Flight – 17th Aug

MAN/HEATHROW BA BRITISH AIRWAYS BA1395 14:15/15:10
LHR/NAIROBI KQ KENYA AIRWAYS KQ101 20:00/06:35

Day Before Safari – 18th Aug

I am amazed at how good the Safari was. In fact it really was unbelievable.
Nearly everything turned out better and went better than could be expected.

Day one was in Nairobi. On the way to the hotel we had to divert because we drove into the middle of a protest and got trapped in the middle of a fire blockade. The police had bulldozed a street full of unofficial unlicensed businesses.

(Sorry about the quality of the picture, there were riot police around and it is illegal to take pictures of police and civil unrest)



In the Afternoon we went on a full tour of the city including the National Museum. I was expecting like many other cities in the world for it to be a city of contrasts, multi cultural and multi racial but it was not. On the full tour apart from the odd mini bus full of tourists we did not see one white or Asian person on the street! This turned out to be the case for the whole of the trip apart from Mombassa.
In the evening we went to a Carnivore restaurant with entertainment including African theatrical dancing and a acrobatic display team and band.

top

Safari Part 1 - Leaving the hotel at Nairobi – 19th Aug

 (approx. 195 miles).

On the Safari we travelled as a group of six in a mini bus with a driver guide. It was good to do it that way because you got to build a rapport with the drive and he got to know the group and our likes and dislikes. It also meant that we had 7 pairs of eyes spotting while out in the bush and on the Savannah. We dined with the same people in the lodges. Due to safety issues the company sends 3 buses out at a time. They all travel the same route and do the same safari. Because the roads are so bad you can not drive together, so they keep radio contact and stay with in a mile or so of each other. That also means that while on the game drives the buses spread out and you actually have 21 spotters. If any of the groups spot anything special then they radio the others. The game reserves are so big that these networks really help in finding the rarer game.

Our driver was Niarga. Swahili for Ostrich. Must Kenyans have a tribe name and a Christian name. (Usually given by the school teacher) In this case Silas.

The Morning of our fist Safari day was supposed to be up at 6.00am, pack away, breakfast for 7.00am and ready to roll at 8.00am. I woke at 5.30 and decided to get up at first light (around 6.15).
At 8.10 I got a call from our driver to ask if we wanted to go on Safari. The curtains were total blackout curtains and we'd over slept!!!!!
At 8.15 we'd packed dressed and got to the pick up point. As it happens the vans were only planning on leaving at 8.30 so we'd not delayed things but what a start. The others must have thought it would be like this for the rest of the week.

It was to be a long trip today so I thought I'd best try and gab something to eat. Jane ran to the hotel bar and bought $8 worth of chocolate. (Only 4 bars at $2 a piece for imported chocolate) and I did a raid on the restaurant and got 8 sausages in a serviette.

So at 8.30 we set of in the direction of the Somalian and Ethiopian border along what was to be known as the Super Highway. Surfaced with crushed rocks along with the odd uncrushed rock, we spent many a duty bumpy hour on these roads. The Destination was Samburu Lodge in Samburu National game reserve.

Travelling companions in our new home.


The Super Highway.


The Dust.


The Van we travelled in.



Safari Part 2 - Start of journey to Samburu National Reserve – 19th Aug

Travelling any distance across Kenya is not something that can be done in the same time scale as travelling across the UK. There is the odd good stretch of road in the Cities but this the exception. The driver constantly has to weave over the surface looking for ways around rocks, pot holes and deep ruts sometimes having to pull off the road completely to find a route through.
Not everyone in Kenya is happy to be photographed so some of the pictures are taken from within the van whilst moving so I apologise for some of the quality.
In the outskirts of the cities there are some concrete housing but most of it comprises tin and wood shacks This is an indication of the living conditions of a lot of Kenyans.

City Centre


The outskirts of one of Kenya’s largest cities.


These next few pictures show what most of the small towns along the main roads are like.








