Distracted

I've been distracted by the beauty and peace of the Maldives. Maybe my flights home will get me updated with my blogging :)

From the pool

Sunset before dinner

Amboseli

After Lake Nakuru, we went back to Nairobi to have lunch at the home stay where I spent my first two nights in Kenya. The food throughout the trip was really good and I've probably eaten more vegetables than during the rest of my life :). 

After lunch we headed to Amboseli national park, just me and the driver/guide in our big van. Since it was just me, I got upgraded to a lodge so the cook didn't need to come along. The safari lodge was again tents but these were nice tents. I had a double bed, porch with chairs, table, sink, shower and toilet. Electricity was available 5:30-8am and 6-10:30pm. There was a pool, although it was freezing cold :). The food was not quite as good as Elijah's (cook). One night I decided to forgo dinner and they came around to check that I was okay and didn't I want to eat. It was very nice. 

Amboseli is different in that has lots and lots of elephants. And big ones too! The ground is much drier except for a swath through the middle fed by underground springs/runoff from Mt Kilimanjaro (a volcano that my crazy friends Stephanie and Cindy climbed a couple years ago). 

In fact, the land previously was more of a lush forest but the water levels changed way back when and it changed the vegetation and animals in it. Not really any rhinos here. We saw lots of elephants, playing, eating and bathing. We saw some female lions from a distance. Some hyena, vultures, and hippos from the distance that actually got out of the water! There was an eagle eating another bird. And one of my favorite highlights the last morning before we left we saw two cheetah! I didn't think I'd get to see these cats. 

Amboseli had a very bad drought in 2008 and 80% of the animal population was wiped out. It is slowly starting to grow again. 

We watched as some elephants and hippos almost had it out. The elephants wanted in the water that the hippos already claimed. We watched it all through binoculars. Thankfully my guide had some I could borrow. It was neat just to be an observer. 

Here are some pics of the animals:

Elephant crossing

A lone hyena, we did see two the day before and it looked like they were carrying pups in their mouth but you could only see them with the binoculars 

The two cheetahs walking toward the trees....if you can find them :)

Lots of ostrich running around

Crown cranes flying in

A look at Amboseli from a hill in the middle

You can see the green change to brown. There are two hippos out in the middle and some elephants wading through the swamp/bog.

An eagle with lunch

An elephant with Mt Kilimanjaro as a backdrop

Lazy baboon 

Lake Nakuru

We left Maasai Mara to go to Lake Nakuru. Very different landscape with hills, cliffs, large source of water, lots of trees and green. Here there were many more water buffalo. It is known for pink flamingos, but it was a bit flooded so the normal feeding grounds for flamingos was disturbed. We saw a few but most had relocated to another lake while this one was flooded. 

Also because of the flooding, we were not able to camp and got rooms at a lodge. Nothing special but good enough. Actually the Czechs found either a really big spider or lots of little ones under the mattress of one of their beds. They came to dinner all excited and going on about "spider-man" (with an accent sounding like speeder-man). They asked if mine was okay. I hate spiders and was nervous to even check. I did though and didn't see anything. I slept in my sleeping bag though and enjoyed any ignorance I might have had regarding the spider population :). 

We did a drive the afternoon we arrived and rhinos were the new item we saw. The next morning was the best (animals seem to move the most in the morning). On the drive down from our lodge there were four lion cubs and two lioness. Pops came along later but the cubs were the highlight to watch play around. Like you're in your own national geographic show :). 

We got some close giraffe shots and more rhinos. We went up to a cliff for breakfast and could look out over the whole lake. It was pretty cool and we pretty much had it to ourselves. Not too many other safari vans around. 

Some picture highlights:

The cubs

Pops

Some rhinos who almost got into a tiff with a water buffalo, but the buffalo backed down

Giraffe (in case you were wondering)

My bed, hopefully free of spider-men

Funny water buffalo who just stood in that position as we drove by

Good morning from Lake Nakuru