Amboselli - Kenya - Day 2 Safari



Mt. Kilimanjaro

  

Sunrising over Amboseli



Marlene in the Banda



Our second day began early in the morning (6am) as we were both eager to catch a glimpse of the elusive Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa at just under 20 000ft.  Although we were extremely tired and the morning was quite chilly, the view we got the second we opened our tent was truly magnificent and made us forget everything else.  The camp ground we were staying at sat directly adjacent to the extinct volcano of Kilimanjaro with its ever receding glacier shimmering in the light of the rising sun.  As we prepared for our long day of game driving we were even more pleased with our decision to rise early because the clouds had already begun to obscure the peaks of the giant. Upon entering the park on day two we are met with a little humour.  As we approached the gate, Marlene was attempting to put in her eye contacts, Mike being the comedian he is, decided to have a little fun.  As the locals approached our van to attempt to sell us some crafts, Mike opened his window and said something in the local language.  Suddenly all the women came over to Marlene's side of the van and began to stare intensely. Some of the women stood there for several minutes with looks of awe and disgust.  Meanwhile Mike is just killing himself laughing in the front seat, he turns to us and says "I told these ladies to look at the foreigner, she's putting in her eyes!".  Nothing like a little early morning humour.  As we enter the park we are greeted by large herds of zebra followed by many gazelle and giraffe.  We were beginning to realize that all this hype of animals in Africa was reality...I mean we expected to see animals but we didn't realize they would appear in such great numbers and in every corner of the park. 



Hippos and Elephants with foothills of Killi



Stalking Cheetah



We had started out on a different path today toward the swamp lands of the park in hopes of viewing some hippos but about 1 hour into the drive our driver Mike's ears perked up about a transmission over the CB radio.  We quickly turned around and started heading back to where we had seen the lions yesterday.  Before we reached the lions Mike spots it...its a cheetah!  We watched the Cheetah from a fairly close distance as it attempted to cross the road to reach the cool shaded area on the other side. As it proceeds to make its way toward the trees it decides to have a little fun with the nearby zebra...the zebra take off in a cloud of dust even though the small cat is no threat to them. 



our guide estimated this elephant was about 1 month old



Hyenas trying to get in on the lions kill from last night

Just a few meters from here is where the lions are now guarding their zebra kill from the hyenas who have shown up in numbers today.  Some of the hyenas are attempting to get the lions to chase them in hopes that while the lions are distracted the other hyenas can steal some of the zebra meat. But the lions are obviously too smart for this and don't play into the games.  This one small stretch of road is Africa at its finest. On one side of the road we have 3 female lions and a male lion guarding their food from dozens of hyenas while zebra, gazelle, wildebeest, and giraffe all attempt to cross the road in order to get to the watering hole which lays directly behind the occupied lions.  A few hundred feet beyond that there are elephants, more giraffe, and ostrich all grazing in the plains...we could have easily spent all morning there watching all these animals! 

Killi quickly disappearing behind the clouds

In this part of the park, all the animals return to the forested hills around Kilimanjaro at night, and then head back towards the watering holes in the day time...the road is strategically placed between these two biospheres.  It was just surreal to see all of this happen at once, all within about 1 sq. km.  We eventually proceed to the swampy areas so that Marlene could see her favourite animals, the hippo.  Once in the swamps, we quickly came across a few hippos, but they are hard to spot as they are submerged, however as we continued along the road we eventually came across a pair of them that were out of the water, they sure are massive!  These animals are not particularly comfortable on land and quickly retreat to the safety of the reeds when they see us coming.  In these swamp lands there are also a significant amount of white and pink flamingos which are happily feeding in the receding waters of the park...there are also pelicans, ducks, and storks amongst the flamingos. So much wildlife everywhere you look.

view of the welands

Flamingoes

Today we brought a packed lunch which we enjoyed atop of a large look out point where we had an excellent view of both the wetlands and the plains...and of course the mountains around killi.  It is explained to us that without the glacial runoff and rainwater from Kilimanjaro and the surrounding area which travels to Amboseli via underground rivers, this park would be a desert. All runoff from the mountains flows this way and thus sustains life in the park.  The rest of the afternoon was spent viewing hippos and elephants in the surrounding marshes.  We returned to our campsite for some R&R at around 3pm.  We had a long drive ahead of us...tomorrow we head to the Kenyan highlands.

Bright and Early to see Killi!

Welcome to Africa!! - Through the Arid Plains to our first SAFARI GAME DRIVE!!



Hello to all near and far and welcome to the very first entry of my (our, as Marlene reads this over my shoulder) travel blog to Africa.      



Ladies Going for High Tea at Buckingham



Standing Guard



Our first stop on this trip found us arriving at London's Heathrow airport, slightly blurry eyed and grumpy from a lack of sleep on our over night flight.  Our first order of business was to try to find something to eat, and we quickly settled on trying to find the hole in the wall Cafe we found ourselves at 3 years ago which served AMAZING baked Jacket potatoes.  For those who don't know, these are giant potatoes stuffed with anything from cheese and beans (Marlene's choice) to curry chicken (my choice).  We were positive that we were in the correct area of the city but were simply unable to find said restaurant so we opted for similar cafe (they are a dime a dozen).  Once our potatoes were actually cooked (it took 2 attempts and they still weren't cooked!) we made quick work of them and we were off to a quick walking tour of the city Marlene style.  We made a quick pass by Buckingham palace where we were treated to a display of very proper English men and women set to have "high tea" in the palace...I found their hats to be quite amusing...blame it on lack of sleep.  After a few quick photos we were on to our real destination, Green Park.  Oh that's right, we were THOSE people who made a temporary bed on the grass under a large tree and slept the afternoon away!  Well maybe not the entire afternoon, but we had a good lie down and caught up on some much needed zzzzz.  We then had a meandering walk through the park and continued onward to catch a glimpse of Big Ben, Scotland Yard, Westminster Abbey, Parliament buildings etc etc. It was a quick visit but alas, we had a plane to Nairobi to catch...plus the underground train ride took a little longer then expected.




