Category: Africa 2024

After leaving Amboseli, we headed east a couple hours drive to Tsavo West National Park, located roughly 150 miles southwest of Nairobi.

The park is one of the oldest Parks in Kenya, having been established in 1948. It is the second largest Park in Kenya (after Tsavo East NP, our next stop), covering an area of 3,500 square miles, and is separated from Tsavo East National Park by the major Nairobi-Mombasa highway and railway. The Park was named after the magnificent Tsavo river, which is the main river that drains the park, as shown here:

Tsavo West is yet another “classic Africa” Park characterized by a vast savannah ecosystem with open grasslands, scrublands, and Acacia woodlands, belts of riverine riparian vegetation and striking rocky ridges. The park is known as “Land of Lava, Springs, Man-eaters and Magical Sunsets”. Its popularity is based on the man-eating lions that killed hundreds of people during the construction of the Railway line and the highway during the colonial era, which was the real life basis for movies such as “The Ghost and the Darkness”. Indeed, there are cases of lions getting a taste for human flesh and realizing how easy prey we are, but these are exceptions, not the rule, so don’t worry. The Park has a relatively low density of wildlife (although see the photo gallery below for a few photos), so we ended up doing a fair amount of driving without seeing many animals. However, the landscape was so striking that a respite from wildlive viewing was OK. Here are some photos of the striking landsape of Tsavo West:

We planned and paid for two nights camping at the Chyulu public campsite (one of only two in the Park), but we were informed that it was not usable (for unspecified reasons) or advisable due to the abundance of tsetse flies in that area. Fortunately, we had already decided to switch our booking to the Kudu special campsite situated along the Tsavo River, which we learned from blogs was a magical site. However, to our dismay, we were informed that a large party was already booked for the site our first night. Then we were informed that all the other designated special campsites were not accessible at this time because of damage from the wet-season flooding. Dilemma, what to do? We paid $35 USD per person per night for a special campsite, instead of the $20 for the public campsite.

The Park agent at the gate got on the phone and found out that another special site, not advertised, existed and was available. Great, send us there please! After getting directions from the other Park official on the phone, we marked a waypoint in the GPS and headed out. Did I already mention in this blog that most Park officials have absolutely no clue what goes on outside their own very narrow sphere of duties. Well, you guessed it. We got to the specified location after about an hour of driving and there was no sign that a campsite ever existed anywhere within several kilometers. So what to do? We travelled on a bit further to the second public campsite and briefly considered staying there, although there was nothing appealing about the site other than having facilities and water. We talked to the Park warden on the phone and he said that our special campsite and all the others are not open at this time. OK, but what about the expense we paid for a Special campsite? After some discussion, the Warden said our only option was to go to the Kudu campsite, and he assured us that there would be plenty of room for both our party and the other booked party. Great! We headed out and one hour later we arrived at what was indeed a magical site right along the Tsavo River. The only problem was that there was already a very large high-end mobile safari group (probably 10 guests and an equal number of staff) on site and they had it fully occupied. We’re talking huge tents, each with a separate toilet and shower, all strung out along the bank. Not only that, but they didn’t want us to crash their privacy when they had high-paying clients with them. Fortunately, the head man said he had seen a delightful riverside site a few kilometers upriver, but that we may have to maneuver the vehicles a bit to get into it from the road. So, with darkness approaching, we headed up river and found the spot. It involved about 100 yards or so of off-road maneuvering through the brush and trees and over some bumpy ground, but we ended up at a very nice riverside spot for our camp (watch the video if your want to see our winding track into the site). We settled in for the night and enjoyed a riverside campfire, flute music, and gourmet found from our resident chef – Caitlin. Here’s a photo of our site (but see the video for more complete coverage).

