Noeleen

Just back two days from Kenyan trip. Spent one week on safari and one week on the beach.<BR>We arrived in Nairobi on 5th oct. We went to the Carnivore restaurant which serves all kinds of meat. We ate zebra, ostrich, antelope, crocodile, chicken, lamb, beef and salad. This restaurant is well worth a visit. We stayed overnight in the Serena Nairobi Hotel which was very nice. We then went to Samburu for two nights in the samburu serena lodge. Nice accommadation in chalet style rooms. Monkeys are all over the place so be sure to keep doors locked. It was hot and humid in samburu both day and night.<BR> We then set off for Mount Kenya. We stayed one night in the serena moutain lodge<BR>which I found to be really peaceful. This is a watering hole so you view the animals either from your room or the viewing deck. There is also a tunnel were you can go to get a closer view of the animals. We did not see much activity while we were there but none the less I really liked the peace and tranquilly of the lodge. It can get quite<BR>cool at mount kenya so you would need a warm sweater or fleece jacket. They put hot water bottles in the bed at night which was nice. There is a nature walk in the afternoon but you must wear long trousers for this. If it rains they provide raingear<BR>including wellington boots.<BR> Next on the list was lake nakuru. We stayed one night also at Lake Nakuru lodge. We had lovely rooms here with a great view. We could watch all kinds of animals grazing as we sat out on the balcony. We arrived at lake nakuru about 1pm and it was very hot but within half an hour the weather changed and we had some heavy rain and it got very cool. <BR> Our last stop on Safari was by far the best.<BR>We stayed two nights at the Masai Mara Serena Lodge. I can only liken this to a posh version ot the Flintstones house. The rooms were cavelike and the lampshades were monted on wood carved in a bone shape. The views from these rooms were spectacular. The masai mara was very hot during the day but cool in the mornings and evenings.<BR> The service and food was excellent at all serena lodges. Lake Nakuru lodge is not the<BR>serena group and the service here was a little slower but still nothing to complain about. <BR> The reason I mentioned weather in each area was because when I was arranging my trip I agonised over what clothes to bring. I think each area can vary depending on the time of year you travel. I wore hiking boots all of the time which surprised me as I thought I would have preferred sandals but as on occasion we did walk in the bush I found the boots to be the best. The last part of our trip was to mombasa to spend 7 nighta at club sun'n'sand which is all inclusive. We had a lovely relaxing week here which was also good fun plus food and service was excellent.<BR> So this is the end of this long winded report. The safari was exciting and surpassed all my expectations and as to Mombasa all I can say is you have to experience it at least once. <BR>I hope this has not been too boring as writing is not my forte.<BR> Cheers Noeleen<BR><BR><BR>

kavey

Noeleen<BR>Not boring at all and thanks for sharing...<BR>Had you been on safari before? How did you find the game drives? Did you get close to the animals? How long were you able to spend with the animals as opposed to time spent tracking them down? What were the vehicules like? And when you did find game did you find that too many other vehicules then arrived or did you find you were left alone?<BR>Many thanks for any feedback!<BR>Kavey

chris

Hi Noeleen, Last October, I also stayed at Samburu and Serena Mountain Lodges and Nakuru Lodge and reallly enjoyed the Serena chain (so much so that I'm staying at Serena Manayra, Ngorongoro, and Serengeti in December). The Serena Amboseli Lodge was amazing too, it was the big "surprise" of the trip actually. <BR><BR>I'm curious if the flamingos were at Nakuru? They were last year-an unforgettable sight. Only 59 more days until my Tanzanai/Zanzibar safari-but who's counting!

Noeleen

The flamingos were at lake nakuru. I do not know if they were as plentyful as other years but there certainly were a lot. <BR>This was my first safari and it certainly did not dissapoint. We were in an 8 seater mini van which only take 6 people plus the driver so everyone has a window seat. My viewing was not restricted. The game drives were very exciting. As you drive along especially<BR>in the Masai Mara and Samburu animals are nearly always in view. Our guide wanted to make sure that we saw as much as possible so he would always stop and get as close as he possibly could to each animal or bird. To answer the question of did we get close to the animals my response is sometimes too close for comfort. Many times elephants, giraffes and various other animals seemed to appear out of nowhere <BR>and you would almost collide with them. It is amazing how they manage to blend into the landscape. Several times we drove by what we thought were large boulders only to discover they were actually Rhino. <BR> In Samburu we were told it is difficult to see a leopard as they tend to hide away. We all eagarly kept our eyes peeled in case we caught a glimpse.<BR>Sombody spotted movement along the bank of the river and sure enough there was our leopard but we could not get a clear shot as he was tucked in under a bush. We waited and more vans arrived, about 10 in all. Then I think the leopard decided that "If I give them what they want they will go away". So he climbed up the bank and literally pranced up the road totally ignoring us. We drove along side him and I could have put my hand out the window and stroked his coat he was that near. of course I resisted the urge as I might not have got my hand back. We got shots of him from all angles as our driver raced ahead so we could film him walking towards us. <BR>For certain animals,ie. the big cats and rhino etc you will usually get quite a few vans and jeeps around as the drivers radio and let one another know if they have come across anything interesting. They did not surround they animal without leaving a gap so they animal could go by if it wanted. when you are on safari you never know what you will come across and this is what makes it so exciting. Every game drive is different and some people are luckier in what they see than others but you will not be disappointed. As to how long you spend looking at a specific animal is up to you, the driver and the animal. Sometimes they walk of into the bushes so there is nothing to see, but the driver willusually stay as long as you want him to. We never spent time aimlessly wandering around looking for animals, they were always there but on our last game drive we told our driner that the male lion was top of the list as that was the only animal we had not seen. So we did go off the beaten track to try and find one, without any luck. the following morning as we were speeding away at about 60 miles an hour from the Masai mara our driver suddenly screeched to a halt and there sitting by a bush were two male lions. I do not know how he managed to spot them but thank god he did. They only stayed a minute but at least we got to see them. I think the amount of vehicles in the area might vary at different times of the year but I did not feel that it aws too overcrowded. I hope I have answered all your questions and more to the point that it all makes sense. All the best. Noeleen

joey

Thanks Noeleen. I know it took a while to type up that report. Thanks for sharing.