After our nap in Green Park

 

Our welcome Ostrich...the first animal you see if your good luck animal

 Immediately upon boarding our overnight Virgin Air flight we both knew it was going to be a much better experience...everything just seemed to be vibrant and the atmosphere on board was much more appealing then that of the Air India Flight...not to say that I got much sleep, but I at least got a few hours before landing in Nairobi.  Upon arrival we truly did feel like celebrities as our tour leader held a placard bearing our names, and we had 3 more gentlemen to welcome us to beautiful Kenya.  The first being our driver/guide Mike, the second, our excellent cook Guidian, and the third, none other then Mr. Mbuthia!! Mr Mbuthia is the father of my ex roomate Anne, whom, for those of you who attended our wedding, had the second reading at our ceremony.  Anyway, he was there to accept a package consisting of Arm and Hammer tooth paste brought to him straight from Canada at his request...don't ask LOL.  Anyhow, our initial impressions of Kenyan people were exactly as we expected...happy, friendly, and welcoming.  We already knew we were in good hands.                                                                          



The View from the Van



Marlene making the most of her first game drive



 So, immediately upon arrival and a quick monetary exchange later, we were off to our very first game drive in Amboseli National Park.  It took about 5 hours to drive to the park putting us at the park at approximately 3PM.  Along the way we had already discovered many things #1 the roads are atrocious, being from Sudbury, I've always heard of pot holes you could lose your front end in but I had never actually seen one..until now!  You know its bad when in order to avoid potholes you consistently drive on the wrong side of the road (which is the right side for us North Americans) and will take to the shoulders and ditches because they are...ahem...a smoother ride. #2 Kenya still believes in strong local farming and the results are delicious, fresh, ripe fruit.  Our cook stopped several times along the way to pick up fresh ingredients for our meals to come.  #3 The shop keepers will try any tactic including barter, trade, guilt, and occasionally intimidation in order to sell us things we clearly did not want.  I can't count the number of times I heard "why you not want to promote my business" or "my name is George buy something to remember me by" and when all else fails "ok you want to trade your hat for something?  How 'bout a pen so I can give to my children" on and on...we were entertained by the consistency of these lines, its like every shop keeper took some course on how to sell stuff to tourists...that being said, we did manage to pick up some really beautiful items to bring back and there is certainly a lot of talented artists to be found.





momma and baby Gazelle

   On our way through the arid plains toward Amboseli  Park several large volcanoes began to appear on the horizon and we eagerly anticipated our first sighting of Kilimanjaro..which we have since discovered is quite elusive and mostly hidden by clouds except at sunrise..guess what we were going to do the next morning!!  The area surrounding Amboseli is resided by the Masai people. A very strong and traditional people who refuse to give in to western ideals.  These are the people (woman) who walk 20km to fetch both water and firewood to maintain their subsistence.  It was quite striking to see their bright red clothes against the paleness of the arid plains.  Not to mention gaining a bit of experience at the sight of these people going about their daily business.



Finally into the park!!  Amboseli is located off the main highway down 25km of dirt road, and this is the type of dirt road that has received ZERO maintenance probably since it was built...so 25km equates to about 1hour of incredibly rough terrain.  The very first creature to greet us (and this wasn't the actual park just yet) was the Ostrich...not exactly the most exotic or exciting of animals, but as we were about to find out, the best was definitely yet to come.



Giraffes in Amboseli

Our first order of business was to get to camp and to have lunch, then it was off to the game drive!  Our accommodations for two nights were quite simple, but there were toilets and hot water, and we also got up graded to a banda (heavy canvas tents with full beds in them) so we had nothing to complain about.  After a quick meal of pasta and tea we set out into the hot African sun for our first evening game drive in Amboseli.  Almost immediately upon arrival into the park we were greeted with zebra, giraffe, antelope, gazelle, elephant, and even lions!  We were extremely lucky to have found lions so early on...luck seemed to be the one recurring theme throughout the entire journey.  There was a mother lion and her two young daughters standing around a zebra they had just killed.  We watched in amazement for several minutes as the lions guarded their kill and also began to shred it up, devouring large chunks of meet.  As incredible as this was to us, we had not even seen 1/10th of the park yet, so we continued on our safari and saw many more animals and birds, but nothing as exciting as the lions.  As the sun begins to set in that stunning African brilliance we returned to the sight of the lions. They are still resting from the long day...something we both needed to do.

Sunset over Amboseli savanah

Welcome to the new home of Viracocha travels!!

Hello Everyone and Welcome to my NEW Blog!!!

Unfortunately my last travel blog "realtravel.com" suffered a slow and painful death due to my inability to actual "compose" any information into the main body of the text.  After several months of waiting, and several emails being sent to the site administrator, and no progress being made, I've decided to move any information from that site and post it here...and of course complete my tales of our African Adventure!!

In the interest of those who may not have had a chance to read the posts on my previous site (it will soon be deleted completely) I will include my entire travel blog on this site.