On our first full day in Tsavo West, we drove about 30 kilometers to Mzima Springs, where there is some 50 million gallons of crystal-clear water gushing out of parched lava rock that is the Mzima Springs. We took what looked to be the best route from our Kudu campite to the springs, but it went through pretty dense scrubland that was home to abundant tsetse flies. These flies are like horseflies or greenheads on steroids. They are attracted to movement and go after the vehicles and all persons inside with a determination that is actually impressive if I didn’t hate them so much. We had to keep the windows open due to the heat – no air conditioning in the Green Dragon – and so we pitched battle with them for about 30 minutes before getting to some nice tstse-free grassland savannah with buffalo, zebra, oryx and hartebeests, along with a few of the smaller antelope species such a impala and dik dik.

Eventualy, we made it to Mzima Springs. This site is a desert oasis extraordaire. Millions of gallons of crystal clear water gushing out of the ground to form pools and a river on its way to the Tsavo River. Apparently, water infiltrates the volanic Chyulu Mountains about 50-100 kilometers north of the Springs and flows underground through the porous basalt rock, getting filtered along the way, and then emerging in this and several other springs. The big coastal city of Mombasa, hundreds of kilometers away, pipes this spring water all the way to the city to supply a large portion of its potable water. Here’s a few photos of the Springs, but see the video for more action commentary:

For our last night in Tsavo West we intended to stay in an elevated tent platform overlooking a water hole in the Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary, dedicated to the recovery of the black rhino population. Historically, black rhinos were found in Tsavo at densities higher than anywhere else on the planet. In 1940 there were an estimated 20,000 black rhinos in the Tsavo Conservation Area (Tsavo East and West National Parks). By 1989 there were less than 20 individuals as a result of rampant poaching. Within Tsavo West NP, the Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary was established in 1986 as a fenced stronghold to enable the breeding and recovery of black rhino in Tsavo starting with just nine individuals. Today Sanctuary is 35 square miles and is home to over 120 rhino. An Intensive Protection Zone around the Sanctuary was established in 2008 as an unfenced, highly protected, free-ranging area and 19 founder rhinos were introduced there. This population has grown significantly over time, making the Tsavo rhino recovery one of the most successful and positive conservation stories in recent years.

Instead of the Rhino Sanctuary, we headed downstream to the Kudu special campsite, our intended campsite for our first night. We could have stayed where we were, but the Kudu site was too magical to pass up. This site is high on the bank on a bend in the Tsavo River with great views of the river and the mountains beyond. Here’s a photo of the site (the video also has coverage):

We didn’t see too much wildlife in Tsavo West, at least not at the densities found elsewhere, but we did manage to encounter some. Here are a few photos:

For you action lovers, here’s my composite video of Tsavo West National Park. Note, much of the footage is of driving through the striking landscape and visiting Mzima Springs, as the wildlife was scarce and hard to video:

Tsavo West National Park composite video (17 minutes)

Next stop, Tsavo East National Park. See you there!

New bird species:

• Nubian woodpecker
• Crowned eagle

After leaving Meru National Park, we headed south back to Nairobi for a couple of nights of R&R&R (the last R is for “resupply”) before heading south to Amboseli National Park:

We left Nairobi on schedule, but sadly without Kirsten who went off to Thailand for two weeks of intensive professional training, and headed south to one of the crown jewels of Kenya, Amboseli National Park which lies about 150 miles from Nairobi. Caitlin and I left in the Green Dragon to pick up a new refrigerator for the Dragon, while Mark and Nancy headed out to Amboseli in Mark’s “Blue Rhino” (his Land Rover Defender). However, we both ran into problems.

Caitlin and I picked up the new frig and realized it wouldn’t fit in the Green Dragon, so we had to return it.

After much consideration, we decided to go back to Mark’s house and get the old frig and make due with it for this year’s trip. It basically works but you can’t read the control panel anymore so it’s hard to regulate the frig temp or make any changes to the operation of the frig. However, the new frig simply would not fit and there were no other frig’s in Nairobi that would work that wouldn’t take days to purchase (TIA). I decided the best and almost only option was to stay with my old frig. Caitlin and I drove back to Mark’s house which was completely locked up, except for one second story window that was slightly ajar. I found a latter and climbed to the balcony below the window and Caitlin followed.