As you can imagine most (All) of these towns do not have suitable facilities for dealing with tourists. So they just pass through. Rest stops are catered for By tourist Curios shops with a “welcoming” group of wiling salesmen and women to greet you. The facilities are always through the sales area and out the back, which is fair enough because who else is going to build a rest stop out in the African Bush!! It’s not the type of place I lie to stop at but it’s convenient and I always bought a small something to as payment for the facilities. It’s also an opportunity to practice those bargaining skills and talk to some locals. The plus side of this is there is usually a café for the Driver/Guides to take a rest and get refreshment. I used this to god advantage on the first day (Due to oversleeping and missing breakfast.) I got breakfast and coffee for 150Ksh, around £1.20.

top

Safari Part 3 - Arriving at Samburu – 19th Aug

After the rest stop at the Curio shop it was time for another hour or two of dust and shanty towns, it was time for lunch at Kent Trout farm. A great place down a dirt track behind a scruffy shanty town. It was a lovely green haven that was irrigated by mountain streams. This enabled fresh flowing water to create the trout ponds. They also grew all there own vegetables that were use to supply there out door kitchen. We had a choice of the trout or chicken. After eating this meal I was realising what we are missing at home. The food has real taste. Due to not being force grown and pumped with chemical. Kenya supplies a lot of out of season veg to the UK but it is selected, packed and processed to supermarket specifications. The stuff that we were eating would have been rejected by the supermarkets due to not being the right shape and size. The food tasted wonderful.

When we sat at the table we spotted the first of many Colobus Monkeys.

Now that bread roll that he is eating was in Jane’s hand 30 seconds ago. While we were all tucking into our sop starter he dropped from the branch above and grabbed it from Jane. We didn’t see the monkey but Jane jumped up screamed and grabbed me. It put the fear of god into every body! Not the Monkey but Jane’s scream. The poor monkey look a bit shaken too. It screamed and run back up the tree.

After that we took a tour around the farm and I found this little chap in a bush. They a cute little beasties.


Shortly after we crossed the equator for the second time, we did so a further four times throughout the rest of our journey.  With the Obligatory Curios shops. Every shop owner tells you he and his disabled mother carve every piece in the evenings by candle light, when they can afford them!
(WARNING) tourist photo.


Another few hours passing land of the Samburu Masai people and we reached Samburu Reserve. The reserves have one ore two entry gates but the reserves are not fenced the are just designated areas of protection. The animals are free to leave and roam and they do. The Government has reached an agreement with the Samburu that if a lion kills their cattle that they should not kill it but that it will be trapped and moved and they will pay compensation for the lost cattle. The reason the Masai wear red is so that the Lion sees them as dangerous.

The reserve is patrolled by armed Rangers and Soldiers. We had grown used to seeing armed Police and Soldiers by now. They is check points at very Regular intervals along all roads.


Samburu Lodge is around 20km inside the reserve.

The aim of most Safaris is to tick of the Big Five. Elephant, Buffalo, Hippo, Rhino and Leopard. Plus see cheetah. If you are unlucky you may not see Cheetah but you have to have luck on your side to see Leopard. Plenty of people go on Safari several times and do not see Leopard. As luck would have it on the way driving to the Lodge we spotted our first Leopard! The reason they are so difficult to see is for a number of reasons. There are not that many of them. They are mainly nocturnal, (Game drives are only allowed in daylight hours) they are shy, they sleep in leafy trees and they are well camouflaged! The light was fading when we saw this one and he was around 50 yards away in the middle of a bunch of bushes.

Can you see it?

Okay lets get closer.


top

Safari Part 4 – Our first evening in a Lodge – 19th Aug

The Gate of Samburu Reserve.


When we arrived at the lodge it was dark, due to leopard spotting on the way in. The lodge has a reception area and the chalet style rooms spread out on either side over looking a large shallow river. In the evenings the crocs come up by the outside bar area to find scraps of food. The only protection is a 1 ft stone wall that the crocs can not get over. At the top most part of the bar they also have a small fence so it’s safe for small children to sit…It is the children who are fenced in, not the crocs!


