Nakuru

We had a very long game drive - left at 7 and returned after 12. While Amboseli is mainly known for elephants, Lake Nakuru is more recognised for giraffe, cape buffalo, zebra, impala, baboon (well, they are just everywhere), rhinos (mostly white , but occasionally black rhino), and flamingos. The big cats (lion, cheetah and leopard) are in the park but usually they are not seen.

While we did not see any cats, we did see all of the others, including both black and white rhinos. The giraffe were the Rothschild giraffe which I think are more beautifully marked than the ones we saw in Kruger (Maasai giraffe I think). On some, the tiles/spots were almost black and very striking.

The difference between the black and white rhino is mainly to do with the shape of their snout. The white being more square because they graze while the black is more pointed to help pick fruits etc from bushes. The white rhino is bigger while the black rhino is rarer. We were lucky to see both as or guide said they usually only see the white rhino.

There was a flock of Greater flamingos which are only slightly pink whereas the Lesser flamingos are a much brighter pink. Unfortunately we could not get closer to the flock because the vehicles can only travel on designated tracks unlike Kruger where we were on a private concession and could drive off the path. So in most cases the pictures were done with a telephoto lens so may not be as clear as they could be but Brad did a good job.

The evening drive was called off due to storms but we didn't mind because we had basically seen the main points of interest in this game park. We travel to Masa Mara tomorrow where we will have 2 full days to hopefully find a leopard.Read more