We jury rigged the window to stay fully open and I used a fireman’s carry to lift Caitlin backwards, feet first, in through the window while she gently inched her way down the inside face of the window until her foot found footing. The two of us decided we were top-notch burglers and could go in to business! Can’t imagine what the day workers thought that passed us by as we were climbing in through the windows. OK, we got the frig and headed on our way south and all was good again.

Meanwhile, Mark and Nancy ran into troubles of their own. About 1.5 hours out of Nairobi, Mark got singled out by the local “police” for an unknown and unspecified traffic violation (despite the fact that every vehicle was violating every traffic law at the same time in the same place) and the “officer” tried to play Mark for a sucker. After some polite exchanges that were going no where, Mark offered a “bribe”, which is the usual practice, but was immediately threatened with criminal action. The “officer” then boarded his vehicle and had him drive back towards Nairobi, ostensibly to the police station, all the way with Mark pleading for a simple resolution and being threatened by the policeman with major criminal action, stating that Mark would have to go to court to resolve the crime. Eventually, after driving for a hour back towards the city, Mark convinced the “officer” to consider some sort resolution and they returned to an unmarked building, ostensibly a “police” station, near the scene of the infraction. At the very last moment, knowing that Mark only had 8,000 Shillings (~60 USD) on his person, the “cop” relented and took the bribe and sent Mark and Nancy on their way. It sucks to succumb to this form of corruption with the law enforcement community, and many overlanders claim to have persisted and gotten out of the ordeal without paying anything or giving anything, but the headache of playing the cat-and-mouse game can be taxing and overwhelming, and sometimes it just seems worth to pay the bride and move on. The whole ordeal took about an hour. TIA at its best!

Amboseli is designated an UNESCO Park and covers about 150 square miles, but it is part of a much larger transfrontier protected area that encompasses 3,100 square miles. The Park has a truly spectacular setting because it sits at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak at 19,340 feet, which lies just over the border to the south in Tanzania. Looking out over the savannah with Mount Kilimanjaro looming in the background is simply sublime. Consequently, Amboseli is one of Kenya’s most popular parks, perhaps rivaled only by the Maasai Mara. The name “Amboseli” comes from a Maasai word meaning “salty dust”, and it is one of the best places in Africa to view large herds of elephants up close. Here’s a few shots to wet your appetite for a future visit of your own:

Amboseli is in the heart of Maasai country, although people from other tribes have settled here as well because of the successful tourist-driven economy and intensive agriculture along the system of swamps that makes this arid area (average 14-inch precipitation per year) one of the best wildlife-viewing places in Kenya.

The Park abuts several Maasai Conservancies and we met up with the self-proclaimed “chief” of one of the Maasai villages bordering the Park – in actuality he was probably chief only of his family boma consisting of his wives and children and perhaps a sibling or two and their offspring. In fact, later we confirmed with another local Maasai who worked at our lodge (see below) that he was, without question, NOT the local chief . Here is the “chief” with Mark, noting that the chief is not wearing the tradional red garb of the Maasia, but the less common blue:

Amboseli is SO popular as a wildlife safari destination that the safari vehicles can outnumber the wildlife 10 to 1 when any of the cats are sighted. It’s probably fair to say that the vast majority of guided visitors are there to see the big cats and elephants, which is probably true of most Parks. The “lesser” wildlife generally get very litte attention, especially the smalller birds. Indeed, we had an unpleasant experience with a lion sighting during our visit. We went on a night drive with a guide and ranger and followed 4 lions on the initial stages of a hunt. It was a memorable experience becuause it was a private viewing of raw wildlife in action (see the video below for footage). The next morning we decided to go to the area where we had observed the lions in hopes of finding them on a kill. Much to our dismay, the safari guides had already found the lions and there were perhaps 30 vehicles at the scene when we arrived first thing in the morning. It was extremely anti-climatic after our intimate night-time observation. We drove past the mad-house without barely a glance over at the lions, desperate to get away from the crazy safari vehicles filled with tourists desperate to see lions at all costs, even if it meant sharing the experience with a 100 strangers. Here’s a shot of the end of the vehicle train stopped to see the lions:

The park protects two large swamps and includes the dried-up Pleistocene Lake Amboseli. The swamps are a central feature of the Park and attract abundant wildlife, especially during the dry season, as you might expect. Apparently, the swamps are supplied with ground water stemming from the nearby Mount Kilimanjaro that infiltrates the ground high up on the slopes and emerges in places on the Plains below. Otherwise, the Park is dominated by extensive grasslands that support herds of grazing animals, including mostly blue wildebeest, plains zebra, Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles, African buffalo and elephants, along with the occassional hippo when they are out of the water, not to mention numerous bird species (see below). Here a lots of photos of wildlife for you wildlife lovers, and I included some not-so-spectacular photos of several bird species for you birders – yes, I am referring to you Phil and Brenda, and some others:

We stayed about a 30-minute drive outside the Park in a private camp/lodge called Amboseli Bush Camp. No need for the Green Dragon at this camp, as we took advantage of the platform tents with beds. The camp has a lounge area overlooking a water hole, along with a well-appointed kitchen and a fire pit. The kitchen has an oven, so we took advantage of it and Mark made pizza, not once, but twice during our three-night stay – being on safari doesn’t always mean dirt and pit toilets. And need I say that if Mark had one food to keep in a post-apocalyptic world it would be pizza!. You’ll have to watch the video below if you want to see our accommodations, but here are photos of Caitlin’s gourmet meal of stuffed peppers and Mark’s pizza:

And if that wasn’t enough, Mark surprised us (mostly me, I think, as I believe the girls might have known, but didn’t disclose) with homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast on our last morning!

For you video lovers, here is a rather long (sorry, too much to see and show) video of our Amboseli National Park visit. It includes our tented camp accommodations, lots of elephant action, some cool bird scenes (for the birders) and even a few night videos of spring hares (a.k.a. kangaroo hares) and lions on the hunt:

Amboseli National Park composite video (19 minutes)

From the Wildside:

New bird species:

• Greater flamingo
• Wiskered tern
• Kittlitz’s plover
• Black-tailed godwit
• Collared pratincole
• Dwaft bittern
• Red-rumped swallow

Next stop, Meru National Park located roughly 220 miles northeast of Nairobi and covering an area of 340 square miles.

Before we get to Meru, however, I should mention that we stopped at a local coffee and honey farm en route to the Park. Donna and David (Mark and Kirten’s friends from the International School of Kenya) “found” this farm online and started buying their coffee and communicating with them about their operation. SO, we decided to drop in an meet the owners and learn about their operation and life story first hand. George Limiri was born here in Meru county and his wife McKenzie was born in Utah. They met in Utah, married, and started having kids (3 now) and then decided to move back to Kenya to George’s extended family lands and make a go of coffee and honey farming. They have really just started, but already have an impressive operation in the making. George is extremely ambitious and hard-working and is the quintessential entrepreneur – kudos to George for achieving so much given the challenges of making things work in this country. We got a tour of their home, where they have all sorts of animals and gardens, and then a quick tour of one of their farms (they have a few) where they are just starting the coffee plantation and will be building a processing plant soon. We (not me) bought lots of Lamiri coffee and I got a pint of tasty acacia honey. Did I say they also run a safari business as well. Here are a couple shots of the visit:

Meru is the other site famous for filming Born Free and Out of Africa, and is the resting place of Elsa the lioness from Born Free. We drove to and around Elsa’s Kopje (which is a Dutch word for prominent rocky hill rising from the Plains) in hope’s of seeing one of Elsa’s great, great, great, …, offspring. And to the delight of most of the crew (not Nancy and I unfortunately), Mark and crew in the Blue Rhino (Mark and Kirsten’s land rover defender) ran into a small pride near the kopje:

Meru is one of the least visited of the big national parks in Kenya, making it an awesome destination for us, and it has a wide variety of ecosystems including grasslands, forests, savannahs, and wetlands, but really mostly rather dense forest with little wildlife to see as we realized on one very long morning drive. The Park is also bisected by Kenya’s longest river, the Tana, as well as a dozen tributaries that drain Mount Kenya to the southwest. Indeed, the presence of so many streams with water is what makes Meru habitat for lots of species and distinguishes it from some of the nearby Reserves and Parks according to one ranger. Here are a few shots of the landscape, but the video (below) has more of us driving through the landscape):

The wildlife was relatively scarce in Meru, at least based on what we were able to see during our several morning and evening drives. We did see some great things to be sure, such as white rhinos (see video), but most of the time it was just driving through the landscape. Here a few shots:

We camped at Bwatherongai, Meru’s only public campsite. Not the greatest of campsites by comparison to Samburu, but it had some decent shade trees for the midday siesta and a pretty good shower and toilet facility:

Here is a composite video of our Meru visit, but note it has a lot of driving scenes and even a couple of evening by the campfire with me on the flute scenes:

Meru National Park composite video (12 minutes)

OK, back to Nairobi for a brief R&R at Mark and Kirsten’s. Tasks include a new refrig for the Green Dragon along with a new timing belt that has had enough miles on it to warrant replacement and a few other minor vehicle things to address, and food shopping for the next round of Parks and Reserves.

After leaving Samburu National Reserve en route to Meru National Park, we stopped over for a night at a private lodge called Lion’s Cave perched on cliffs over the same river we had been camping on, the Ewaso Nyiro River, but much farther downriver. Nancy and I camped in the Green Dragon on a bare patch of ground – nothing else desirable about the spot other than it was flat – while the rest of the gang stayed in tented platforms with beds, attached showers and toilets. Nancy and I went rustic instead, since the Green Dragon is quite comfortable for sleeping, and had a footpath down to a semi-permanent shower/toilet.

Most of our time was spent in the restaurant/lounge overlooking the gorge and river, so the Green Dragon was really just for sleeping. We also splurged and had dinner and breakfast at the lodge.

Here’s the view from the restaurant/lounge of the cascades through the gorge and the lodge swimming pool that was inundated by roughly 15 feet of water during the massive flooding this year. Can you imagine this gorge with water raging at the level of the vegetation on the opposite bank?

Caitlin even dressed up for my father’s day and we took some father’s day photos down along the river in the gorge:

For you reptile lovers, here is a photo of a Kenyan rock agama that reminded us of our beloved Collared lizard back home in Colorado and an African five-lined skink:

And lastly, for the cultural lovers, here is a photo of a new thatched-roof banda under construction at the lodge, but I am not confident in the load-bearing capacity of this roof with no trusses, and Caitlin with a local in tradional Samburu warrior dress:

Next stop, Samburu National Reserve, with a short excursion to the adjacent Buffalo Springs National Reserve, located approximately 190 miles north of Nairobi.

The drive betwee Mugie and Sambura was spectacular. We crossed over and through two rugged mountain ranges:

Samburu and Buffalo Springs Reserves along with the adjacent Shaba Reserve collectively cover roughly 205 square miles. The Reserves are community-based and run by local councils, much like the Conservancies, the main difference being that the former are dedicated solely to wildlife conservation whereas the latter are generally multi-purpose and include a variety of economic enterprises such as ranching and farming (e.g. as in our previous visit to the Mugie Conservancy). The native people are the Samburu people who are closely related to the Maasai of east Africa and share similar customs such herding cattle and consuming a traditional diet of milk and blood.

