Part IV : East AFrica - Kenya - Nakuru, Naivasha and Nairobi - Rhinos Everywhere!

Well... the last few days have been more exciting than anticipatedand I'm excited to share it all with you!!

The gods of the Nakuru National Park were smiling upon us as we journeyed through its domain ; we saw 2 white rhinos nearby (and a bunch in the distance). One actually crossed right in front of our vehicle, about 10 feet away... these animals are so blind, they could barely see us!

At lunch, we had baboons dangerously near our eating area. Lots of fun to try to scare them off. We survived lunch with no food taken. Hurrah, as our fantastic Dragoman trip leader, Babs, would say!!

We also saw flocks upon flocks of flamingos and pelicans... impressing, you'll seethe pictures soon!

Later that day we saw the ever elusive Leopard, sleeping in a tree about 30 feet from the road (it is very rare for them to be that close to the road). The two land cruisers in front of us were really loud, so the leopard eventually got annoyed and slinked away. The leopard is such a smooth and graceful animal.

Of course as the leopard left, the baboons in the area started barking (a sign of danger). It seems that everything barks here ; zebras too!)

At night we camped in the park itself. We had a campfire going and told each other scary travel stories. As the night drew on, we began to hear munching around us. Low and behold, buffalos were chomping on grass next to our tent (don't worry even the munching couldn't keep me up!)

The next day, we went to learn about Joy Adamson, from the book/movie "Born Free", a true story about how she and her husband raised orphaned lions and painted pictures of the flora and the people from various African tribes. (But we were also interested in the also present Columbus monkeys, monkeys with a coat like that of a skunk's.)

Navaisha was a neat little town were we had a chance to email and have lunch (mutton samosas and chicken pie with masala tea, similar to Starbucks Chai Latte but of course more authentic!) ;cD

Ok, I takeback what I said about Nairobi being tame. We had repeated suggestions from hotel staff and others that Nairobi was not really safe towalk around in (mostly due to petty crimes), so weended up taking a taxi everywhere, to my great disapointment.

Well last night was a blast anyways, we went to a very touristy restaurant named "Carnivore", an African chain located in Nairobi, Capetown, and Jo'burg. This is my (and certainly my dad's) dream come true. We had chefs bring to the table skewers of all types of game meat - Ostrich, Elan, Hartebeest (African Deer), Zebra, and even Crocodile!!! We were stuffed! But I had room for the Dawa manto make me a dawa drink (Dawa man is an african version of a north american shooter girl, though not as sexy, clearly!) Dawa was gin, tonic, lime and a big dollop of honey!

My favourite drink to date though is passion fruit - a good mix of tang and sweet.

This morning we went the Nairobi elephant and rhino orphanage, were orphaned baby animals are taken care of for 2-3 years before re-introducing them to the wild. The staff fed the animals and muddied them up (to cool them down) rightin front of us. The two rhinos were pretty big, and the six elephants were just babies. It was really fun to see their personalities interact with each other - especially when they waddled around in the mud puddle. We also saw parents and baby warthogs (finnally!)... did you know that warthogs drop to their front knees when eatings because their necks are too short!! They are really funny little guys.

Finally, in the afternoon, we visited the African National Museum, which displayed more of Joy Adamson's artwork, stuffed birds and mammals, some modern African art, and a neat collection of religious (witchcraft), agricultural, ornamental, etc., artifacts.

Well, that's it for another trip! It was a great experience to go on an overland tour... our trip leader and cook were hilarious, friendly and fun, and I made some good friends from the whole experience!! I recommend anyone who is planning to go on an African trip to use Dragoman. They are well experienced and organized to bring you the best experience possible (no they didn't pay me to say this!).

Cheers!!!!

This Muzungu (Moo-zoongoo, correct term for foreigner) is closing another chapter!

Thank for reading!