A Kenyan diary

Written by Deborah Hudson

Deborah did a four week safari with us to Kenya in October 2005. Here is her diary from the trip, along with some of her photographs.

Background

I promised my nephews, Will and Oliver, that as soon as they got old enough, I would take them to this wonderful continent that is so deeply ingrained in me.

My brief to Safari Drive was to organise a trip to include camping in the bush, animals, tribes’ people and lots of activities for Will and Oliver who, at 17 and 15, are much the same age as I was on my first safari.

The Trip

Fifteen nights under canvas. Followed by four nights at a luxury lodge, four nights on a camel trek and three nights on a lake. Transfers by light aircraft kept the long drives down to a minimum.

The Diary

We lost the first day owing to Nairobi Airport being closed. It was not an auspicious start. We met Billy, our guide/driver, and his two staff at 0630 to drive to Meru National Park. I felt relieved that we were on our way, elated to be back in Africa and very tired due to lack of sleep.

A total eclipse of the sun cast a ghostly quality over the landscape as we neared the park. We camped at Chuma, (the Swahili word for iron) an excellent, centrally located site by the river.

After a couple of days full of good animal sightings and no one else seen on game drives, I decided to stay in this lovely park another day.

Highlight:
A young leopard, on the road, in full sunlight. The best I have ever seen and the first Billy has seen here in 7 years.
Lowlight:
Tsetse flies to which I am allergic.

On to Samburu National Reserve and another great camp on the river. A family of 9 elephant in the same glade of trees came into camp during the night and ate the bushes round our tents. Will and Oliver’s first close encounter from behind canvas!

Something had dragged an antelope across the road leaving two parallel lines in the dirt from the horns.

We scouted round until we found three small dense bushes and beneath them, in a hollow, was a lioness, her cub and the untouched kill.

Good game drives with many elephant close to the vehicle and we avoided most of the tourist minibuses.

Highlights
Brilliant cheetah and cubs. A single old bull buffalo, which crept into camp after dark to graze on the riverbank, without any of us seeing it!

On to the Kipsing. An area deep in the Samburu trust lands. Hundreds of people and thousands of goats. Also, donkeys, cattle, shoats, sheep and camels.

The best way to describe camp was absolute chaos for four days, but it was great fun! A term of endearment is useless blanket and the Samburu we met are useless blankets of note.

Highlights
The Samburu. The massive storm as we put up camp. An enormous puff adder 30 yards from camp.

Our last three nights camping with Billy were at Lewa Downs, the game conservancy. We saw black and white Rhino, elephant, Grevi’s zebra, lion, cheetah and lots of secretary birds.

Highlight
Crowned cranes displaying and pairing up. A pair of ground hornbills in camp were nearly tame.
Lowlight
Camping at 5800 ft. After the heat of the Kipsing, it was cold and windy.

A short flight to Loisaba and a gentle touch down took us to this lovely, peaceful oasis for four nights of R&R. Well that was my plan! Will and Oliver dashed from one activity to another whilst I stalked the tauntingly elusive Hunter’s sunbird in the garden.

Highlights
The Marico sunbird, a trip to the Rhino reserve at Mugi and finding a big Leopard tortoise.

Our camel trek started at Sabuk. We rode the camels straight into a cloudburst. Our Samburu guides donned lightweight, dark blue, raincoats, incongruous over their blankets.

Over the next four days we camped by the Waso river, each day moving to a new site.

The camels are real characters and you get to know the one behind you better than the one you are riding, as it’s head is much closer to you.

Our camels had a bad day each with Wills’ doing the double.

They stop and refuse to move for no apparent reason. The Swahili word for ‘get going’ is ‘twendi’ and we used it a lot!

Highlights
The camels and the river – a perpetual playground.

A half hour flight over the hills and down the escarpment to Lake Baringo. A couple of miles by road and then by boat to Samatian. This place is lovely.

We spent our time here in or on the water. Will and Oliver swimming in the pool, lake, doing wake-boarding and canoeing and I tried to get pictures of the six pairs of Fish eagles that live around the lake.

Highlights
Fish eagles, all things watery and the stunning scenery.

Conclusion

Northern Kenya is full of wonderful people and places. It is possible to get away from hoards of other tourists and enjoy seeing lots of game without being surrounded by mini-buses. Will, Oliver and I had a great safari.