The ecosystem is characterized by desert and semi-desert, as shown below. The critically important feature of this ecosystem is the Ewaso Nyiro River, which forms the border between the Samburu Reserve on the north side of the river and the Buffalo Springs and Shaba Reserves on the south side of the river. The river provides the only permanent source of water in the Samburu, and thus it serves as a magnet for wildlife, especially during the dry seasons. Buffalo Springs is named after an oasis of clear water at its western end, but the main feature is the Champagne Ride in the southeast, an ancient lava-terrace. The Shaba Reserve is dominated by the Shaba Hill volcano.

The Reserves are noted for their scenic landscapes as well as the presence of rare species of animals such as the Grevy Zebra, Somali Ostrich, Reticulated Giraffe, Gerenuk and the Beisa Oryx, not to mention the three big cats (lion, leopard and cheetah) and wild dogs. Watch the composite viddeo below for a cool video of the Gerenuk. The highlight of our Samburu visit was almost certainly all the close elephant encounters. We had numerous occasions where the elephants, either lone bulls or entire family units, came right at us and passed by within touching distance. Here’s an example photo, but see the composite video for more action:

Samburu gained fame around the turn of the century when a lioness named Kamunyak adopted a baby Oryx. Samburu is also famous as one of the sites for filming the movies Born Free and Out of Africa. So, for many people, this is the quintessential landscape of Africa. Here are some favorite wildlife photos from Samburu:

We camped for four nights in the public campsite located right along the Ewaso Nyiro River under a dense canopy of huge Acacia trees. This was a truly beautiful campsite. We spent many hours sitting on the bank above the river watching the water flow past and the occasional elephant herd come down for a drink. We hired a camp guard to help ward off the daring baboons and vervet monkeys, who, despite our best efforts and the guard’s slingshot, still managed to abscond with some trash and a bag of clothes pins.

We also had a nice excursion to Buffalo Springs for a dip in the refreshingly clear, cool spring waters:

For the video viewers, here’s a Youtube link to a composite of our Samburu visit:

Samburu National Reserve composite video (16 minutes)

Next stop, the Mugie Conservancy located at the very western edge of the Laikipia plateau about 170 miles north of Nairobi, and essentially a logical stopover on our way to Samburu National Reserve.

The Mugie Conservancy is a 77-square mile private wildlife reserve. Almost half of the ranch is given over to the 34-square mile Mugie Sanctuary with big cats, elephants, Grevy’s zebras and endangered Jackson’s hartebeests. We didn’t see any cats or the hartebeest, but we did see lots of elephants and the Grevy’s zebra, which is a new species for me as they are found only north of this location. In the photo below, you can see the larger Grevy’s with the narrow stripes in the foreground and the common Plains zebra in the background. Funny to see these two species mixing it up:

The Conservancy used to have rhinos, but due to poaching pressures the remaining animals were moved off the ranch to a safer location. Like most of the conservancies, Mugie integrates wildlife conservation with ranching and agriculture, along with a variety of other income earning enterprises, such as commercial bee-keeping. Mugie has been proactive in their wildlife conservation efforts. For example, they are supposedly radio-tracking lions, cheetahs, and wild dogs to identify critical road-crossing points and corridors for animal movement. Overall, it’s great to see these community-based conservancies doing so much for wildlife conservation, because the reality is that protected public lands such as Parks and Reserves will never be enough to sustain populations of the larger animals.

Our campsite at Mugie was a large grassy opening overlooking a small reservoir. Fortunately, there was one nice shade tree for us to set up our kitchen and sitting area and there was a nice fire ring with seating space behind the tree:

A few of us did an evening wildlife drive the first night and hired a ranger guide for the excursion. The guide directed me (the driver) off road through the bush for an hour or so in an attempt to find a gps-collared lion. Driving through tall grass and scrub where you can’t see the ground, hoping you don’t drive into a hole, and weaving around and sometimes through the shrubs and trees is quite a genuine off-road safari experience. Despite following the gps to the exact location of the collared lion, we never saw it. The brush was thick and the lion was probably hunkered down under a bush a few feet from us.

