Kenya 2019: Nairobi to Nakuru

Sunday, June 9th, 2019

The morning of our safari arrived. Both of us were up at 5 am, either from jet lag or from sheer excitement. We had a small breakfast in the hotel and then went to the rooftop to play with the big lens some more. It was cloudy gray and warm. I was feeling much better than I had the week before and I was incredibly pleased that all of our plans had worked out so far.

There was no one on the pool deck, so we took the opportunity to get a good feel for how to shoot with the 600 mm. The weight really requires you to use a tripod with a gimbal head, but since that wasn’t going to be an option in the truck, we learned to kneel and shoot, or rest the lens on something.

Pro tip: the longer the focus of your lens, the more stabilization required for a steady shot. A tripod is preferable, but anything solid and steady will do: knees, a chair, a window ledge, Greg's shoulder, etc.

The Four Points hotel sits across the street from Nairobi National Park, the only national park in the world situated inside the confines of a major city. Within its borders are the natural inhabitants of the area: giraffe, zebra, rhino, gazelle, lions, etc. There are many famous images of giraffes with the silhouette of Nairobi’s skyscrapers in the background. The park acts as a sanctuary and stopover for many migrating species and is one of the best examples of how conservation efforts can coexist in a large city. From our vantage point that morning, we could see giraffes, zebra, and gazelle.

Unsure of when our guides would arrive, we checked out and waited in the lobby. It wasn’t long before a tan, enclosed 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser pulled up. It was go time. Our bags were loaded and we took our place in the back seat. The truck itself was a sturdy vehicle: manual transmission, big diesel, high clearance, heavy-duty tires, two spares, snorkel up front. The top pops up and open to allow a standing viewing platform. The seats were a tannish-brown, worn down from years of service in the savannah. It was perfect.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that we had two guides for our excursion, Leonard and David. David was training to be a full-time guide and acted as a spotter. Leonard was the primary driver, but both of them were wildlife experts.

We departed Nairobi at 8 am and headed north along A104 towards Naivasha. Along our route, David gave us an introduction to the country and the places we were passing: Nairobi National Park, the history of Kenya, the languages spoken in Kenya (there are 43), and the slums of northwest Nairobi. I took the time to show off a little of my Swahili. Both Leonard and David were impressed that I knew any Swahili, let alone the ability to introduce myself and poke some fun at Greg.

The cloudy morning turned to increasing rain as we got closer to the flank of the Great Rift. Eastern Africa has been slowly pulling apart for millions of years and has formed a number of rift basins that are quite similar to Nevada. There are small ranges and volcanic centers in the basins and the flanks are usually high escarpments. The similarities don’t stop there. Kenya’s elevation is fairly similar to Nevada and although there’s more grass, it can be scrubby in many places. Aside from the wildlife, I felt at home there.

The wide highways of Nairobi gave way to a two-lane road. This is where we first discovered that driving in other parts of the world is significantly different than in the US. We would regularly overtake slow lorries with oncoming traffic. However, there was no ego on the roads. Oncoming drivers would ease onto the shoulder if necessary to allow us to finish passing. We were often overtaken by faster vehicles with little room to spare, but not once did I hear anything from our guides rueing the day the other driver was born. And although they appeared to be calm and collected, there was definitely some pucker factor for us.

The rain let up a bit as we came to the edge of the rift, but a heavy fog prevented us from seeing into the valley. The road there is hemmed in on one side by basalt cliffs (sorry, geologist here) and the other by a sheer dropoff. Traffic started to back up a bit and vehicles overtaking each other got increasingly dicey.

There were olive baboons along the side of the road looking for an easy meal interspersed amongst vendors selling grilled corn. Several ramshackle shops were set up on the precipice with signs for cell phones and candy. A man carrying a 6-inch dagger in his hand passed us on a motorbike. I really wanted to get a picture, but I also really didn’t want to get murdered.

After a while, the traffic let up and we descended into the valley which was filled with rolling hills and tall forests. At the edge of one of these, we got our first look at a tower (group) of Maasai giraffes standing along the roadside in the rain. There were about a half dozen adults and two juveniles. We stopped along the road to get some photos.

*Olive baboon foraging trash along the road.*

We reached Naivasha just after 10 am. There were small motels, butcher’s shops, gas stations, general stores, and chemists (pharmacists). Locals were going about their day as cows, dogs, chickens, and goats roamed the streets. We were cautioned against overtly photographing the locals, and we obliged. We wanted to be respectful of our hosts and not cause any issues.

Leaving Naivasha behind, we talked about what species we might see in the Mara. It was, after all, the main focus of our trip. Lake Nakuru was only a half-day excursion, so we didn’t give it much thought. Greg asked if we could see siafu ants. Leonard whipped his head around so fast I thought he might have broken his neck.

“You know about the siafu!?”, he exclaimed.

Greg, laughing with excitement replied, “Yeah, I know a lot about the wildlife in Kenya!”

“Oh! Yeah siafu are very hard to find, but maybe we can find them” He looked at David with surprise about Greg's knowledge. It was becoming clear that we were not the average Americans on safari.

