Carpe Africa

So we travelled to Naivasha, where we were able to go for a walk to green crater lake. this meant a 45 minute boat ride (where i didnt feel sick!) but we did see hippos finally and a python!!! when we got to the land, we had a couple of hours walk to the crater. on our walk we saw zebra and giraffe up close. we even herded the giraffe a little.

the crater was really beautiful, having been formed by volcanic activity. there were lots of flamingos in the lake at the bottom and we saw somer colobus monkeys.

the next day we travelled to the masai mara national park, saw lots of masai women and men. we drove around all afternoon seeing the usual antelope and giraffe. when we spotted some elephants most of the group had not seen them before so gt very excited. we were buzzing through to the driver to stop but he kept going. we then realised that justn a little further up he had spotted a male lion by the road. he paraded around for us for a little bit before settling down, but we could see that he was looking over at something, and when we looked in that direction we saw all his females and cubs under a tree. we headed over there and were watching them for some time. not long after all of the matatus had heard about our find and the place turned into a car park!!! we heard about a cheetah spotting so headed in that direction, but when we got there the guide was stopping people going there, we think maybe there was a cub with the cheetah. so we headed back to the elephants but they had moved on.

our campsite was jsut outside the park, but with no fences up the animals still roam around, luckily a well equiped maasai man was keeping guard. once again we could hear the hyena in the background, and hippos too.

the next morning we stopped the lionesses again. this time they were a little more actve and walked right beside our truck. in total i have probably 100 pics of the lions!!!! still no leopard or cheetah in the wild yet tho, but still serengeti and Nungoragora crater left tho.

from the mara we were supposed to drive to a campsite an hour from nairobi, but we were making good time so in the end we arrived at nairobi at 8pm last night. the cook group were let off cooking their goat meat (it was the only meat the butcher had!) and we ordered pizza!!!!

Not a very eventful week this week. mostly just been in transit. travelled back to uganda to join the rest of my group to begin with. Went swimming in Lake Buyonani, thanklfully no crocs or hippos around. Also t\went out for an early morning cvanoe ride, tho me and rachael werent very good at steering it.

THen tra elled back to kenya via the equator, where we expereinced how water floows different ways in each hemisphere and on the equator just goes straight down. Went to a drum market where a lot of people bought big drums but i settled for a modestly small one.

Went for a walk up a hill when we got to kenya, had some local boys take a small group of us up. followed in the evening by some t raditional dancing that we were able to join in. unforunately it was quite dark.

travelling to lake baringo and a truck had got stuck in a big dip in the road, they had the army type people helping, we found our own way across, but we had to build the road up to begin with with some more rocks. huge cheers when we got across, but we had to leave the other truck stuck. apparently we only help out other overland trucks.

yesterday we went for a morning walk i i got to hold a scorpian. we also saw a snake and lots of plant type things. We climbed up a ridge of the rift calley in order to get a good view of the lake.

after breakfast we went for a boat trip, which was unsuccessful becasue we didnt see and hippos. although we did hear them at night, and were scared to leave our tents to go pee in case one charged us. though we did have a guard loking out for us apparently. we did see some crocs on our boat, and saw a fish eagle catch a fish that we threw for him.

after lunch we went to visit a local tribe. i think i got married several times. else they were jsut interested in my watch! there was a language barrier! it was good to learn about them. and we got to dane with them although it wasnt as good as the other dancing that we saw, becasue they were really just jumping around, fun none the less.

today we have just driven from baringo to nakuru on our way to naivasha.

so i've been on the road for 2 full days now, and its all been very exciting.
we started off leaving at 8am on monday, and headed into town so people could change up money. there was lots of traffic in town and ambulances. turns out someone had let off a hand grenade in a bus stop. police have clashed with a local gang over the weekend and this was their retaliation or something. luckily the only person to die was the idiot who let of the grenade by accident in his pocket! needless to say we headed out of nairobi pronto.

drove for most of the day to our first campsite on a farm. stopped off at a nice viewpoint, and got pursuaded into buying something that will again put my baggage weight up! had my first experience of a long drop toilet, but these ones were quite nice becaue they were raised like a toilet. jsut stink! had a nice meal and gt to know my travel buddies. many of them already know each other ebcause they have done projects togther before this.

the next morning we went on a farm tour, they have eglish cattle that they milk and they breed race horses. we left to head to the national park. still waiting to see leopard, but did get to see some white rhinos in the day time which i havent before. saw lots of buffalo, zebra, giraffe, and a whole host of flamingos! saw some antelope species that i havent seen before. and of course to welcome us t the park were a troop of vervets to make me feel at home. they were trying to get onto our truck of course! also plenty of baboons.

we set up camp, but rather than a fence surrounding the camp like at kruger there was nothing between us and the animals. while we were cooking dinner we noticed eyes in the darkness, turns out to be a couple of buffalo bout 10 metres from our tents. they had a little scuffle which was worrying that they would charge us, but we surived. needless to say i did not go to the loo in the night! other people also saw hyeanas by our camp.

just had the morning driving around some more. still didnt see the leopard. but got closer to the other animals and saw a hyena trying to get a flamingo while eating breakfast!

crossing into uganda tomorrow, and white wter rafting by the end of the week i think. lots of driving, but plenty of people to talk to.

very sad, had to say goodbye to all my monkeys yesterday. Im especially going to miss imogen and frances, but i got loads more pics of them before i left. a total of over 800 pics from my 8 weeks in SA! dont worry, i will make a condensed slide show of the best ones for anyone who is interested!

Had fun on wednesday afternoon giving deworming medicine to all the monkeys in intro enclosures. no easy feat. we had to use syringes to squirt it into their mouths through the fence. now some monkeys are quite inquisitive and come up and put it in their mouth no problem. then they want more, and as much as i know about monkeys now, i still cant tell them apart when im trying to give medicine to a cage of 24! so i think maybe some got double doses and some none at all. but hopefully it will cure the problem of monkeys dropping dead. we have just lost the parents from the family, and baby wasn't looking too good when i left, but fingers crossed.

thursday i finally got to do some digging. we needed to make an enclosure for georges rabbits so that they have some grass and will reproduce, so that they dont have to keep buying rabbits when george needs feeding. so we all got digging, the workers found our efforts quite amusing!

i chose to do baby cage on my last morning of chores. as much as i shout and scream at the babies for climbing on my head, im sure gonna miss them!

we had a night at on the rocks on friday. it was definately my best ngiht out, all the new girls are such good fun, im sad i cant get to know them better.

had a 12 hour wait at joburg which meant i got half my new book read, but didnt appreciate having to wait in nairobi airport for another person to arrive to share a taxi with. got a discounted rate because the driver felt bad! will upload some pics them im off to get robbed!

well off to spend the day in nairobbery, got a padlock on my backpack for protection. cant be doing with someone stealing my money again!