Lake Naivasha & Hell's Gate N.P.

Jambo!

One of the last "Day Trips" from Nairobi for me is Lake Naivasha and the N.P. just to its north. Lake Naivasha is one of only two fresh water lakes in the Rift Valley, thus slightly different flora/fauna than the other 'alkaline' lakes. There's also a private Reserve called Crater Lake Game Sanctuary with Green Crater Lake the main attraction. Going down into the crater was like descending into "The Lost World." It was so surreal, yet you half way expected a dinosaur or King Kong to stroll out of the jungle forest at any moment and break the serenity. There was a plethora of wildlife there, and Hell's Gate N.P. has high cliffs and gorges. The N.P. has instructors to teach you Rock Climbing if you desire. The cliffs are perfect for nesting eagles and vultures. The plains have the game animals, and this is one of the few N.P. that allow you to leave your vehicle and 'walk' with the animals. Check these pix out!

Green Crater Lake in Crater Lake Game Sanctuary

Lesser Flamingoes with a lone Greater Flamingo

Crowned Hornbill with large grasshopper waiting...

...to go feed its young through this small vertical slit

Hybrid Fischer's x Yellow-collared Lovebirds

Grey-headed Gull

Yellow-billed Stork, feeding behaviour

Syke's Monkey silouette

African Hoopoe

Common Zebra

Black Kite (Yellow-billed Form)

Nakuru National Park

Jambo to you all out there!

After this trip I have only one more national park day trip from Nairobi. Any more NP visits will be overnighters as they are too far to do in one day. So, that's the only way to see Elephants in the wild, as they're are none within a day trip from Nairobi.

Grant's Gazelle

This trip yesterday to Lake Nakuru was fantastic. Lake Nakuru has no outlet, like most of the saline lakes of the Rift Valley. It is famous as the lake that can get covered in 'pink' with a million Lesser Flamingoes, with several thousand Greater Flamingoes thrown in for good measure. So when you've seen the pictures or TV programs of all those flamingoes flying around, it was most likely from Lake Nakuru. Unfortunately, over the past few decades, the birds have drastically reduced in #s, and the experts are guessing it has to do with several factors. Some are natural, like drought, but others are due to human influence, i.e. pesticide runoff, water taken from feed streams. However, the wildlife is still abundant. Here's some pictures to ogle over of a few of the animals of which I got close enough to get good shots.

Flamingoes

BIG White Rhino Male, from about 30 yards

Rhino family unit

African Fish Eagle


Male Impala

Marabou Storks















Male Defassa Waterbuck


Kwaheri,

Randy

Ol Donyo Sabuk N.P.

Jambo everyone!

Well, it's way past time for an update, so here's the next edition. I took another trip with the Nature Kenya organization to one of the newest NP's - Ol Donyo Sabuk N.P., an isolated mountain, which was only about a 2 hr. drive (26 km - 13 mi). Ol Donyo Sabuk is Big Mt. in Maasai and the local Kikuyu call this Kilima Mbongo (Buffalo Mt.) It's called that because there are Water Buffalo on the Mt. Getting there we went through the town of Thika, which is one of the big agricultural centers. We drove by hectares and hectares of pineapple fields on the way in. Anyway, we got to the park to go to the top (2,146m=7,016ft) to see the 360 degree view and see the birds and animals. I thought we were going to drive up to the top, but NO, we were going to walk it! It was 10.6 km one way from the gate. I got about 8 km up before the Charley Horses in both calfs told me my legs were revolting! I kept going though and made to the top. Some views up top were actually blocked by trees and communications towers, so you really couldn't get a true 360 view. On a clear day (few and far between) you can not only see Mt. Kenya, but Mt. Kilimanjaro across the border in Tanzania. This wasn't a clear day! I then realised that it was another 10.6 down. I was walking around like a 100 year old man for the next 4 days, and got no sympathy from my co-workers on my self inflicted malady. I saw a lot of great birds, but no buffalo up close. Our group had to hire an armed N.P. guide to go with us to protect us from any encounters with baffalo, as they are actually very dangerous. Here's a few pictures.


Armed guide & my driver, David


Mt. Kenya in the clouds


Look closely, there's a Chameleon in there!


Variable Sunbird, Male


Speckled Mousebird


Malachite Kingfisher