one was a show-off.  He stood up and turned around, showing us all his sides.  Doug was sitting next to me and I heard him whisper, “I can’t believe I’m in Africa, shooting a picture of a Rhino.  This is amazing!”

As we moved on, we came to a place where the road was underwater. Most of it had been raised, but there were still workmen and three trucks on it, finishing the job.  They motioned us to come on, so we drove out, water on both sides, only to find that where they had stopped working, the road was invisible under the water.  After letting one of the trucks squeeze by, they directed us to cross, saying even the smaller vehicles had made it.  It was a lesson in trust, for sure.  But we cruised along, seemingly driving on the water, and made it to the other side.  We encountered another flooded place further on, and it was a little deeper, but we were emboldened by our previous crossing and charged on.  No problem.

We made our way up to the overlook, and were able to get out and take pictures of the entire park.  Our driver asked some of the other drivers where lions could be seen, but they said it was not likely.  Lions like to sleep in the heat of the day.  But the did show us where to find some twiga, or giraffe.  It was a longer drive, but worth it, when we cam across a heard of about 16 giraffes, eating from acacia trees and milling about.  That’s number two of the “Big Five” and at a small game park, no less.  Very cool.

We wrapped up or visit to the park with a late lunch at the restaurant there.  Here we experienced some more classic Kenyan moments.  As the waitress was taking our order, many of us wanted hamburgers.  She took orders for eight of them, but when one of us asked for a cheeseburger, she said, “Cheese on the chicken?”  we said no, on the beef patty.  “Oh we don’t have any beef, I was going to bring chicken hamburgers” she replied.  Time to re-order, and we ended up with lots of Hawaiian pizza and Margareta pizza.  Both were good. 

As we were sitting at our table on the patio of the restaurant, a family of baboons came near.  Baboons are cute but kind of a nuisance, and some Kenyans seem to really hate them. Especially Arrington.  We took lots of pictures of the little buggers, and some even ventured close.  As we got our food, the baboons decided they were hungry too, but they knew better than to come on to the patio. They decided to look through our vehicles for lunch.  I stupidly left the sunroof open on my truck and one climbed in.  We saw it happen, but before we could react, he found the avocadoes that we bought at a roadside stand, and made off with one.  We watched him eat it on the good of he truck, daring us to intervene and not sharing a bite.  He even licked the hood to make sure he got every morsel.

It was time to go, so we set out for Eldoret.  Along the way we stopped at the equator sign on the highway.  There is a curio shop there and its always been pen, but not today.  There is usually a man who can show you the "water trick".  That's where you can see the difference in the rotation of water going down a funnel between the north side and the south.  Brad and I tried to duplicate it with some trash bottles we found there, but we couldn't make it work.  Stink.

It’s a long drive and we started late, so it was dark when we finally arrived at Eldoret.   Mauryn called Arrington in the other vehicle and told him to lead us to the large, new Nakumatt.  He was headed the wrong way by then, so he decided to make a U-turn in a very busy street.  I guess he forgot I was behind him and he didn’t wait for me to make the turn.  Moments later he was gone in the rush of traffic.  What followed was a comedy of errors as we tried to figure out which way to go, Mauryn was on the phone with Arrington, neither could tell where the other one was, and we all got frustrated.  Finally we gave up and found the hotel, while Arrington and his people made the Nakumatt stop.

So here we sit in the recently updated Sirikwa Hotel in Eldoret.  Tomorrow, we will set out very early for Pokot.  The schedule there is unbelievably tight so I may not be able to blog until we get back to Nakuru Friday night.  Thanks for reading and remember to check out the pictures on Face book here.