Nakuru

Packed up in the morning and headed out for the Nakuru Game Park (fenced in). It is only 150 km from Eldoret, but it took more than three hours to get there. Two lane highway, no shoulder and way, way too much traffic. Speed limit is 100 for private vehicles and 80 for trucks and public transportation - so the real speed ends up about 60 km/hr. We think that Mexican driving is a little crazy, it is much worse here. Drivers are desperate to pass and will pull out with very little space between them and oncoming cars and everyone travels so close, there is very little space to pull back in quickly if need be. The only thing that makes it all work is that the speed is relatively slow.

I gave Sherry my camera to take photos from the front seat.....sadly, the SD card wasn't seated properly and none of the many, many photos she took were not saved. :(. There was lots to look at, my favourite were the ladies transporting firewood on their heads. Every little town had vendors selling the local whatever. Some were wood, some were carrots, some were fish, some were corn, some were cabbages. As we came from Nakuru to Nairobi Saturday evening there areas with stands of various fruits.

It is quite amazing how the locals spot a vehicle with foreigners in it and stare and wave. The children are especially fun to greet.

Nakuru is a smallish city, but from our first glimpse, seems very nice. It's built on/around one of the largest volcano craters in the country (maybe world?). The volcano is extinct, but they harvest geothermal energy from it.

We stayed at a brother and sister's place. 10 years ago the built a fairly large home and run it as a guest house. They open it only to Witnesses and she says they only get a few guests a year. So, they have started renting rooms to long term tenants - Currently there is an Italian pioneer couple from the sign language congregation living with them. Basic, simple room, with a shower, toilet and kitchenette....next time we will remember to bring towels! USD15 per couple.

Saturday to the Game Park
Tom and Sherry checked the internet and found out that the park opens at 6 am. So, we were up at 5 and out the door at 5:30. Got to the park at 5:55 to be told we would have to wait because it doesn't open until 6:30.

The only one of the big 5 we hadn't seen yet was the Rhino and we were hoping to see one. Within about 1 and a half hours we spotted a group of 3 (including a baby) grazing along with a group of water buffalo. Our safari experience is complete...

We just wandered around the park for the next few hours, watching giraffe, zebras, many many buffalo, warthogs, and various birds. As we were heading toward the park gate to leave around 4pm we spotted three jackals and then a final rhino. The route he was taking was going to take him across the road in front of us, so we waited. He didn't seem to appreciate our presence and he started making moves as if to charge us. Real enough that Tom hit the gas to get out of his way. The Diesel engine didn't respond so quickly and we were thinking that we might actually get rammed. Ended up it was only a mock charge and the rhino stopped about 6 feet short of the car - close enough to get us excited.

We headed for Nairobi - another 150 km away and another 3-3.5 hour drive with the same traffic conditions. Stopped for a delicious Chinese dinner at a restaurant Tom and Sherry know. Reasonable (not cheap) prices and at the end they gave us all a little gift to take home. 10 minutes after dinner we were at the Kenya Branch. Tom and Sherry arranged for us all to stay. We were given a very nice room with a separate bedroom and kitchen. Shower and bed never felt so good.Read more