It had been a long day so after booking in we went for Dinner. The dinning room was open and under a large thatched roof. The meal was buffet style. Soup starters with mainly meat and veg dishes. Kenya is not known for anything fancy in the cuisine department. As you can imagine it is mainly survival food that the locals eat. But meat and veg does me fine. It was all very tasty with a choice of plan or stewed meat (Chicken, pork or beef). The veg did include things like Arrowroot and green bananas, yummy! As with the rest of the food we’d ate it was all very good. The Africans don’t seem to do deserts so it was a choice of classic English desserts, bread and butter pudding to be a favourite. This was to be the formulae for all Lunches and Dinners throughout our travels. On walking to dinner with out armed guard (This is lion, Elephant territory and the do come into the grounds) We saw a little slim cat type thing. On asking a waiter he told use it was a rather tame Gennet cat.
After dinner sat in the bar he cam to visit looking for titbits.



After a few Tuskers (Local beer) it was time for bed ready for the 6.00am wake up. The rooms were very good with on suite and a much needed shower. Samburu was one of the places we had the luxury of 2 nights staty so at least we would not need to pack in the morning and would not be facing hours travelling again. I jumped in the Shower whilst Jane sat and watched the monkeys playing out side the door. (Well actually standing guard to make sure they don’t get in). Jane jumped in the shower afterwards and as she lathered the shampoo the water promptly run out! She was not pleased. Have you ever tried to finish showering with one litre of bottled water?
She asked if I was going to complain, I said I don’t think we could be in Africa and complain about the shortage of water!

The buffet breakfast was good with egg and pancake chefs ready to please. Hearty meals are required there are no places to eat away from the lodges. It set us up well for our first “proper” game drive.

top

Safari Part 5a – Our first game drive – 20th Aug

Kenya wildlife Authorities does a terrific job of conserving the wildlife. They limit the size and number of vehicles in the reserves. They do not want to improve the roads to the reserves because the do not want to have “coach loads of soft bummed tourists sight seeing!” Whilst in the reserve they limit the game drives to twice a day at 8am and 4pm for 2 hours. Which to tell you the truth is enough. 4 hours of game drives with up to 5 hours of travelling per day can be tough. Vehicles are requested to keep to tracks and not dive across the bush. This means rangers can close track and keep people away from areas if there are problems.
Because of theses time restrictions it can be a little disconcerting to see 10 minivans all leaving on a game drive together. I thought this is going to feel like some Disney ride. But the reserves are that large, 100s of Kms that the vans all spread out and disappear. They all have radios so it helps with spotting over such a large area. Samburu park is in a lovely setting surrounded by mountains with mixed Savannah splattered with Acacia trees and bush, along with the river and dry river beds it make good habitat for many animals. The Elephants Live in the foot hills and each day they make a 10km trip down to the river for the day then return to the foothills again at dusk.


The Family of Elephants consist of a Matriarchal Cow (The Boss) with sister, nieces and nephews. When the bulls become mature they are pushed from the group. There is some times a lone bull at the edge of the group.


We also saw our first Giraffes.

Did you know there are three different types of giraffe? This is a reticulated giraffe?


Dik Dik are the worlds smallest antelope fully grown at 14” they are shy and elusive, they pair up for life. These are fully grown.



We crossed paths with the elephants a few more times on the way back to the river. (I will post all the Elephant pictures at a later date.)


We also saw Buffalo, Gazelle, Eagles and Lion.

I will finish this part here to warn you that the next part contains images of a disturbing nature if you are easily upset (dead elephant and lions).



Safari Part 5b - BEWARE DEAD THINGS - Not nice. -20th Aug

Africa is full of life and death, Sadness and Joy. Predatory animals live through death, it is nature. Some of the fully grown Animals such as Hippo, Rhino, Buffalo and Elephant are normally untouchable. So it was with some dismay that our first “Kill”, “Prey”, “Carcass” whatever you call it, was of a young bull elephant. These animals have no natural enemy there main killers are poachers and disease. Its tusks had been removed but the guide said the rangers would of done this to stop them reaching the black market.


I was surprised that there where no vultures on the carcass. The reason for this was sat around the corner.


They were protecting there “kill”! This family group consisted of 1 male 1 female and 2 cubs, there is no way they could have killed a young bull elephant. They carcass had started to smell and there were maggots so it had been there for around 4 days. In a time of plenty for lions they eat the soft tissue and leave the rest to the scavengers. After another day they would probably leave it.

