Today started and ended with a bang. We got up early, had a quick breaky and set off at 6.30 for Lake Bagoria. The flamingos were nothing short of extraordinary. There were literally thousands of them chattering away, bright pink legs reflecting in the water and flying in amazing formations.
Getting up early paid off as we had the place to ourselves and were able to creep down closer to the waters edge and get really close. Ryan and David took about a million photos and videos – Roger picked up feathers.

Literally had to drag ourselves away- it was the most beautiful thing we had ever seen.

Picnic lunch on the equator en-route back, with a visit to the local craft shops (all 17 of them). A pretty amazing group of women with the most gorgeous little children.

Ended the day with a couple of hours in the Lake Nakuru game reserve, ticking off animals on our must see list. Highlights were the Rothschild giraffe (dark markings & white socks), a (very fast moving) hyena, the Thompson’s gazelle, more white rhinos and zebras, a couple of sleeping lionesses, and the piece de resistance- an adult male lion who strode across the road right in front of us.

Arrived back at the lodge 13 hours after leaving this morning, dusty, exhausted all agreeing that we’d had a wonderful day.

Obviously the female of the species is more resiliant[/caption]
No. One sign for the day

Long 8 hour drive from Sambaru to Lake Elementia but great to drive through the local towns and villages and see the real Kenya.
Very glad that we weren’t the ones doing the driving however, with a mix of roads including some Tarmac, dirt roads and some full of potholes and sand.

Lots of unique advertising slogans along the way- our top 4 were:
1. “Show us your metal”
2. “If you like it Crown it”
3. “Salon Beauty and Meat”
4. “Shuggies”
There will be a small prize for anyone who correctly guesses the products sold in each of these businesses.


We had a brief stop at Thompson Falls on the Ewaso Ng’iro River, beside an old colonial home – now hotel with beautiful gardens – great place to stretch our legs.

We are now at our next home away from home – the Senterim Lake Elementia Lodge. Gorgeous cabins right on the edge of the lake, with lovely views.

Tomorrow we are off to see the flamingos!

No we weren’t eaten by lions! We have been out of phone and internet for a while so no blog for a few days- a couple of posts to catch up on. Internet still not strong so having trouble uploading pics- so if you want visuals, sorry, will add ASAP.

Day 1:
Left the beautiful Sweetwater Camp at 6.30 to head north to Sambaru. Less than than 1km Down the road we were stuck by nature at its most incredible and terrible. A giraffe fending off a pride of 9 lions who had killed her baby. After an hour of kicking and spitting the lions backed off- we like to think that they didn’t come back, but didn’t stick around to find out. There is now a special place in our hearts for ‘Lucy’ the giraffe (or so we have named her).


The drive north saw some interesting transitions in geography and climate. We left the relatively lush, red-earth terrain, through agricultural areas that included corn and wheat crops and huge glass houses for vegetable farming, into increasingly arid, baron and rocky areas.

The Sambaru Park is in central Kenya, on the main highway to Ethiopia. It is currently in drought (no rain since last year) so very dusty, sandy and dry.
Our camp Sambaru Sentrim is in the Sambaru game park on the banks of a (croc infested) river which has water and so is a haven for wild life and grazing animals (goats & camels).

It also hosts the ‘special 5’ – the grevy zebra (with dominant white rather than black stripes) the Gerenuk gazelle (very tall & long necked) the reticulated giraffe (special pattern but we think all giraffes are special, the oryx (antelope with long straight horns) and the chetah. We saw 4/5 just on the way in. Also impressive were the Somali Ostrich (famous for its blue legs) and the dic dic (the chiuoua of the deer world).

Weather is very hot up here (well into the 30s and dry). Luckily it cools a little at night, but still tough sleeping. We are limited in how much we can open up for airflow because of mozzies. Our little cabin is very cute and has great mozzie nets over the bed, so we sleep in out net cocoon.

Day 2
Set off at 6am with packed breakfast to try to catch animals before they hunkered down in the heat.

A long drive along the river was really fruitful – big herds of giraffe and zebra, a huge array of deer and antelope and
a quick glimpse of a leopard.

We stopped for a bush breakfast of boiled eggs, cheese sandwiches, banana and mango juice, then headed for a Sambaru village where locals put on a traditional dance ceremony (with Naomi taking one for the team and joining in- sorry no pics allowed)
Arrived back at camp at 2 hot, dusty and ready for our hearty lunch (beef stew) and a long afternoon siesta.
Cold showers are the only relief from the heat. Showers are shared with very cute little geckos- or so we thought, until Cyrus told us that geckos love to chew tooth brushes! This was enough to send R&R scurrying to their cabins to secure brushes.
Finished the day with a late afternoon cuppa by the river, and camp fire. If we were any more relaxed we’d be unconscious.

Jambo (hello)

One day on the road and already we’ve seen three of the ‘big five’

5am breakfast and we were in the truck by 5.30 heading north.

Interesting but not particularly beautiful driving out of Nairobi. Some areas were quite industrial, in others streets were lined with small market stores selling everything from fruit and veg to coal to garden pots and ornate metal gates.

Main stop across the way was at the equator, with numerous locals there to demonstrate for us that water in the northern hemisphere flows clockwise and water in the Southern Hemisphere goes anti-clockwise- pretty amazing really, but the demo did set us back a hefty fee!

Arrived at Sweetwater Camp just after1, an oasis with a big caution.

Definitely ‘glamping’ tonight- beautiful tents under thatched roves, with watering hole less than 50 meters away. They assure us that the single electric wire fence will deter the lions- if there’s no blog post tomorrow night then ………

Afternoon safari included a trip to the Jane Goodall chimpanzee rescue centre, pretty confronting, but a great group of people doing their best to rescue the chimps.

Spent the rest of the afternoon in the game park getting up close to white rhinos, elephants, zebra, (huge) buffalo, impala and vultures snacking on a zebra carcass- very gruesome!

Heading to Samburu tomorrow- another 5.30 start (EEK)

Combined flying hours 70 ( most done by the Aussies of course) and a very long, hot wait in customs- so we are all knackered but excited to be here.

David and I arrived late afternoon and joined the boys and Cyrus, who is going to show us the best Kenya has to offer over the next couple of weeks. We are staying at a hotel just near the airport for a speedy, early getaway tomorrow- traffic will definitely be a challenge getting out on Nairobi.

Late afternoon G &T/Kenya beer on the roof terrace, and Early dinner before we hit the sack.

Meeting for breakfast at 5.30, then setting off with Cyrus at 6.30am – heading to Sweetwaters Camp, about 200km out of Nairobi. Can’t wait.

With an average speed of 25km/hour (approximately 20km/hour slower than the average lion) we decided to give the tandem a rest and are heading to Africa for a 3 week adventure.

Meeting Roger & Ryan in Nairobi, we have our route mapped out – 2 weeks on the road in Kenya, 4 days in Zanzibar (hopefully with a bit of time laying on the beach) and a couple of days back in Nairobi to finish off.

Internet permitting we will blog as we go…….