joeyi

Just back from our trip to Kenya and now I have a much better understanding of all I had been reading on this board for the last 9 months. I must thank everyone for their past posts and pictures as it was such a big help in planning our trip. Just to refresh, as I was more of a lurker than a poster in the planning stage, my husband’s sister and her family moved to Nairobi in Sept 2005. I had never thought of going to Africa before, but it seemed like a good opportunity and one not to miss. Finding this website made the planning so much easier as I was overwhelmed before my discovering of this site.
Their home on the north side of Nairobi was our base and my husband and I did 2 safaris on our own flying out of Wilson and then 2 safaris with the family, driving in there 4 wheel drive.

It was all great and now that we are back in San Diego I really miss hearing Jambo and all the other Swahili phrases we learned.

Our last few days we were discussing our highlights and the list kept growing. Our overall favorite was the Mara, possibly since it was our first safari, but everything at Olonana was excellent and set the standard for the rest of trip. My favorite lodge was Elsa’s and I hope some day to return as our stay there was too short. The cheetah hug in Nariobi NP was like a dream. The Ark was much better than I was expecting from reading many prior reports. The rooms where not much, but the experience of being so close to the animals and hearing all the noises the elephants made was unforgettable. The view of Mt. Kilimanjaro from Ol Tukai. Spending a morning in Ambesoli volunteering with a group from the US embassy planting 400 acacia trees side by side with the Massai villagers. The list goes on and on and will save the rest for the more detailed trip report.

I can’t say we really had any downsides, maybe all the rain, but we didn’t let that stop us. And it has it’s pro’s like not much dust and everything was very green. The game viewing my have been a little tougher in some places but the bird watching was incredible.

I took close to 1000 pictures on a Canon S3 and am working on editing and consolidating the highlights. It is really hard getting back to reality, unpacking, laundry and the thought of work on Monday, but I want to get a full trip report written and give back to this community.


Below is our itinerary

nov 25 NBO with family
Nov 26 NBO with family
Nov 27 Fly Mara Olonana Tented Camp
Nov 28 Olonana
Nov 29 fly NBO late in day
Nov 30 NBO with family
Dec 1 Drive Amboseli with family, they have 4 wheel drive Ol Tukai
Dec 2 Amboseli, Kibo tented camp
Dec 3 Return NBO with family
Dec 4 Fly Samburu Larsen’s
Dec 5 Larsen’s
Dec 6 Drive Meru/Elsa’s
Dec 7 Elsa’s
Dec 8 Fly Nairobi
Dec 9 Drive the ark
Dec 10 Drive Lake Nakuru, Lake Nakuru Lodge.
Dec 11 Drive Navisaha, Lake Navisaha Country Club.
Dec 12 Navisha return to Nairobi
Dec 13 Nairobi late departure home

atravelynn

Welcome home! You leave a lurker you return a poster and maybe an addict.

joeyi

i was a lurking addict before i left. now i hope to have a return trip someday.

simbakubwa

Joeyi,

Please tell us more about Ol Tukai Lodge (the rooms, the common area, the food, etc), as well as Lake Naivasha Country Club.

I am interested in both!!

hguy47

Welcome back, it sounds like you had a great trip, we are all anxious for details. You have joined the ranks of Africa-loving Fodorites, but if you only took 1,000 pictures you were much more restrained than most of us.

joeyi

simbakubawa,
the Lake Naivasha Country Club was just okay. the grounds were very pretty but the food in the dining room left a lot to be desired. In my real life i'm a chef so i have been accused of being a food snob at times. If you have small children it would be great as there is a big play ground and a pool. there also is a small pier which was nice and you can do a hippo safari right from their dock. the rooms were fine.
Ol Tukai was rather rustic with a very nice reception area with a large elephant wood craving across from the front desk. it is also a large property, swimming pool, ping pong table etc. the food was pretty good. we were advised to stay on the swamp side as opposed to the mt. kili side, as that is where you would see the elephants parade by in the morning. as it worked out the elephants never came by, and the folks on the Mt. kili side had a beautiful view of Kili and some lions came by too. So much for what you should do. the rooms here were comfortable.