Time to head back to the lodge for lunch.

top

Safari Part 6 – The Samburu Masai - 20th Aug

After leaving the elephant and lion we made our way back to the lodge for lunch. We saw animals all over the place. These mongooses were very entertaining. (should the plural be mongeese or maybe mongi?)


Also a troop of baboons.


Back at the lodge this young bull elephant had decided to come and pay us a visit he is just 10ft away from the bar.


Time for a buffet lunch and then back out on the road, we where going to pay the Samburu tribe a visit.
The Samburu people are cousins to the Masai tribe but live around the foot hills of Mt Kenya and the surrounding area. They used to hunt in the area of the Samburu game reserve but have been converted raising more cattle and goats outside of the reserve to sustain themselves.



The Government convinced them that the animals are worth more alive and would fetch revenue from tourists. In the area we visited there were around 10 villages each holding one extended family with around 50 to 125 people. One of these villages is elected to show round tourists and the money raised is shared between all the other villages. The villages are surrounded by acacia thorn branches to protect from lions, at night the cattle (up to 200 per village) are brought in and the entrances blocked. They are a semi nomadic people but only move their villages short distances every year or so. They stay in the same area unless there is a major problem. They also drink the cattle’s blood, meat is reserved for special occasions



The tribe have a very set culture. In Kenya each tribe have their own mother tongue, in this case Samburu. At around the age of 6 the children go to school where they are taught in English and following the Christian religion. They are all given a “Christian name” The schools are run by a mix of funding from the Government, Missionaries and other charities. Before the Missionaries arrived the tribe use to worship nature and the mountains, there is also a strong belief in voodoo and black magic (hence witch doctors). At the age of 15 the boys are circumcised and become warriors.



Warriors are responsible for the protecting the larger herds of cattle from lions and cattle rustlers. Young children look after the smaller herds.



I should imagine that the girls are also circumcised but there is no talk of this. At this age the girls are allowed to marry but the boys must wait until there late 20s. After marriage the warriors become elders and are relinquished from all physical work, Elders are responsible for decision making in the family and with the other tribes. They have there own open hut were the sit and talk and play a game called MWESO.



The warriors are allowed to practice this game but never play a full game or use it when there are elders around. The Women and children are responsible for building and maintaining the Stick and mud huts, gathering fire wood and water and milking the cattle. If a elder decides to divorce a wife, of which they can have many then the women is not allowed to marry again. The amount of wives a man can take is determined by how many cattle he can afford for the dowry and “how much trouble he can take”

The beads the women wear designate status and wealth. If you look closely at this women you will see a string of beads from the ear to the neck, this signifies that she is married.



The Samburu share a lot of culture with the Masai including song and dance. The higher a warrior can jump the higher his status and he is more attractive to the women.



On arriving at the village we were greeted by the chief and his soon who relieved us of our £30 donation (to be shared amongst 10 villages). His Christian name was peter, don’t ask me to try and spell his tribal name!
The traditional Songs and dances where performed for us. I do have the video of Jane performing the Samburu love song for those interested…Click "play" below or download here.

They took great pleasure in showing us their fire making skills.



Call me cynical but I did see rather a lot of these about.



We then got to go see inside the chief’s son’s (Peter) hut, they are made from Stick with a recycled plastic bag roof and lined inside with cow dung, skins line the floor.





The children then lined up to sing us a song. Click play below or download here. We had great fun sneaking them sweets and showing them their pictures on the camera.
Please download from the link above.
When I blew a raspberry they all screamed and ran off laughing.


After that comes the tribe’s money making part. They take you out the back to a old man in a hut and tell you about his metal working skills and how he makes all the treasures in front of him, which of course are all for sale. On closer inspection it is obvious that most of the items could not be made without a forge and bellows and you can even see the made in ****** stamp on some of the blades.
Oh well even the Samburu need money to buy some items. So I bought a bracelet for Jane at twice the price it is available for else where. They then line all the women up with the curio for you to buy, then it is onto be paraded in front of the school mistress for donations. I’d fetched a box of pens and donated £20. This I was expecting but I could see most of the group were upset and surprised, But why else would the tribe invite a group of wealthy tourists into their village and entertain and educate us for an afternoon?

