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Old 11 Jun 19, 10:30 PM  
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#21
Jet
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Wow! What fabulous photos ...I would of been overcome with emotion seeing that many elephants.
Looks like you had a fantastic time.
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Old 11 Jun 19, 10:52 PM  
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skalexander
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Day 4 - Samburu to Lake Nakuru

Day 4 - Samburu to Lake Nakuru

Before I talk about today, I realised I haven’t talked about clothes, and this is the topic which caused us the most worry before we went. I bought 2 pairs of trousers from the outdoor clothing section in a Sports Direct, one grey and one beige, and some tshirts (pale pink,cream, khaki green) to wear on game drives, and I’d pinched my hubby’s khaki fleece jumper. However, in all honesty, special colours weren’t needed. Amongst the group people were wearing all the colours of the rainbow with stripes, checks etc, including on game drives, and we all saw great animals. I also didn’t need the quilted jacket I took, even in the very early morning my borrowed fleece jumper more than did the job. My Dad took shirts but found them too warm and wore tshirts. I took my Timberland boots, but trainers would probably have sufficed. So if you’re thinking of going on safari, don’t worry about a whole new wardrobe, although it might be different if doing walking safaris.

So back to today... it was going to be a long one, with 300km to cover. We had breakfast and set off. Our tour director, Mustafa, rode with us today, so he was able to chat and spot things a bit more than Rashid, who obviously had to concentrate on driving as well. As with previous drives, the time passed easily - we were very lucky to be on a bus with lovely people, and we were all fairly like-minded.

We passed back and forth over the equator 4 times and stopped on the last occasion for photos and a bathroom break (through another souvenir shop). There was a chap doing a trick with water, showing how it drains clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere, but stays still on the equator. He was then selling certificates for KSh500 (about £4) but I did not want another piece of paper cluttering up my house, and nor did Dad, so we just gave him a tip and went on our way.



We stopped at the Thompson Falls hotel in Nyahururu for lunch. It was a buffet but the selection wasn’t as good as other meals, although I was content with a bowl of carrot and ginger soup and some fruit. Whilst we were eating it started bucketing down, fully raining cats and dogs, and whilst we all had waterproofs they were in our cases - we didn’t make that mistake again, and of course it didn’t rain again. Fortunately, the guides came to the rescue with some giant brollies so Dad and I walked down to view the Thompson Falls, along with some others. As we left the hotel I was shocked to see they had fires burning in the hearths with people crowded round, and there’s us in our shorts and tshirts.

The falls were beautiful but we didn’t stay long. There was a chap with some kind of lizard on his arm trying to get us to have a photo, but our tour director had warned us not to engage as he apparently charges a hefty fee. To be honest, I wouldn’t have wanted a lizard on me anyway!



We walked back to the van and Dad was a bit out of breath. I thought it was because he’d only just gotten over pneumonia before we left, although he’s generally fit and well, but Rashid said it was the altitude and that a lot of Kenyan long distance runners stay in the town for a couple of months to train because of the altitude.

We progressed on towards Lake Nakuru, and it continued to rain. When we arrived we did a game drive. You could see pink clouds on the actual lake, which was huge swathes of flamingos. There were also plenty of water buffalo. All of a sudden, we hit the jackpot - a family of white rhino!



Then it got even better - another mother and babe appeared and started running right across in front of us. It was awesome. Rashid and Mustafa both said how lucky we were, as rhinos are very elusive and many people don’t see any!



Then we saw a silver-backed jackal although it was some distance away.






Sadly the Rothschild giraffe eluded us, but we would see them later in the trip. We headed to the hotel which was lovely. Again the rooms were in chalets and we were allocated next to a couple from our van. They knocked on the door a short time after we got there to say they had a creature in their room which they thought we’d enjoy seeing. Dad gets down on the floor, looks under the bed and says it looks like a r*t (sorry, Isle of Man thing, we don’t say the word). I shot off, jumped on my bed, shut the door and refused to move until Dad came in and did a r*t check under the beds. I’m terrified of mice and r*ts. It turned out the visitor was a rock hyrex (picture from later in the trip) and it had been stuck in there a few days, so our neighbours were moved.



The room was very nice, not as spacious as Samburu but no grumbles from us. I couldn’t get the hot water to work so my shower was cold. It later turned out there was a knack to it so I had a hot shower the following morning. We went to meet the others for tea, yet another tasty buffet, and then had a drink near the pool. It looked lovely but between the damp weather (it had stopped raining by now) and our late arrival, it was too late to use it.

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Edited at 10:59 PM.
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Old 11 Jun 19, 10:54 PM  
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Originally Posted by Jet View Post
Wow! What fabulous photos ...I would of been overcome with emotion seeing that many elephants.
Looks like you had a fantastic time.
It was quite emotional, especially seeing the more endangered species, but mostly an enormous privilege. Looking back now, even just a week later, it feels almost surreal.
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Old 11 Jun 19, 11:00 PM  
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Brilliant photos again, love the mum and baby rhinos
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Old 11 Jun 19, 11:29 PM  
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elimite
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Safari

Just back last week after spending 3days at the maasai Mara reserve,stayed at Mara Serena safari lodge. Absolutely fantastic! First time ever ( a change from Orlando) but an experience never to be forgotten.
But back to Florida next may with family for my retirement holiday , booked into a villa in champions gate, first time for that resort as well.
Enjoy the rest of your amazing safari!:
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Old 12 Jun 19, 11:23 AM  
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skalexander
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Originally Posted by elimite View Post
Just back last week after spending 3days at the maasai Mara reserve,stayed at Mara Serena safari lodge. Absolutely fantastic! First time ever ( a change from Orlando) but an experience never to be forgotten.
But back to Florida next may with family for my retirement holiday , booked into a villa in champions gate, first time for that resort as well.
Enjoy the rest of your amazing safari!:
We're back sadly got the post-holiday blues in a big way!

Glad you enjoy the Mara too, its just incredible and a totally different type of holiday, isn't it.

We're back to Florida too, and then heading to California, in Feb/March, but if I'm honest I'm not feeling as enthusiastic as I did about it. Hopefully I will nearer the time!
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Old 12 Jun 19, 02:46 PM  
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Thanks again for all the information, we have just had Newmarket Holidays brochures delivered by post (we are old fashioned and like to browse a brochure as well as look online 😀 ). I’m really impressed with a lot of their holidays and prices, so much temptation 😂
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Old 12 Jun 19, 04:08 PM  
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skalexander
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Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil View Post
Thanks again for all the information, we have just had Newmarket Holidays brochures delivered by post (we are old fashioned and like to browse a brochure as well as look online 😀 ). I’m really impressed with a lot of their holidays and prices, so much temptation 😂
I love a good brochure too, its so much easier than swapping between pages on a website. One of the couples in our van had done India and China with Newmarket previously, and have Costa Rica planned for next year. They were really pleased with all the trips they've done so far.
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Old 12 Jun 19, 05:51 PM  
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Originally Posted by skalexander View Post
I love a good brochure too, its so much easier than swapping between pages on a website. One of the couples in our van had done India and China with Newmarket previously, and have Costa Rica planned for next year. They were really pleased with all the trips they've done so far.
The Northern Lights trips look amazing too. The brochures have slowed me down with my packing for our holiday on Sunday as I’ve been too busy reading the brochures 😀
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Old 12 Jun 19, 07:53 PM  
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skalexander
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Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil View Post
The Northern Lights trips look amazing too. The brochures have slowed me down with my packing for our holiday on Sunday as I’ve been too busy reading the brochures 😀
Its essential to have a holiday or two (or more!) in the pipeline for afterwards though, helps with the blues!
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