Friday 22 March 2013

Lions and Leopards and Elephants, oh my!

One word: AMAZING!

Our custom trip was planned by Ali at Sonata Travel (who has planned all our trips for us) with his partners in Kenya at Somak Safaris. Our trip was 5 nights and 6 days. Our flights were included. All our meals were included starting with dinner on the 1st day and our rooms were triple rooms. We had a driver/English-speaking guide and 4x4 safari vehicle with cooler full of water bottles the entire time. The fees for all parks and tours were included in the price. The only things not included were the drinks (any drinks including water at meals), tips and any shopping we wanted to do. We also had to purchase a tourist visa at the airport for $50 each. Our base cost was $5500. We spent aprox $800 while there on visas, drinks, tips, snacks, and shopping.

The Itinerary:

Day 1 - March 15/13   ARRIVE NAIROBI, KENYA 
Arrive at Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and proceed through immigration and baggage collection. Met by a local representative of Somak Travel who taught us to say JAMBO for hello in Swahili and transferred to your hotel. Check in and relax at the hotel. Relaxing was required because our flight was an over-nighter that was delayed by 60 minutes with a stop in Khartoum where we sat in the plane for 50 minutes. Only Becca was able to sleep most of the way.
In the afternoon pick up by Somak Travel and enjoy a city tour of Nairobi where you get a chance to see the Parliament Building and vicinity. You also get a chance to visit the colourful city market. Proceed to the Giraffe Center and feed the endangered Rothschild Giraffes. Feeding the Giraffes was for sure our highlight of the day!
Dinner tonight will be at the famous Carnivore Restaurant. This restaurant is every meat lovers dream. If you ever do go - know that it's OK to say 'no for now' to a meat - they will bring it around again and again until you surrender your table flag. You don't have to eat at top speed (like we did) to try and keep up to all the different meats being dropped onto your plate. Becca thinks it's hilarious that she at an Ox Ball - yes it's exactly what it sounds like.
Overnight at The Intercontinental Hotel Very nice hotel and super friendly people.



Day 2 - March 16/13    NAIROBI / ABERDARE NATIONAL PARK
Enjoy breakfast at the hotel. Which turned into a take out breakfast for us because we fell asleep without setting an alarm or asking for a wake-up call and slept in. We slept for 12 hours! Boy were we tired. Gilbert, our driver, taught us how to say Hakuna Matata (no worries - but we already knew that from the movie The Lion King, we just didn't realize it was actually used.). This morning drive through the lush coffee plantations in Kenya and on to the Aberdares. (170kms, 3 hour drive aprox.) Arrive in time for lunch at the Aberdares Country Club. We saw men walking down the golf course fairway with their clubs and there were baboons on the green! During lunch we watched peacocks strut on the lawn.  
After lunch transfer in the lodge's own vehicle with your overnight bag to the Ark Lodge. Rest of the afternoon spent at leisure viewing animals from the deck of the lodge. Evening at leisure. The lodge viewing areas were really big and comfy. Watching the animals by the watering hole, eating the salt off the dirt was very relaxing. We wished there were more people around - besides the three of us, we only saw two other guests. They were Japaniese but living in Nairobi for work. We learned the words KARIBU which means 'Welcome' also works for 'Your Welcome' and ASANTA SANA which means 'thank-you very much'. 
Dinner and overnight at The Ark Lodge



Day 3 - March 17/13    ABERDARE NATIONAL PARK / LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK
Breakfast at the lodge. After breakfast transfer back to the Aberdare Country Club and meet with your Somak Driver/Guide and drive to the exotic Lake Nakuru National Park (240kms, 3 hours drive aprox) We crossed the Equator TWICE because of the roads around the mountains. We also stopped at a waterfall.
Arrive in time for lunch at the lodge. The lodge is beautiful, lunch was delicious and our view of the lake and little baboons was very cool.
Afternoon enjoy an extensive game drive in the park home to Flamingos and sanctuary for the endangered black & white Rhinos. Because of the rain, the road was washed out in places so we had to take a longer route to get to the Flamingos which meant we didn't have time for the rhino sanctuary - but that was ok, we saw a white rhino and her baby cross the road in front of us! We also saw lots of other birds, lions, giraffes and zebras and lots of cape buffalo. Return back to your lodge at sunset.
Dinner and overnight at Lake Nakuru Lodge. During dinner they had a man playing guitar for tips around the restaurant. He stopped at our table and Mike asked him to play some Dylan! He actually played a verse of Blown' in the Wind. After dinner, the bar had a performance from the Friends of Lake Nakuru Choir. Mike and I sat in the front row and before we knew it, we were up dancing and singing with an African Choir! It was a very fun night.




