Welcome to Hell 6/28/22

Today was another day that wasn’t planned, yet we really enjoyed ourselves. We saw two of the big five today, WOOT WOOT! For those of you that don’t know what that is, when on safari, a goal of many is to see the biggest five animals (hence the name the big 5); elephant, buffalo, hippo, rhino, and lion. Sometimes you are extremely lucky and see them all in one park and even on the same day if you do multiple game drives on that day. Today we saw hippos at Cresent Island and buffalos at Hells Gate.

We headed out at 0700 (everyone was still tired) on our way to Lake Naivasha/Cresent Island and Hells Gate National Park, located in Northwest Kenya. The drive from Nairobi was about 2 hours or so one way and on the way there we stopped at a Maasai Market shop which was also a great view point of the Great Rift Valley. The great Rift Valley goes from Asia to Africa and the views along the drive of the valley were beautiful. The Maasai people are native to Kenya and are known for having a distinct way of living and herding their cattle (more on them in a later post). This shop donates a percent of its sales to the Maasai community so our driver told us this was a good spot to shop for some things if we wanted to.

On the way to Lake Naivasha there were many semi-style trucks driving along the two lane road we were on going in the opposite direction from us (towards Nairobi) as well as in the same direction as us. Our driver explained that many exports from Kenya are taken to neighboring countries such as Uganda, Southern Sudan, Burundi and Rwanda, such as wheat from Malawi, sugar, electronics, cement, clothes from china. Rwanda and Southern Sudan are land locked countries so they will use Kenya as a port. Going to Nairobi from Naivasha (where we were heading) was Bergs Roses, as well as other flower companies that export from Kenya, dried maize is imported from Uganda and Sudan, as there is a shortage in Kenya.

The drive was interesting, as we saw lots of cattle, donkeys pulling wagons with water, oil and other things, corn on the cob being cooked and sold on the side of the road, heards of sheep as well as people walking on the highway in both directions heading to work, while vehicles were driving. I was amazed they didn’t get hit! I also saw a familiar name on a building- Deloitte, a business in the US.

This not so bright person was driving so close to the back of our van, that our driver did not see him. I honestly thought there was a cooler attached to the back of the van because at times that’s all you could see HA HA!

Our first park was Lake Naivasha/Cresent Island, known for their birds. Jasmine LOVES birds, so this was right up her ally! I swear there are some big ass bird here. Lots of vultures and storks and one random looking bird called the presidents secretary. I can’t recall if I have a pic but if I do I will post. The bird has that name, as it looks like it has on makeup and dressed very nicely with black pants and a nice blouse lol. We got in a boat looking similar to a canoe but bigger and headed out with a guide. We saw many birds including eagles. We were excited to see the hippos sleeping in the water and even more excited when we saw one appear out of the water and was told it was a baby on its mothers back. I was concerned about our boat going over a hippo and the hippo trying to come up out the water but the guide wasn’t concerned, and with that, hakuna matata for me! We were told hippos don’t eat a lot, although they are big. I told them that’s what we call ”big boned” in the states LOL.

The interesting thing about Cresent Island is that it is where part of the film Out of Africa was done. They actually brought the animals to this island, so no they are not native to this particular place, and when the film was done they took the lions and other predator animals back to the Masaai Mara Game Reserve and left the rest of the animals there. They have reproduced and been content living on that island. The park service does provide supplemental food for them and we could see a truck there doing so. They also count the animals at times to monitor their population. This island came to be years ago when there was a big flood and parts of the land were separated and this particular portion ended up looking like a Cresent, hence the name Cresent Island. You are able to walk on this island and the animals aren’t afraid of humans because this is done often. Unfortunately or fortunately there was miscommunication and our boat driver did not drop us off to get out to walk. Before we knew it he parked where he had loaded us up. We discussed the issue with our driver and the guide and it ended up being our drivers fault. No worries though, because we were ready to leave anyway. I had been looking forward to seeing a giraffe, but I was told not to worry, there would be some at Hell’s gate.

We then went to lunch at an Itialian place called Mateos in Naivasha on the way to Hells Gate. The food was bland but otherwise good. Jasmine ate her entire plate of spaghetti, which is a huge deal! The girls have been drinking more than their normal amount of soda- a cold Coke to be exact, with a cup of ice. I’ve usually been drinking still water, but today I had coke. Side bar: that coke in the glass bottle hits differently when going dow, it’s SO good lol.

Next stop- Hell! on our way there you would not believe what we saw. Giraffes on the side of the road!! They were just grazing without a care in the world. They had escaped from Hells Gate National Park, but we were told they would eventually wander back. How cool was that?!?! There were 5 of them. The park got its name due to the time the local volcano erupted and buried many Maasai alive. It was then seen as the valley of death.