Nyamera

Joeyi,
Karibu nyumbani. I’m looking forward to photos and more details.

simbakubwa

Thanks joeyi,

So would you recommend Ol Tukai to a friend? Or would you recommend they stay somewhere else in Amboseli?

joeyi

i would recommend Ol Tukai, it was very comfortable. It is a large lodge, depending on when you go it could be very crowded. it was not when we were there last month. Also Amboseli was very green from all the recent rains. most people complain about the dust there, but it was just the opposite for us, lots of mud.

joeyi

Sometimes the things you dread the most turn out to be okay. This was the case with our flights to Nairobi. Leaving on Thanksgiving Day had the advantage off the flights not being full and we were able to spread out and actually get some sleep. We landed Friday night and proceeded to the visa line. This was very easy and I appreciated everyone’s advice that recommended doing this upon arrival. I do not think we were in line more than 15 minutes, but after 26 hours of traveling who really knows. Heading for the baggage area I spotted my sister in law and her family, our 12-year-old nephew had made a sign Karibu Joyce & Rod, and we were learning Swahili. Pam’s house is on the north side of Nairobi in a suburb called Runda, it was a bit of a drive, but at that hour the traffic was not too bad.

After a good nights rest we headed off to see what Nairobi had to offer. First stop was the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage. We got there just in time to see them let the elephants out. They all came running down the hill past the baboons and the warthogs. Next stop was Giraffe Center adjacent to Giraffe Manor. There is a nature walk across the street that we decided to take. You are supposed to be guided but they let us go on our own. Somehow we got off the path and the next thing you know there was this huge giraffe on the other side of a bush. When we finally managed to find our way out through the mud (our first of many mudding encounters), we found out the giraffe was Jock named for the founder of the Giraffe Center.

By now everyone was hungry and we went to the Utamaduni Craft Center for a nice lunch. If you are spending a day in Nairobi and doing this circuit I would recommend this place as a stop.

After lunch it was off to the KWS Animal Orphanage and the cheetah hug. Reggie, our nephew had already done this and he was really excited to take us there. We asked if we could go in and it was no problem. About 5 guys came along and took us in and one took my camera and started taking photos of us. We actually were able to pet 2 of the cheetahs.

By now we were ready to go back to Pam’s house and relax. It was a great first day in Kenya.

stakerk

Welcome back. Please continue your report.

Kevin from Thousand Oaks, CA

joeyi

thanks Kevin, i thought of you when we were at Larsen's and your trip report came to life for me.

joyce

annhig

thanks for the trip report so far. I'm very interested in your experience because we are thinking about a Kenya/Tanzania trip next July, particularly where you had the best game viewing.

Keep up the good work!

Ann

joeyi

Sunday, day 2 in Nairobi

Pam had decided that since we missed Thanksgiving Dinner she should make one for us today. Mind you since Pam has lived overseas for many years she has not had to cook much and my job in real life is a chef. When I’m in someone else’s kitchen I try to be careful not to overstep my bounds and help as is needed unless they gave me full control. Pam invited some of their friends and neighbors and this gave a chance to meet some more ex-pats. They all lead such a different lives than we do. She also broke out the good china and set a beautiful table in the dining room. After I helped her as much as could and Henry (brother in law) made us waffles for breakfast he decided he’d live Pam to finish the rest and take us to his favorite place in Nairobi, The Windsor Country Club. Now I know most of you who travel to Africa do not go in search of golf, but for any who do there are some very nice courses, Windsor being one of them. It is also a full service hotel with rooms along the course. We took the nature walk that is on the outskirts of the course with many monkeys in the trees, and occasional dik dik in the woods and now and then a warthog. After our walk and a cold drink at the 19th hole, we headed back for the feast. Pam out did herself and all the calories I thought I was going to miss by traveling on Thanksgiving Day managed to find me anyhow.

