Lake Nakuru National Park
Day 3
We had to drive from Samburu to Lake Nakuru National Park. Before arriving, we stopped at the equator. I thought the thing about how water drains differs on each side of the equator, but it’s a real thing. North of the equator, the water will drain clockwise (like here at home). South of the equator, the water drains counter clockwise. When you are exactly on the equator, the water goes straight down (no spinning).
We also stopped and had a short tour at a tea farm where I bought a couple of the first flush tea leaves.
Before entering Lake Nakuru National Park, we stopped at our camp to drop off our stuff. We were still in canvas tents with mattresses on the floor, but the showers were supposed to be warm (and in a real building). Instead of sitting outside with an overhang covering us during meals, we had a big building with a kitchen and dining area.
The temperature really dropped in the evening and for some reason my shower didn’t have hot water. I was already chilled when I crawled into my tent and covered up with the one wool blanket. I shivered all night long and didn’t get much sleep. The next morning, it seems like I wasn’t the only one who was cold all night.
Day 4
After breakfast we spent the day on safari through the park. We weren’t far from the gate when we spotted several lions laying down. They weren’t that close and even my 400mm lens could barely see them. We moved on suddenly after excited comments came over the radio. Another guide had spotted a leopard and we raced to that location. I was lucky enough to get a photo of it’s face, but it stayed pretty hidden in the bushes.
After the leopard we saw our first white rhino before heading towards the lake. At the lake we sat for quite a while looking at the variety of birds, as well as zebras and buffalo.
At lunchtime we stopped at a waterfall and had really good beef samosas, chicken, vegetables and watermelon. There was a few colobus monkeys at our picnic spot and I managed to gets some photos of them. They reminded me of old clerics in robes and hats.
For the rest of the day we traveled through the park seeing so many animals and birds. After just two parks, we had already seen the big five: lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino.
That evening we gathered around a bonfire after dinner, but not before watching one of the stupidest acrobatic act from some guy. It was so ridiculous that we were laughing about it being so weird and silly. Corbin seemed to like the guy, though, and even got into the act when the guy was trying to teach him how to juggle hats.
