A group of us from IU house went this past weekend to Lake Nakuru National Park. It’s one of the smaller National Parks here, about three hours southeast of Eldoret right in the middle of the Rift Valley, most famous for its rhinos and flamingos. Like all good trips in Kenya, this one finally came together about 36 hours before we left, which was at 6AM on Saturday morning.
Nine of us (and our stuff) and our driver piled into the safari van early Saturday morning, and after a quick stop at the bank, we were off to Nakuru. Now, some of you may remember that during Kenya v.1 I took a car (instead of a plane) from Nairobi to Eldoret when I first arrived. Some of you also may remember my description of the road we travelled (or “road” as I called it), its most treacherous stretches lying between Nakuru and Eldoret. Much to my delight, the highway between Nakuru and Eldoret has now been paved, though this did not improve the drive as much as you think it would. In many parts of the road there are deep grooves in the asphalt where the tires travel that prevent the car from changing lanes very easily. Not such a big deal, unless your safari van happens to be in the wrong lane, facing oncoming traffic, and unable to get back over. Add to this fun construct of the asphalt multiple speed bumps, pot-holes, hairpin turns, and large trucks moving up steep hills at a snail’s pace, and we had a traditional Kenyan adventure not for the faint of heart (or stomach).
Finally arriving in Nakuru more or less unscathed, we set about the task of finding our hotel. Unfortunately, all of the lodges within the park itself were full for the weekend, so we had booked at a place called Mbweha Camp in Nakuru Town. I say “in” Nakuru Town meaning that no one in Nakuru Town had any idea where this place was. We spent a good 60 minutes driving around, asking various shopkeepers, matatu drivers, children, and possibly a goat or two if they knew where Mbweha Camp was. We mostly got blank looks, and I’m pretty sure we were pointed in a different direction every time. We eventually made our way to the main gate of the park, asked around a few of the guards, and got some directions that seemed a little more substantial. While parked at the main entrance, when we got out to stretch our legs and such, a devious little monkey climbed into the van through an open window, where we caught him red-handed (red-pawed?) furiously digging through one of the other resident’s bags. She did not find this nearly as humorous as the rest of us did. We were able to buy our park entry tickets at the main gate even though we wouldn’t be entering there, so tickets and fresh directions in hand, we climbed back into the safari van.
The guard at the gate had told us that Mbweha camp was “not too far.” One must always take Kenyan directions with a grain of salt, and what was billed as “not too far” ended up being another hour and 15 minutes in the van before reaching the camp. I think distance wise it probably was “not too far,” however, the majority of the drive was along a gravel-strewn, formerly paved road littered with matatu-sized potholes and treacherous chunks of asphalt for the driver to dodge. If that wasn’t enough, part of the road was actually closed, and we had to take a detour for some distance. (“What does it take to get a road closed here?” queried one of my fellow travellers. The consensus answer was an act of God.) After driving through and towards what seemed like nowhere, we finally saw the turnoff sign for Mbweha Camp (hooray!). And we turned onto… another dirt road. This one was at least hard packed dirt, without the gravel but still with the ruts to content with. After driving for about 10 minutes, we saw a sign that said Mbweha Camp (hooray!), but upon closer inspection it actually said “5km” underneath. And this is where the fun really began! After the 5km sign, there were stretches where the road literally disappeared, and it seemed as though we were just driving through open grassland without any real path. Our driver seemed to know where he was going, though I’m not quite sure how. At any rate, a very long and slow 5km later, we did, FINALLY reach Mbweha Camp, and it was as nice as promised on their website. Quickly ushered to our rooms and luggage unloaded, we all re-packed ourselves into the van to start our safari.
Of course, driving back to the park meant driving back over 5km Dirt Road and Matatu Pothole Road, but at least there was a park entrance gate not too far down Pothole-Asphalt-Gravel Road. Once into the park, we ate lunch (the hotel had had “box lunches” ready for us upon arrival to take with us. What is an African boxed lunch like, you might ask? Turns out it’s not too bad!) and kept our eyes peeled for animals. Almost immediately we saw a momma and baby rhino. Rhinos can actually move pretty fast when they want to, as we found out. We also saw a giraffe, hawk, tons of flamingos, an eagle, two lions, and dozens of baboons and other monkeys.
Overall the safari itself was quite satisfactory, especially as we got to see rhinos, which I had yet to see until this weekend. We spent the most time on the lake shore watching the flamingos. The sheer number of them was amazing, and collectively they make a noise that sounds like the combination of a woodpecker and someone grinding their teeth. They would take off from the lake in small groups at random, and settle further down. The contrast of their collective bright pink color against the gray-blue of the water and mountains beyond was quite beautiful.
At one point we drove up a cliff and saw the lake from a high vantage point, which was also beautiful. From there we also got to see a big rainstorm coming down over the lake, which we then drove through for some time in the park. We drove the majority of the park in one day, stopping many times to watch the rhinos, lions, or baboons. On the way out of the park we drove through a more wooded area where we happened upon a large family of baboons hanging out in the trees and the side of the road. Literally right next to where I was standing was a fallen tree on which were sitting two momma baboons and their teeny babies. The little ones wanted nothing more than to harass each other, and the moms were trying their hardest to make them behave themselves. I was close enough that if I reached out I could have touched them (if I had a death wish, which I didn’t). I got some great pictures.
About sundown, we headed out of the park, back down Large Pothole Road (in the dark, not as much fun as you might imagine), then back onto One Lane Dirt Road, which by this time had become One Lane Mud Road after all the rain during the day. Going was VEEERRY SLOW along this last road, as visibility was poor, and we kept getting stuck in the mud. Thankfully we never had to get out and push, though there were a few times I was sure we would have to.
Finally, gratefully, we made it back to Mbweha Camp. We had a lovely dinner, discussing our favorite things from the day, sat around a fire for awhile, then went to bed. The great thing about travelling out to the middle of nowhere to get to the camp was that it was… in the middle of nowhere. We were actually right outside the park, but there was nothing around us. In fact, they have askaris (guards) with flashlights and large sticks escort everyone around at night, as the animals can come right up to the camp. Our askari said the sticks were “in case of buffalo,” but of course we were imagining evening visitors of a more carnivorous nature. As it was, the evening passed uneventfully, and by morning, our nighttime askaris had disappeared. We all slept in, enjoyed a delicious and leisurely breakfast, and spend the day Sunday lounging at the camp and enjoying the natural beauty around us.
All too soon, it was time to pile back into the van and undertake the Road Adventure once again. No worse than the previous three times, we made it back into Nakuru downtown in about an hour, had a quick lunch downtown, then headed back up the rutted road that by this time seemed like the best road ever paved. We stopped briefly at the equator for a few pictures, and were back in Eldoret by dinner time.
The adventure wasn’t quite over; however, as when we got back to IU house the back of the van (the hatch) was stuck and wouldn’t open, so we couldn’t get our bags out. We ended up clearing a few of them out through the small back windows, then sent our tiniest person into the back to hand them out the front. And then, of course, Tiny Person got locked in the van (with the keys), and no one could figure how to get him out. We ended up opening a front window and passing him out through the window as well. Ah, Africa. Travel here is truly like nowhere else.
Overall, it was a great weekend, despite the multiple snafus, which really are all part and parcel of the fun and memories. My favorite part was definitely seeing the rhinos, which gets me one step closer to seeing all of Africa’s Big Five.
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