Monday, we head to the Mara

I am up super early as I’m excited that we will be leaving for the Mara and our first Safari. Pumpkin pie for breakfast, Reggie heads off to school and we get a cab to Wilson Airport. After a few days of driving in Nairobi traffic we decided it was not worth having Henry drive us to the airport in the morning.

I had booked this safari myself on the internet directly with Olonana which is part of Sanctuary Lodges. I always felt that it was on the up and up but so being used to the American way of having airline tickets, etc.. as we were approaching the airport I was getting a little nervous hoping that the little printed voucher I had was all we would need. Hakuna Mata and 2 boarding passes for Safari Link airlines were issued to us and it was off the Mara. After a short stop at Governor’s Camp strip we continued on to Kichwa Tembo, as we were approaching the landing strip we had our first views of wild animals and it was really amazing.

Joseph, our driver from Olonana was there to greet us and since he had another plane to meet we got to experience our first bush bathroom. Which I can honestly say I preferred to some of the real bathrooms. On our way we saw many animals, one being Topi. Thanks to this board I passed the first quiz. Joseph asked what is the Swahili name for topi and I popped off Nyamera. Even my husband was surprised that I knew the answer. Finally when everyone was there, (they had a group fly in from the coast for an overnighter), we went to the camp. It’s a few km north of gate situated right on the mara river with their own resident hippo family. Minnie gave us a nice introduction of what to expect at the camp and then sent us off to our tents so we could get ready for lunch. We had tent #4 which was right across from the hippos. Great sounds between the hippos and the running water of the river.

We had a nice lunch out of the deck, all the food here was very good, and especially the fresh baked rolls. Phillip are waiter gave us first class service the whole stay.

Now we are ready for our first game drive. We are paired up with 2 Japanese women and a young couple from England who have already been there for 2 days. Right off the bat we see a lioness kill a baby warthog, or Pumba as Joseph liked to call them. It wasn’t much of a meal, but the 2 other lionesses did come over to investigate and so did the male lion. Next we saw 2 black rhino, a mother and her 2 year old. I didn’t realize how rare this was at the time, but after talking with people through out our trip I learned that they are not seen very often. We were the first ones to find them and then the rest of the vehicles that were out that afternoon also came over to join the sighting. We did many more animals on our way back to camp. Rain was threatening and Joseph would say put on your poncho’s “Rain coming” and he was right. Even with my poncho on I was soaked by the time we got back to the camp. Guards were there waiting for us with umbrellas, flashlights and escort back to our tent. It really rained hard that night and the river was raging.

i would like to keep writing while but i have to get a few things done around home. I am getting a new found appreciation for all your reports as i am learning how much time goes into the writing and the uploading and editing of photos. i hope to get back to this later today as tomorrow i return to work.

atravelynn

Pumpkin pie for breakfast and the Maasai Mara in the afternoon with a lion kill and mother/baby rhino. It does not get better than that!

Leely

Lynn, they probably had some wonderful Kenyan coffee with their pumpkin pie, pre-Mara, so it's even better.

Joyce and Rod, welcome back. Glad you had a great time, and I'm enjoying your report.

joeyi

i may be jumping the gun here a little, but i love to look at pictures and i have the first group of "highlights" ready to post. Please animal lovers bear with me, i had to include a picture of Reggie playing the trumpet at his school's christmas recital.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-gc4a0a

joeyi

Tuesday, still in the Mara

It stopped raining about 4 am, It was a beautiful morning and our tea/coffee wake up was nice to enjoy outside our tent watching the hippos come down the hill and enter the river. The river had really risen and was moving pretty fast. We were really enjoying the sounds of nature and forgetting the sounds of the city life.

