Up at dawn, Theresa and I showered and went out to the dock on the lake with a very sleepy Peter trailing behind us. We were told that we could see the hippos going back out into the lake if we arrived around 6:00am.
Here's the view from right outside our hotel room:
A little hard to see, but they are out there:
There were already some tourists out there. We didn't stay long and before you knew it, Peter had climbed down from the dock and was walking along the "at your own risk beyond this point" shore while Theresa and I took a quick stroll around the property just to check things out before heading back to the lobby to arrange a bird watching walk with Joseph.
We had tea and coffee while waiting for our guide and then toured the property in search of birds and interesting plants to photograph.
This place really has it all. There's a camel on the property for those who want to ride along the lake shore and there are also stables for those interested in traditional horseback riding.
The property is beautifully landscaped and you'll see bougainvilleas in every imaginable color.
There were even cute little monkeys running around everywhere (although we weren't thinking they were so cute when they were screaming just before dawn),
and lots of birds of course...
...even ducks that like to live way up high in the trees:
After a fantastic buffet breakfast complete with an omlette and crepe station, we loaded up our boxed lunches and hit the road for Nakura around 10am. We quickly discovered some issues with the rental car, so we stopped at a gas station and discovered what turned out to be a major issue: snapped fan belt which sheered off some bolts in the process along with overheating and either a broken or missing radiator cap!
Luckily there was a welder within walking distance (or pushing distance) of the service station. Unfortunately, there was a little hill big enough to require a small village of men to push the Prado up the driveway onto the road.
We were there (back and forth between the service station and the welders) from 10:30am until 4pm. It was amazing to find something open on a Sunday and equally amazing to see them fix the car without all of the usual gadgetry you find in the states at our shops.
Theresa and I were having a great time, covertly snapping photos of everything including this family of four that stopped by the station to gas up.
We walked down to a hotel called the Sweet Banana to take a photo, but chickened out when we saw a man leering down at us from the upstairs patio. We passed one of those crazy butcher shops too, but again, no photos were snapped.
Back at the gas station, we found a little boy named Ben to play with. He and his mother were their waiting for Samuel, one of the mechanics who was working on our car.
Give a little kid some chips coupled with the fact that Theresa was probably the first white person he'd ever seen, and you've definitely made a friend for life.
Ben was ridiculously cute. We took lots of pictures and I got their address so I could mail them some prints. We were finally off to Nakura National Park!
Of course, we arrived much later than expected, and were nearly denied entry into the park. Peter always knows how to handle these situations. Before you knew it, the largest expanse of flamingos you could ever imagine appeared before us.
The sun was going down quickly, but we did get a chance to see a stunning rainbow, grazing animals, and even a rare white rhino!
From high above, we spotted this white rhino heading towards a watering hole.
Peter snapped this picture of Theresa and I. We are only a little bit exhausted...
Of course, only a crazy Kenyan would rush down the road to the valley below to get a close up of such a large wild animal...
At this point, we headed out of Nakuru and back to Nairobi. By this time, we were so used to the crazy drivers and arbitrary check points, nothing phased us.
Today we rented a 4WD and left Nairobi for Naivasha to visit Hell's Gate National Park which is about 90km away from Peter's house. It took awhile to find a rental company renting for the right price. One thing is for sure in Kenya: Everything is negotiable.
For $19,500 Kenyan Shillings, we got a Prada 4WD for two days. While driving to Naivasha, we stopped momentarily to take pictures at a beautiful view point. I say "momentarily" because it was a tourist stop with many merchants and we had no interest in buying anything.
Here's a shot of the shops that line the view area. Vendors aren't shy. They start heading your way as soon as you park the car.
We got to Hell's Gate and as usual, the entry fee was more at the gate then what we found online. Theresa and I weren't able to get a student discount but that didn't stop us.
We say lots of people with rented bikes, which seemd like a great idea until we saw the clouds of dust they had to deal with every time cars and trucks came down the road.
I wasn't expecting to see animals, but there they were! Right by the side of the road! Zebras, buffalo, giraffes, warthogs, gazelles, and lots of fearless baboons.
Here's my friend Peter feeling brave enough to jump out of the car to be photographed.
Check out these big baboons running right alongside the road with us. Sorry the view isn't exactly great from behind...
