{"id":14952,"date":"2023-09-17T12:11:23","date_gmt":"2023-09-17T18:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/burdreport.ca\/travel\/?page_id=14952"},"modified":"2024-05-08T08:48:57","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T14:48:57","slug":"the-safari-begins","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/burdreport.ca\/travel\/the-safari-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"The Safari begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

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leaving Nairobi<\/strong><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Four hours on the road<\/strong> and then a ride in the Park. 100 miles NorthWest of Nairobi was the destination – Savora Lake Nakaru Lodge. Nestled on the hillside overlooking the Lake this Lodge consists of a large Admin\/Dining building and the guest lodges are duplexes set in tiers on the hillside. Block buildings holding two rooms. A little dated but very sumptious.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A street corner<\/strong><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The five hour drive was entertaining as each Town we drove through was different and very colourful. The striking difference between Kenya and the other places we have been to in the world is the cleanliness. Both India and Mexico are famous for its garbage ridden roads and streets. Not so here. I don’t know who does the cleaning because we don’t see cleaning crews doing the job. But who cares it; is a welcome surprise. The other striking thing about Kenya is the low speed of the traffic. Very few people driving over 80kph and the old saying “If it is in the store it arrived in a truck” applies here. The roads are clogged with semis and the mountain road is held down to the lowest speed of the largest truck. Very inconvenient on that mountain road.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Park Gate<\/strong><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a couple of stops for either coffee or photos we arrived at the gate of the Park. Each visitor has to be signed in and the tour guide\/driver has to do it on an app. John, our guide, told us it took a little longer because it was the first time for him and the app. The locals at the big curio store at the Park certainly appreciated the delay but none of us did!<\/span><\/p>\n

But back to the Game Drive. It lasted about two and a half hours, after a buffet lunch. A trip down the lakeside produced the first sighting,a\u00a0 troop of Baboons -it was a biggie. “See the Black Rhino” John called out. Away in the distance a speck loomed large in our zoom cameras. “You don’t get to see Black ones very often” we were informed… SO the first sighting was one of the Big Five.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Giraffe standing tall!<\/strong><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moving on, through the Troop of Baboons, the first of many each with the Alpha males and the babies, a lone Giraffe was spotted and then a herd of Buffalo together with the flocks of Pelicans on the Lake. Herds of Impalas were seen feeding, it was early evening by now. But the highlight of the ride was the pair of White Rhinos we saw on the way to the Lake to see the Flamingos. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The largest weighs 3 tons<\/strong><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Rhinos obviously were hungry because they hadn’t moved from the spot we saw them at on the way back an hour later.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stopping to see a herd of Impalas at a watering hole being stalked by a pack of jackals we did wonder if we would see a hunt and kill. It never happened a herd of warthogs came to water and stirred the mix. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Makalia Falls in Nakaru Park<\/strong><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last stop was at Makalia Falls, an impressive waterfall in the Park. One thinks of Victoria Falls when one thinks of waterfalls in Africa. These Falls may not be the size of Victoria but still impressive.<\/span><\/p>\n

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An impressive sunset<\/strong><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well enough for the night we headed back to a the Resort’s evening activity – a bonfire and then dinner, but first we took many pictures of the African sunset. The resort staff were being very attentive. probably because of the culture of tipping. Everybody who helps you is supposed to be tipped. A two dollar tip or 200 Kenyan Shillings is the norm.<\/span><\/p>\n

After dinner off to the room. No heating in the lodge but the beds did have hot water bottles to heat cold feet. An early start for the next day meant an early sleep. SO up at six for breakfast, checkout and a seven am start to the day – well it is a five hour ride in the safari truck.<\/span><\/p>\n

Onward and Upward.<\/span><\/p>\n

Go to the next page<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Four hours on the road and then a ride in the Park. 100 miles NorthWest of Nairobi was the destination – Savora Lake Nakaru Lodge. Nestled on the hillside overlooking the Lake this Lodge consists of a large Admin\/Dining building and the guest lodges are duplexes set in tiers on the hillside. Block buildings…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"wf_page_folders":[65],"class_list":["post-14952","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/burdreport.ca\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/burdreport.ca\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/burdreport.ca\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burdreport.ca\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burdreport.ca\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14952"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/burdreport.ca\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14990,"href":"https:\/\/burdreport.ca\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14952\/revisions\/14990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/burdreport.ca\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"wf_page_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burdreport.ca\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_page_folders?post=14952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}