Breakfast in the dining room was buffet and then they also served you eggs and coffee/tea. We were scheduled for an all day game drive leaving at 8:30 with a bush lunch. We had the same group in our open Toyota land cruiser. The Japanese woman did not speak much English but it turned out our driver spoke Japanese. We entered the reserve at the Olololo gate, which is the very northern part of the triangle. The road was really muddy and I mean muddy, thick black mud that is very slippery. Joseph was very experienced with the driving and kept us moving the whole day. It was better to drive on the grass than the road as grass at least gave some traction. As we drove along the base of the escarpment the animals were coming down from the top, first the baboon, then the zebras, then elephants, then giraffes. The list goes on and on, I think we saw every type of gazelle, a huge heard of buffalo, a group of 20 ostrich, eland, water bucks, hartebeests, mongoose, jackals, hyena, pumbas, and I’m probably leaving out a few. We also saw many birds and more different kinds of eagles than I’ve ever seen. Due to all the recent rains the landscape was turning green almost before your eyes and lots of flowers were popping up. One very pretty one was the fireball lily. One of the other vehicles had gone to look at this lily and got stuck in the mud. When we drove up they didn’t really look stuck, but the mud is pretty deceiving. We got them free and they didn’t get 20 feet and they were stuck again. This time they drove off to get some wood for under the tires and the bonus to that was they spotted 2 cheetahs under a tree so after we freed them the second time we went to see the cheetah boys. After leaving the 2 cheetahs we meet the other group at the base of the escarpment and had bush lunch under a tree.

One thing I must mention that really amazed me was the amount of animal poo ,
every kind and everywhere. The mara must be the most fertile soil in the world. Even when we were sitting in or chairs during the picnic I looked down and almost every kind of animal had traveled under this tree recently. Our guide decided he should identify it all for us. Know I’ve heard of tracks being identified but this was a first for me.

After our picnic we took a little walk up towards the escarpment and found a leopard tortoise. Since the leopard eluded us it was nice to see one of the little 5. The view was amazing and clouds in the sky were so beautiful. It was hard to believe that in a few hours it would be raining so hard you couldn’t see in front of you.

Due to the recent rains Joseph had a to be careful of where he drove and we pretty much stayed in the northern triangle. He was able to cut a path down towards the river near Little governors and try to find a leopard, but luck was not with us. The river was raging pretty hard and was high so we also did not see crocodile. He did find another spot along the river with a hippo pool and we stopped and enjoyed them. One’s skin was very badly mottled and he said that was sunburn. Across the bank were some Egyptian geese with babies.

It was starting to cloud up and Joseph said, put on your poncho’s rain coming. After getting soaked yesterday we brought our own heavy-duty ponchos with us and today I stayed dry. This time the rain came down so hard that it was a deluge. After awhile Joseph got out and put the sides up, you couldn’t see but the rain was so hard I’m not really sure how he saw to drive. I think he knows the road by heart and I can’t say enough good things about him as a driver/guide. He really seemed to know his stuff and also had a great sense of humor. Anytime he would spot a bird he’d identity it and then pull out his bird book, find it and then let you read about it.

It was dark by the time we arrived back at our tent. The river was really up from the morning and probably half way up the bank. We rested a bit before dinner and by the time we went to the dining room the rain was just a drizzle. The table was set really nice, with the napkins folded like swans coming out of the glass and a martini glass with a floating candle in it. I know it’s not a cruise ship, but being in the food/hospitality business I really appreciated these touches. Of course my husband didn’t even notice the swan until I pointed it out to him.

It was a great full day safari and even though we had more rain it was not slowing us down. After last years drought it was good that rain was coming.

atravelynn

It's good to know your animal spotting skills extend to the dining table, with the swan sighting.

That's great you are having such an abundance of animals in a lush green setting.

You are right about the poo. I've even had people point it out in my pictures, at least the more wide angle shots.

Nyamera

Joyce, I'm so proud of you! It would have been really embarrassing if you'd failed to say the Swahili name of the most important animal in Africa. A green Mara sounds like the place to be. Now I'll have a look at the photos.