We got to the picnic area for lunch and elected to eat our packed lunches from the car where we could be entertained by a group of women outside at a picnic table nearby. The baboons descended upon then numerous times to steal their lunch items right out of their hands. These guys were huge and came extremely close to our car.
Peter almost left to arrange a local guide for us without leaving us the keys to roll up the windows if necessary! The baboons were on top of the truck next to us in no time at all and we even witnessed the trapping of one for identification purposes. Our guide Jackson later told us that the largest animals become too dangerous and are usually destroyed to protect the visitors to the park. Sad by necessary I suppose.
Hell's gate has only been a national park since the 1980s. There were Maasai living there, but they were displaced when the Kenyan government took the land and burned down all the villages. It's a terrible story. Now, community members are hired as guides which help the local people earn a little extra money from tourists.
The walk through the gorge was spectacular. It went on forever, but we didn't go in very far. There were too many scrambling parts for dear Theresa, but some day I'll come back and trek the entire gorge. You can see here that it starts out as a trickle...
...and quickly deepens into a spectacular gorge.
With so many river crossings, it was easier to walk around bare foot. The bottom of the gorge is mostly soft and silty.
We also found the most amazing hot springs. They weren't pools like back home, but more like hot waterfalls. Not too hot, just perfect. In fact, it was a lot warmer with much more water pressure than Peter's shower back in Nairobi! Here I am under the warm falls with Jackson our guide smiling in the background.
The only unfortunate aspect of the trek was a large group of disrespectful Korean kids (teens to early 20's) that were making all kinds of noise. Their behavior was really embarrassing. We stayed behind with our guide Jackson to put some space between us and them.
Near the end of the walk, Theresa bought some bracelets from the Maasi women, and I got out picture taken with Jackson in front of the gate.
As we drove out, we saw many animals and striking geological features before leaving the park to find lodging.
We also so a crowd of rock climbers bravely ascending this steep rock:
Peter called his friend Magdalen from GBS to get a recommendation on lodging in the area. She recommended a place called the Lake Naivasha Country Club & Hotel where she has taken many tourists. She gave us the name of the manager she works with and Peter and I were able to negotiate a fantastic deal even though Magdalen's contact was not in.
For 10,870 shillings, we shared an amazing bungalow with three beds under mosquito nets.
The price also included three meals that were served buffet style and they even packed up our lunch picnic style since we were checking out in the morning. The food was so delicious. The whole experience was such an amazing deal at one of the most beautiful places I've ever stayed for roughly $140 USD.
This place was spectacular. The acacia trees were so beautiful but you'll have to wait until tomorrow's post to see them since we arrived when it was too dark to get an acceptable photograph.
We tried to get to sleep early so we could get up at dawn to see the hippos and go on a bird walk before breakfast. After all the driving, it was easy to fall asleep quickly. Here you can see Peter nearly asleep in the chair before finally dragging himself to be bed.
A little hard to see, but they are out there:
We had tea and coffee while waiting for our guide and then toured the property in search of birds and interesting plants to photograph.
and lots of birds of course...
...even ducks that like to live way up high in the trees:
After a fantastic buffet breakfast complete with an omlette and crepe station, we loaded up our boxed lunches and hit the road for Nakura around 10am. We quickly discovered some issues with the rental car, so we stopped at a gas station and discovered what turned out to be a major issue: snapped fan belt which sheered off some bolts in the process along with overheating and either a broken or missing radiator cap!
Luckily there was a welder within walking distance (or pushing distance) of the service station. Unfortunately, there was a little hill big enough to require a small village of men to push the Prado up the driveway onto the road.
We were there (back and forth between the service station and the welders) from 10:30am until 4pm. It was amazing to find something open on a Sunday and equally amazing to see them fix the car without all of the usual gadgetry you find in the states at our shops.
From high above, we spotted this white rhino heading towards a watering hole.
Peter snapped this picture of Theresa and I. We are only a little bit exhausted...
Of course, only a crazy Kenyan would rush down the road to the valley below to get a close up of such a large wild animal...
At this point, we headed out of Nakuru and back to Nairobi. By this time, we were so used to the crazy drivers and arbitrary check points, nothing phased us. 