I thoroughly enjoyed it and took the opportunity to speak to a few of the Samburu one to one away from the group.

Safari Part 7 – Special invite - 20th Aug

I took some time out from the group to speak to Peter the Chief’s son. I thought if I talked to him person to person he would answer me more truthfully than he would in front of a group of tourists. The first thing I wanted to know things about their economy, lifestyle and diet.

I found out that they very rarely take blood from cattle, only for rituals and if they believed it would help cure illness. A lot of the younger men work away from the village and live in the near by towns and cities, returning a few times a year to live the traditional life and have a break. The goods that are on sale within the village are from traders that visit monthly. They rarely eat self produced food, they buy from the local markets with the money from tourists although they do use their own milk. Water is carried daily from the river a mile or so away.. The produce and supplies are kept in the villages not visited by the tourists. It is many years since a Samburu Warrior has had to kill a large beast to prove his strength, way before Peter’s time. A lot of the Samburu will have some western cloths kept in old trunks in their huts. They do not often move their villages, the one we were in had been there for 18 months and would probably stay there for a similar time. Peter himself goes to boarding school and was only at the village because it was the summer holidays, end of term.

Most of the Samburu are willing to adjust to a way of life that incorporates money but are not wanting a modern western life style and are happy with the way things are. But it all makes you think how long it will last. I fear that soon we will see these people only dressing up and enacting their traditional life style for tourists. At present that is not the case but you can see it going that way.

After speaking with Peter for some time I told him that I envied the life style of the people how stayed in the village and that I felt totally at ease and relaxed whilst sat in his family hut. I asked him what he thought about the life style of the tourists who came to visit. He said that he had met many tourist and learnt about modern life in school, he was very interested and would love to visit England some day to see but he had no plans to leave the village.

At the end of the meeting he asked for a pen and paper and he disappeared. 5 minutes later he returned with the name of the chief and an address. He suggested that I write to the chief and tell him that I like his people and his village. I should also tell that if his son were to visit England I would offer hospitality and in return that Peter had offered to have the women of the village build me a hut to stay in if I wanted to visit. Peter also suggested that I mention in the letter I’d be happy to donate further to the school to help things along.

I will write the letter, who knows what may happen!!!!!!!!!!

Jane says she will not drink blood…… Jane has not been invited!!!!!

Oh…. And he does have a lighter for lighting fires.

Safari Part 8 – Afternoon at the Samburu Lodge and game drive - 20th Aug

We arrived back at the lodge for lunch after this there was an hour free before our next game drive. So an opportunity to have a swim in the pool. Not a chance there was a resident botanist waiting to take us on a bird walk around and out side the lodge. I was not that interested in the bird but the chance to have a walk after all that driving was too good to miss. We’d already seen several types of eagle, vultures, weavers, hornbills and other exotic birds. As it turned out we did not see many birds on the walk because there was an eagle about and they’d all gone into hiding. We did see a few doves, hornbills, kingfishers, sparrows and starling. We had a walk around the area the Guides and staff stay, pasted the ranger’s quarters and then out side the perimeter of the camp where we walked past a troop of baboons and a group of mongoose playing by a bush.

Staff quarters.



The best thing I got from the walk was from talking to the guide. He knew about the elephant carcass we had seen earlier that morning.

It was a young bull that had been pushed from its family group. It had been wondering around on its own and was at an age were it was ready for mating. It is at this age that they are at their most dangerous. A couple of rangers had been staying out in the bush over night and had encountered the bull several times, each time it had challenged them but they had managed to scare it away. On the third night they were in a tent after night and the bull had charged the tent before they hade chance t get out. One of the rangers managed to grab his rifle and fire. He did not intentionally aim at the beast but it hit the bull and killed it. The rangers are used to dealing with rowdy bull elephants and normally a shot in the air will suffice. This was a sad accident. They removed to tusks and left the body for the scavengers.

On return to the lodge the elephant had made their way to the river that was 20 yards from our room and 5 yards from the bar.