The following day we took morning and evening drives through the conservancy, which produced very little in the way of wildlife other than elephants and small numbers of several other mammals and a variety of birds (see photos below). Apparently, this conservancy hasn’t been established long enough for the populations to build up. The habitat is here and with time I suspect it will host an abundance of wildlife, but for now the sightings are sparse. The landscape is mostly grassland savannah and scrub with a few water features, as the photos below will show. One great thing about doing a safari here is that there are essentially no other people. We had the conservancy pretty much to ourselves. I think we saw one other vehicle the entire day while on our drives.

Here is a youtube link to a composite video of our Mugie Conservancy visit for those of you that like action photography, but do see the pictures in the photo gallery as well:

Mugie Conservancy composite video (6 minutes)

Photo Gallery:

First destination out of Nairobi, Lake Baringo and Samatian Island, located in the great rift valley about 170 miles north of Nairobi.

Our drive to Lake Baringo was mostly uneventful, other than dealing with the crazy traffic and lunatic drivers, and the dense fog in the central highlands before decending off the escarpment into the Rift Valley. The only other two things of note was crossing the equator to the northern hemisphere and encountering a herd of roadside camels:

Lake Baringo is one of the many rift valley lakes, similar in many respects to Lake Bogaria that I visited last year (recall the flamingo spectacle) and Lake Nakuru (recall the many wildlife sightings and the leapard encounter made unpleasant because of the rude safari drivers and guides). Lake Baringo is the northern most of the Kenyan Rift Valley lakes and is rather unique in being one of only two freshwater rift valley lakes – the others, such as Bogaria and Nakura, are saline and alkaline. The lake sits in the valley between the Tugen Hills to the west and the striking Laikipia Escarpment to the east, proving a stunning backdrop for both sunrises and sunsets across the lake (see photos below). The lake has been designated a RAMSAR site indicating its international significance as a wetland.

The local communities depend heavily on the lake as a commercial fishery. Historically, the endemic Nile tilapia was the main haul, but this species has declined in recent years and has been replace by the marbled lungfish, which was introduced to the lake in 1974 and which now provides the majority of fish from the lake.

The lake has several small islands, including the exclusive and private Samatian Island, where we are lodging. This tiny island is located just north of the largest island, Ol Kokwe Island, which is an extinct volcanic center that has several hot springs and fumaroles and hosts a resident Maasai population of around 400.

Kenya is extraordinary in the number of community owned and run conservancies, and as guests to Samatian Island we are contributing through conservancy fees to the Ruko Community Conservancy on the mainland. Interestingly, the Ruko conservancy was formed as a way for two warring communities to come together in peace for the interest of the environment and the wildlife in the area, particularly the Rothschild’s (Baringo) giraffe, and as an economic development strategy.

Our visit to Samatian island involved a short boat ride out to the island and was enjoyed by all as it was getting quite hot and uncomfortable sitting on the mainland shore. Our group including the McGees plus 4 teacher friends of Mark and Kirsten:

The island camp itself was quite comfortable and relaxing. The accommodation was incredible. Our banda was perched overlooking the lake and sunrise (see photos below).

There was a large lounge and eating area overlooking the lake as well, and a pool to cool off in during the mid-afternoon heat:

We booked a self-catered visit, so we brought our own food and did our own cooking in the kitchen, but we had several lodge staff as helpers. Nancy, Caitlin and I had duties for the first night dinner and we made tofu pot pied (Phil, aren’t you glad you didn’t come?) with homemade applesauce and brownies for dessert. Not the best rendition of my tofu pot pie given the ingredients available, but it sufficed.

Nancy, Caitlin and I also went on a 2.5 hour early morning birding boat ride around the islands which produced lots of birds, including a couple new species, and observations of the local Maasai community on the large island.