Day 4 - March 18/13  LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK / MASAI MARA GAME RESERVE
Early breakfast at the lodge. Today depart for the world famous Masai Mara Game Reserve. (330 kms, 5 hours drive aprox) It actually took more like 6 1/2 but we had a couple stops along the way. And 6 hours in the jeep wasn't bad at all because Kenya is a beautiful country. We had lots to see out the windows. The Masai Mara is Kenya's finest and most outstanding wildlife sanctuary where gentle rolling grassland ensures animals are never out of sight. (unless it's March and there has been enough rain to make the grass grow very tall. In the summer when the wildebeests come back, they will eat the grass down and the animals will be easily in sight again) The climate is gentle, rarely too hot and well spread rainfall year round. (It rained both days we were there but after living in Egypt for 7 months and seeing rain only twice we welcomed the rain with open arms!)
Arrive in time for lunch at the camp. After lunch check in and relax in your tent. Some tent!!! WOW! Just the tent by itself was worth the drive. 
Enjoy a late afternoon game drive in the reserve. No matter how much you have thought about Africa, this is more than you expected - the big five - Lion, Elephant, Leopard, Rhino and Cape Buffalo are in abundance. But will you actually find them? - that's the challenge and biggest worry for the driver/guide. Our guide, Gilbert, would tell us to never give up hope. On our first game drive in the Masai Mara we saw a lot of giraffes and baboons, zebras, wart hogs, cape buffalo, a hyena, ostriches and elephants, impalas, topis, gazelles and more!
Dinner and overnight at Ashnil Mara Tented Camp. So comfortable! 




Day 5 March 19/13     MASAI MARA GAME RESERVE
We had an optional hot air balloon flight here but we're not fans of getting up at 4am and with the recent fiasco in Luxor we're not too trusting of hot air balloons. However, Kenya is not Egypt and the standards and service is very different. I'm sure it would have been fine. In fact we saw the balloons floating gracefully over the Savannah grasslands and it looked very peaceful. Enjoy an early morning game drive in the reserve with breakfast served at the camp. Rest of the morning spent at leisure with lunch at the camp. Our early morning game drive took us to the LIONS!!! A whole pride + two others. Gilbert thought they looked full so he followed his instincts and looked around a bit and he found us the zebra they ate for breakfast! So cool! This morning we also found the hippos. Mike and Becca saw a crocodile but I wasn't fast enough to catch it with the camera. Our afternoon was very relaxing. I spent a lot of time reading and hanging out in that big fantastic chair on our deck. Mike had a massage - after all the bumps, it felt really nice. 
Depart for a late afternoon game drive in the reserve. The trees in the distance might turn out to be a family of giraffes. Those clumps of bushes a pride of lions, and the rock that moves a rhino lumbering out of your way. With diligence and some luck, you may encounter a family of cheetahs, or a herd of elephants crossing the path in front of you. Return back to camp at sunset. We did see a black rhino and her baby but she did not want to see us. She quickly turned her back and hid behind some bushes. I didn't get her photo and Gilbert didn't feel it was a good idea to hang around. We spent a lot of time looking for a leopard, the only one of the big 5 that we hadn't seen yet. But, no luck ... Gilbert told us to not give up hope, we could see one on the way out.
Dinner and overnight at Ashnil Mara Tented Camp



Day 6  March 20/13     MASAI MARA GAME RESERVE / NAIROBI / DEPART
Breakfast at the camp. This morning depart (on our way out of the park we saw a lot of animals including a LEOPARD!) and drive to Nairobi (350 kms, 5 hours drive aprox). Upon arrival transfer to the Somak Safari Lounge where a light lunch will be served. Freshen up and relax at the lounge. What a nice gesture this was. They could have easily dropped us off at the airport but because we had a few hours they fed us lunch and let us lounge around on big comfy chairs and couches. We could have had showers if we wanted!
Depart from the lounge and transfer to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to board your flight back home. The duty free at the airport has 1 litre bottles of smirnoff vodka for $9 US!! I brought home two. Kenya duty free has the best prices I've seen yet.  




And now, the part you've all been waiting for: THE PHOTOS! I've attached a link to my facebook album so you can see all of our favourite photos instead of just a small selection : 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4587305723971.1073741825.1331881912&type=1&l=fae2aa6373

Enjoy! 

If this trip is on your wish list of vacations - MOVE IT TO THE TOP!



















       




Sunday 17 March 2013

March Break Vacation Update

Hi All, we arrived safe and sound in Kenya. The plugs don't fit our devices so we can't recharge and internet access is hard to come by. We are having a wonderful time so far. We love it here. No SAND!
There is a lot of green, real dirt, happy colourful people and best of all so many animals. We crossed the equator line twice today! Our first real game drive begins in 30 minutes. We are hoping to see some rhinos and flamingos. We spent a lot of time yesterday afternoon watching a herd of cape buffalo - so cool! Tomorrow we head to the big masai mara (no time to spell check) park where we hope to see one of each of the "big 5" animals. I'll post lots of photos and I have a lot more to say .... when we return at the end of the week.

Happy St. Patti's day!

Sarah