Lake Nakuru
June 28-29, 2009
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Onto the Masai Mara

After a hectic week of preparation and finishing work, we were finally in San Francisco airport, about to start our journey into Africa. Our trip began with excitement, which was a taste of what's about to come: our flight was oversold by 20 seats, and we were 'involuntarily bumped' - forced to take the flight the next morning. Thankfully, we were supposed to have a really long layover, so we made our connecting flight anyway, after a night at a local hotel. On top of that, Delta gave us each a cheque for $800 (cash!) We rushed to an ATM to cash it and the extra money allowed us to justify buying tickets to go to the Seychelles Islands, a side-trip for the end of our stay in Africa.

We landed in Nairobi airport late on June 28th. Annoying lines through immigration reminded us we were in the third world (although to their credit, it was similar to my experience in Bulgaria a couple of years ago). We were picked up by our safari driver which was appreciated and relieved some stress of taking taxis in an unknown city with high crime rate. After a night of sleep at the somewhat dodgy Upper Hill Campsite, we were picked up by our safari driver and cook in the morning, and we embarked on our long drive to Lake Nakuru.

There we stayed at some guest house, where the highlight was being waken up in the middle of the night by half a dozen zebras chomping on the grass outside of our window. We got bitten by mosquitos here all night, and were glad to be taking Malarone.

The park is famous for the big herds of flamingos, which was definitely neat to check out. It is also one of the few parks where you are allowed to walk around outside of the vehicle. We also saw a lot of monkeys, buffalo and a rhino. We also saw a herd of Rothschild Giraffe, which are the second most endangered giraffe subspecies with only a few hundred of them in existence!

After this, we went to the Masai Mara.

  A little mis-hap The drop is much steeper than it looks...  
  A little mis-hap The drop is much steeper than it looks...

  School yard  
  School yard

   
 

  Lunchtime  
  Lunchtime

  Bored Warthogs  
  Bored Warthogs

  Our van & hut where we spent the first night  
  Our van & hut where we spent the first night

  Start of afternoon game drive  
  Start of afternoon game drive

   
 

  The little guy looks comfy Driving through Lake Nakuru park  
  The little guy looks comfy Driving through Lake Nakuru park

  Our driver searching for animals Pelicans & flamingos at Lake Nakuru Lake Nakuru  
  Our driver searching for animals Pelicans & flamingos at Lake Nakuru Lake Nakuru

   
 

  Flamingo central!  
  Flamingo central!

  Buffalo  
  Buffalo

   
 

  White rhino  
  White rhino

  White rhino  
  White rhino

   
 

   
 

   
 

  Play time! Giraffe safari  
  Play time! Giraffe safari

  Giraffe on safari Lunch portrait  
  Giraffe on safari Lunch portrait

   
 

  Sunset  
  Sunset

   
 

  Sunrise  
  Sunrise

   
 

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