OK, we are off to Mujie Conservancy in the morning, but I will leave you with a composite video of our Samatain Island visit. Note, I didn’t do any narration this time (sorry) or put backing mustic to it, but I hope enjoy nonetheless:

Composite video of Samatain Island visit (~4 min)

I am back in Nairobi (see the map above to remind yourself where Nairobi and Kenya are located) right where I ended last year’s trip in September, only this time I have Nancy and Caitlin with me – hooray! Feels great to be back in Africa again and with my two best girls and my baby brother and wife – Mark and Kirsten.

First, a note on this year’s blog protocol. Last year, and this year’s opening blog, I posted my reply to each subscriber’s comment after their comment in the blog itself. However, to view my reply you had/have to go back to that post and read my reply at the bottom in the comments section since the software doesn’t send you an email notification of my reply, which is unfortunate. It has come to my attention that most followers that comment don’t actually go back to the post after reading it and commenting, so my replies largely go unread and thus are ineffectual. Therefore, from this point on I am simply going to reply via email directly to the person commenting, since I do get an email notice when you comment, which makes it easy for me to know if you commented and then simply reply via email. SO, from now on only you will see my reply to your comment and my reply will not be posted on the blog itself. Hopefully this makes more sense.

Next, I am going to try hard not to be redundant with last year’s posts, so for this first in-country post I won’t give an introduction to Kenya and report on interesting factoids about the country in this year’s blog, but if you are new to this blog or want a reminder, I direct you to last year’s post titled “Welcome to Kenya”. Note, if you are viewing this blog on your phone, you may have to scroll to the bottom to see the listing of old posts.

Now on to this year’s first in-country report. Our travel to Nairobi was relatively uneventful and surprisingly not too uncomfortable. We had a 3 hour flight from Denver to Toronto, then a 7 hour flight to Brussels, and finally an 8 hour flight to Nairobi, but all were comfortable and Nancy’s restless legs cooperated. The only thing of note to report was that, unknown to us, our flight from Brussels to Nairobi on Brussels Airlines was the inaugural flight between these cities and there was alot of fanfare, including ambassadors and CEOs giving speeches to the news media, free food and drinks, and music. Most of the fanfare was in Brussels, but in Nairobi there was some celebration as well, including a Maasai musical performance (short clip below). It was a nice way to re-renter the country and remind us of the great cultural experience that awaits.

First priority after arriving in Nairobi was reuniting with Mark and Kirsten and picking up Caitlin at the airport:

Beyond reunions, the focus of these several days in Nairobi was giving Nancy a little taste of Nairobi and preparing the Green Dragon for our overland journey. Speaking of the Green Dragon, here’s a short story on “the beast”. Mark and the mechanic were driving it to test it out after having some work done it and got rear-ended by an Uber driver in one of the crazy roundabouts. The beast got thrown several feet forward by the impact but had almost no damage other than very minor cosmetics to the bumper. The Uber car on the other hand was totalled! Here’s what it looked like:

Otherwise, the Green Dragon was mostly in tip top shape and ready for another journey. However, I decided to get a new set of off-road tires for the Dragon so as to minimize the risk of flats and other tire problems while overlanding. There is nothing worse than having to deal with ruptured tires when in the backcountry- a problem I avoided last year by running on good tires. I worked the tires pretty hard last year and while they could probably last the duration of this year’s journey, I decided not to take the risk. I would rather travel with confidence knowing that the tires are up to the task. While I was busy getting new tires (most of a day), Nancy took the opportunity to get on a tour of Mark and Kirsten’s amazing school campus (better than most college campuses) and all the incredible nature projects Mark and his students have done to green-up the campus.

Other tasks included getting a sim card for my mobile hotspot so that I can post to this blog, installing mounting clips on the rooftop rack for my recovery shovel to make it more readily accessible in case of need, filling the Dragon’s 40 liter water tank with potable water, and purchasing the many necessary camping supplies, including cooking fuel, food and drink for several days.

OK, we are off on our first adventure to Samatian Island in Lake Boringo. See you there!