This was taken from our room, it had to be chased away, it’s not to safe for them to come that close. If they get to confident they can end up becoming a problem and that is not good for them. As we saw with the other young bull.



These little chappies also needed to be kept away from the room. This little man decided to take a dump on my chair to show his disgust of being chased away!



The next Game drive at 4pm comprised the Elephants going back up to the foot hills, more antelope, giraffe, baboons, a drive up to a plateau over looking the savannah out towards Ethiopia and a sausage tree!







Meanwhile back at the lodge the wildlife was getting closer


And closer.



How close do you want me to get?



At dinner we saw a leopard on the other side of the river climbing a tree. I’m afraid it was too dark to get a picture.

Another fantastic day, two leopards in two days, now that is something special.

top

Part 9 – Off to the world famous Tree Tops – 21st Aug
(approx. 115 miles).

After breakfast we stared to drive south to the Aberdare Mountains and to world famous Treetops. On the way out of Samburu we passed plenty of animals including this crippled elephant.

and this one decided to make us wait.

An African traffic jam!

top

Safari Part 9 – Off to the world famous Tree Tops – 21^st Aug

This Morning was to be another travelling day, back along the super highway over the and to Outspan. Outspan represents everything about the Safari that I did not want. It is a 1930’s Colonial sporting lodge and golf course. Luxurious in every way, it reminded my too much of the pampering the big game hunters demanded. I detested every minute in there. Luckily we were only there for lunch, to store our bags and to return for breakfast. The main reason for this art of the trip was to visit Treetops in the Aberdare Mountains.

More Super Highway

Mt Kenya and its glacier (17,058 ft)

Travelling through the foot hills of Mount Kenya the terrain turns green and lush, very reminiscent of some of the British countryside, apart from the fact there are coffee and tea plantations along with banana trees, a lot of the UK’s cut flower originate from this area as well.

Part of the rift valley near Mt Kenya.

Just time for lunch and a rest at Outspan.

Then a 20 minute trip through Nyeri which is the largest city in the Central Province and then onto Treetops.

Treetops is a special place built in 1932. In 1952 a young English girl climbed the tree as a Princess one afternoon, to descend the following morning Queen Elizabeth I I - her father, King George VI had died during the night and she had succeeded to the throne whilst watching the African wild life. The original Treetops was burnt down by the Mau Mau freedom fighters in the 70’s. A bigger and better treetops was rebuilt and the Queen revisited and stayed in the 1980’s. It now has 50 rooms and overlooks two salt lick pools. The animals come for the water and the minerals, the place is all built from wood and has fig trees growing through it. Smoking is not allowed! It is a nice place to sit, relax and watch the animal coming to you. A welcome break from all the driving. You can sit with a beer and watch the Big Five. After a sumptuous evening meal and a large cold glass of wine you can sit up all night watching the animals come and go. It intriguing watching the bad tempered buffalo seeing of the much larger elephant. People have the option to sit and watch for as long as the can stay awake or to retire to the cabin style rooms knowing that a professional tracker is on patrol all night. Jane stayed up on here own most of the night while I retired at around 1pm. Jane real enjoyed the intimacy of watching the animals behaviour in her own company.

Treetops uses an in room buzzer for alerting guests if the arrival of an interesting animal. I’m no saying we’d seen to may animals but I don’t think I’d bother getting up for anything other than hyena or leopard. You can never turn down the opportunity to see leopard and we’d not yet seen hyena.

At 3am the buzzer went. One buzz, that means hyena. On with the clothes and out to the roof, a hyena was walking along the waters edge and round the side of the building, so onto the fire escape bottom level for a better look. He was walking towards us for a sniff around the kitchen area. Instead of standing still as they were some on decided to walk down the fire escape for a closer look. It heard us and was off. You need to be very quiet and stand still when wildlife is around. Jane had stayed up and seen 6 of them walk by.

Up and out for 6am for the return to Outspan for breakfast. Apart from the hyena and being able to sit and relax in the close proximity of the animals not a lot happened ant Treetops, it is probably one of the experiences of the holiday I would not bother to repeat if returning but Jane loved it. She enjoyed being able to spend time watching the behaviour of the animals for hours on end.

Nyeri

Treetops

Room with a view