This first giraffe is looking at us as though we are the site to be seen lol. These are Maasai giraffes. You can tell because their spots go all the way to the bottom of their legs.

We arrived at the park entrance, paid the fee and then our driver opened the top of the truck so we could see out and then we were on our way. Hells Gate is the only park in Kenya you are allowed to walk or ride a bike in freely. From what I am told, nobody has been hurt by an animal in this park. They way some of them baboons came up to the truck, I’m not sure about that lol. The cutest was the baboons carrying their babies. They literally waited along the side of the road for us to give them food. We were told not to feed them, but we were also told that they wait for you to get out the truck so they can come in. We were unable to get out the truck when they were around, as they aren’t friendly. As we know, this animal has fur all over and a bare butt. When I saw one that didn’t have a normal looking butt, the nurse in me asks our driver “does that one have an infected butt”??? Yes I was told. Man, I swear his butt has to itch and burn sometimes and I’m sure medication would really help him! Poor guy. Totally random, I know.

At this park is where we saw many buffalo, even one in the mountain on a part that looked like a cliff. We saw giraffes, some laying down, others grazing and one who was on part of the mountain that looked like he would fall coming down! Impala, zebra, some type of rat looking thing that got real close to us, monkeys, and Pumbaa was there too! I’m talking about a warthog for those of you who don’t know. In Swahili, Pumbaa is short for a longer word when translated to English it means dumb/foolish. Warthogs are called dumb because they have small brains and forget easily. We actually saw a skull and the brain section is really small. They run really fast. They are the type of animal that will be running away from a predictor and then just stop, forgetting what they are doing and then they get caught lol.

After driving in the park, it was time to walk with a Masaai guide. His name was John but I called him David the entire time and he answered to me. I have no clue what I was calling that man David! We learned about the volcanic mountain, Mount Longmont and as we walked we saw some lava stone from its last eruption. The Maasai would use the stone as tools because some of the edges were so sharp. I picked up a few pieces and David/John said I could take them from the park. I was NOT trying to get caught up at the airport! A cool thing about this walk is that we were able to see pride rock, from the movie The Lion King, where Mufasa held baby Simba up at the beginning of the movie and we also saw the spot where Mufasa fell to his death in the movie and the wildebeest stampeded over him. Now, I’m going to be honest with you- that cliff was NO JOKE! If you took the wrong step trying to get a good pic, that’s it- you’re done! There were actually still metal poles in the ground from when the film was made. This portion of the park is actually Masaai land. We did the short walk which was about 40-60 mins, which included stopping to take pics and talk. There was a moderate walk which actually took you all the way to climb pride rock. NO THANK YOU! This walk had steep parts and the path was all dirt and sometimes narrow. Once returning to our starting spot our driver picked us up and we headed out of the park and back to Nairobi.

Pride Rock from a distance

Where Mufasa died falling over the cliff. Naw, we weren’t going to the edge to get the best shot!

These are random shots from today.

-Yes that man had on a NY Giants had, had no clue who they were but I needed a pic since Ajali and Jasmine are fans lol. I did see two people with Minnesota Vikings sweatshirts walking down the road today as well.

-The girls were looking at hippo poop with the boat driver near the fallin tree. Hippos come out the water at night to “Sh-it” and eat as the guide supposedly told the girls.

-The Maasai insisted we dress in their garb and take pics.

-Yes they really did strap all those bikes on a boda boda (motorcycle) and drive away

-Our taxi driver was enjoying a bike ride with Jasmine

Random thoughts:

-We have yet to eat much Kenyan food

-Our lost suitcase has been located in Dubai without a luggage tag from the airlines and I have no idea when it will get to us (the tag we put on it is bright yellow and still on it). JUST KIDDING! I called again and was told the previous person gave me miss information.

-Shell gas station is one of the higher gastations at home and in Kenya it’s no different lol- they still high as hell!

-The deodorant the girls and I have been using has been working…well at least nobody has said we stink lol. Well some people we’ve encountered smell really bad so…

-Ajali has been napping more than me- in the van, on the boat (another boat actually passed by and where laughing), on safari- he would wake up when he heard Jasmine and I oohing and aahing over a random animal. I will need to create a post about the random places Ajali has been seen sleeping

-It’s cold here! I know its winter, but we are about to run out of warm hoodies. We were told 70’s in June would feel good to us, and honestly it’s not bad, but it’s still cool. We are told the beach is warm and so is one of our Safari spots, so we are looking forward to that

-The orphanage is still on my mind…I haven’t been able to post about it yet, but I will