tuskerdave

hahaha, i can do one those safaris also
i just remembered about all that matako talk. too funny.
thx, d

JanGoss

Nyamera:

Thanks so much for your awesomely detailed report. You certainly have had many experiences that none of us have had. Glad that on the whole the trip was great for you. We all understand your obsession with Kenya/
Africa. We too feel the same way.

Jan

matnikstym

what a very interesting trip report! I enjoyed every word. Thanks!

lisa

This is one of the best trip reports I've ever read. You have a matter-of-fact way of writing the most telling details, while leaving out just enough to make it all quite mysterious. My favorite: "If I compare Samburu to a chocolate bar it would be a milk chocolate with orange crunch. Tsavo East would be 80 % cacao dark chocolate and the Mara is filled with marzipan and cherries in brandy." I have no idea what this really means but I love it anyway. I can't argue with anyone who uses chocolate to make her points. Now I think maybe we should all do the same. Thank you for writing this.

Patty

I really enjoyed reading your trip report, misadventures and all! The wild dog sighting at Samburu certainly must have been exciting. And I also loved your chocolate comparisons

Thanks for sharing!

Leely

Wow, what an interesting trip. Thank you for the report--very beautifully written. And, as I don't have any immediate plans to visit Kenya, I'm going to have to go on a chocolate-buying expedition so I can get a better sense of what it's like.

Thanks again, Nyamera. Welcome home!

Nyamera

Jan, matnikstym, Lisa, Patty, Leely: Thanks for all your nice comments – I’m happy you enjoyed my trip report.

In case some things I’ve written about certain establishments sound negative: on the whole, I can recommend all mentioned, except the Western Union office in Sarit Centre – even Nairobi Central Police Station isn’t too bad.

ktino

OH, you must be brave!
Interesting to read, many thanks.

atravelynn

Thanks for the entertaining report.

Your animal sightings on the way to the airport were impressive. Including the road kill was a hoot, but also sad for an animal lover.

So sorry about your stolen wallet. Such things can be a nightmare.

I'm glad there is someone else out there that enjoys bats in the bathroom. I too consider it a bonus.

I was especially interested in your 4 nights in Samburu. You mentioned some of the other camps there also.

Do you have a camp recommendation based on your experience and observations there?

Were you glad you spent 4 nights?

How frequent were your gerenuk sightings in Samburu?

Wild dogs in Samburu is a cause for celebration. What a lucky sighting!

Finally, enjoyed your horseback riding account.

Nyamera

Jambo Atravelynn,

If money’s not an issue, I’d recommend Elephant Watch. I didn’t see the camp, but I’ve seen the website. http://www.elephantwatchsafaris.com/index.htm
Larsen’s Camp has 17 tents compared to the 27 of Intrepids, but as it’s fenced as well I don’t think it’s worth the extra money. I didn’t visit Larsen’s – I only saw the fence when on a game drive.
I wish there would be an unfenced camp with around 10 en-suite tents on the ground and a restaurant covered by a canvas shade – and with reasonable rates. No swimming pool and no massage – unless some of the staff or a guest would like to give it for free.

I was glad I stayed 4 nights instead of 3, but 5 would have been even better. I think 3 nights is an absolute minimum for Samburu.

I didn’t keep a journal, but I would say there was, on average, one gerenuk sighting per game drive. Maybe there was one game drive without gerenuks and one with gerenuks in two different places. They were always in groups of 4-6.

I saw one moose on the way to the airport. When I checked with my father if I remembered correctly he said I saw one moose and he saw two that I didn’t see. We were lucky with the foxes. Roe deer and hares are very common, as are, sadly, the flat badgers. I left home at 3.30 AM.

A driver who had been taking guests to Samburu for 5 year told us he had never seen wild dogs.

atravelynn

Thanks Nyamera for the Samburu information. Elephant Watch was my plan whenever I get to Samburu.

sandi

atravelynn -

Another camp up Samburu way is Bedouin Camp... smaller then both Intrepids, Larsens. Though Larsen's, one of the first camps up here had been closed for awhile and recently reopened under new ownership and completely refurbished.

Check-out Bedouin Camp for this area.

Eddieci

Thank you so much for sharing your trip report. I'm leaving for Kenya on September 3 for my first trip to Africa and I'm getting very excited. I love reading other peoples reports as they help me ponder what lies ahead.

Nyamera

Here are some photos from my trip:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...0&y=g34dap

WARNING: low quality photos. I used a “point and shoot” camera with a “35mm–70mm” zoom – whatever that means. Anyway, I had to exclude some pictures where the animals are impossible to spot. The scanner wasn’t too clean and the pictures in my slideshow aren’t as big as in other people’s slideshows. Anyone knows why? At first when I uploaded them they where big, but after applying “instant fix” and “borders” they became small and stay so even when I try “ revert to original”.

cooncat

I thought the photos were really gorgeous. THanks for posting!

Patty

Thanks for sharing your photos! They really gave me a good 'feel' for each place. Now I want to go to Lamu next time

Leely

Nyamera,
I really enjoyed looking at these, and agree with Patty regarding Lamu: it looks amazing. I love all the donkeys.

As a fellow point-and-shoot user, I agree that it's difficult to really capture the beauty of your surroundings. But I think you did!

Thanks.

JanGoss

Nyamera:

Loved seeing your photos. You are one lucky lady! I've been to Samburu three times in a year and have never gotten to see the wild dogs or tree-climbing lions.

Also glad that you included some pictures of yourself. Nice touch.

Are you planning your return yet?

Jan

Nyamera

Thanks for all the nice comments.

Patty and Leely, Yes, Lamu is amazing. It’s the best non-wildlife place I’ve visited. Maybe because the “tamelife” is quite wild.

Jan, I started planning my next trip before going on my last. At the moment it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to travel in the foreseeable future, but I’m considering multiple case scenarios, and, if I’m very lucky, I’ll extend to Tanzania – Ngorongoro and western Serengeti - in June next year. I’ve been to different places on my three trips: first the Mara; next time I wanted to go back to the Mara but decided to see other parts of Kenya and went to Tsavo East; this year I wanted to return to the Mara and Tsavo East, but went to Samburu – and now I want to return there as well. If there’s a possibility for me to travel next year and the Serengeti turns out too expensive I’ll return to the Mara. I still haven’t seen Amboseli and Tsavo West nor northerly places like Maralal and Lake Turkana and, in Tanzania, I also have to see Tarangire and the southern parks – and there are gorillas and chimps in Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania… There are places outside East Africa I would like to see as well, but these are “wants” – East Africa is a “need”.

sandi

Nyamera -

Like Jan, I never saw tree climbing lions or wild dogs at Samburu - lucky you.

... and I see you became good friends with those sneaky vervet monkeys who just love morning cookies. It's amazing to watch them open the zippers of the tents. And, oh so funny.

Donkeys - other then foot, they're the best means of transport through the narrow alleys on Lamu; glad to see these photos.

I also found the border on the photos quite interesting and added a certain mystical air to them.

Best - your later comment "East Africa is a 'need'". My sentiments exactly.

Thanks for sharing.