We arrived at Sunbird Lodge just before noon. The lodge is just off the main highway south of Nakuru on the shores of Lake Elementaita (pronounced El-em-en-tie-ta). A short drive brought us up a white cobble-lined road to the main gate and from there we reached the lodge. Sunbird Lodge has a number of separated buildings perched on or near cliffs overlooking the lake. Since it was a Sunday in the off-season, most tourists had already left for the weekend. We unloaded our gear and checked into the Jacana Room. Leonard and David suggested a 3 pm departure, but Greg and I were eager to get into the field, so we countered with 2 pm. They were very excited to hear that we wanted to get going.

We spent the next little while exploring the lodge compound. The pool with a bar attached looked really cool, but was not open. We attempted to reach the shores of the lake, but found chain link fence, barbed wire, and signs warning against going into the outside world. Instead we scrambled along a few trails photographing the plants and colorful birds. In the lake below, we could see flamingos flying across the azure waters. There were ibises and hyraxes wandering around our cabin. Greg set up the hammock on the porch and took in the view.

*Flamingos Landing on the Lake (Turtle in foreground)*

We had lunch on the courtyard patio. We both had tilapia, a salad, some ice cream, and I had some Kenyan coffee while Greg had some local tea. Agriculture is Kenya’s primary industry. They mostly grow corn, coffee, and beans. Ecotourism is another driver for the local economies. Kenya is home to the Big Five: Elephants, Rhinos, Cape Buffalo, Lions, and Leopards. The Maasai Mara, Amboseli, Tsavo, Samburu, and a host of public and privately owned reserves and conservation areas provide tourists the opportunity to see these animals up close. Tourism brings in money for the local communities, as I’ll talk about later in our section on the Mara.

We filled our LensSacks and saddled up at 1:40 pm, headed north into Nakuru. Lake Nakuru National park is just northwest of the city, and after some turns down some narrow streets and alleys, we found ourselves at the main gate. Rangers armed with AK-47's sat in plastic chairs near the entrance. David and Leonard went in to register and pay while Greg and I did final prep on the gear.

Lake Nakuru National Park

The afternoon was great. The sky was patched with clouds, mottling the landscape in light and shadow. We entered the park and within two minutes were surrounded by a herd of zebra, warthogs, cape buffalo, and guinea fowl. There was a level of green that I could barely comprehend, even more so considering the drab brown landscape back home in Nevada. We spent a while with this first group and then moved on into the forest lining the shore.

Lake Nakuru National Park is 72 square miles of protected ecosystem that was established in the 1960's as part of an effort to conserve habitat for migrating flamingo populations. Lake Nakuru is a shallow, alkaline, rift lake but the park includes savannas and jungle habitat as well.

We saw a family of vervet monkeys. There was a small baby among them. Just beyond were some Colobus monkeys. We recognized them right away from our many zoo trips over the year. Lenny and David noted that it was rare to see them in the wild like this, and were surprised to see that we recognized this species.

There were many Thompson’s gazelle, impala, waterbucks, and elands as we got closer to the shore. A crested crane, striped kingfisher, black-headed heron, Egyptian goose, lapwing plovers, and brilliant superb starlings were all out. We were amazed at Lenny's ability to quickly identify the many species of birds that we saw.

At a break in the trees we could see a white rhino amongst some cape buffalo in the distance. A rhino! Lake Nakuru was already pretty incredible, but now it was amazing! We had been in the park just over an hour at this point. Species tally: 16.

This being our first safari, we weren’t entirely sure how to go about much of anything. We certainly didn’t want to be forceful with our guides in making demands or requests for positioning. However, they made it clear that they were there to aid us in seeing what we wanted to see, when we wanted to see it, for as long as we wanted to stay there. So after a little while, we started to get a feel for it and we started using the Swahili word for "let’s go" to indicate we should move on: Twende. Lenny and David would laugh and repeat it back with the same level of enthusiasm. It became the mantra of the trip.

We drove around the south end of the lake to get to the rhinos. It was a female and a juvenile. Flamingos dotted the shore behind them. We spent a long time here watching the rhinos and some zebras. In the quiet of the moment, the only sound we could hear were the of the wings of a pelican beating as it flew over us.

It’s really important to take the time to live in the moment. So often in our modern lives, we’re focused on getting “the shot", focused on our phones and cameras, and instantly sharing it with the world. Putting everything down for a few minutes and just enjoying the silence, the beauty of the moment and not worrying about posting or firing off shots can enhance the experience. This is part of our philosophy on photography. We did it while we were in Yellowstone and we took the time to do it here with the rhinos. It provides a deeper connection to the moment, bolsters our memories, and borders on a religious experience.

We left the rhinos and headed into the flatlands south of the lake, passing a ranger who was standing in the middle of the plain with an AK-74u talking on his phone. The patchy sky opened up into a full-blown downpour as we came upon a herd of cape buffalo. They almost looked happy munching away on grass with the sun shining and the rain pouring down. It was in this moment that I turned around to see the most vivid, vibrant, and incredibly close double rainbow I had ever seen. I could barely speak coherent words, so I just patted Greg on his arm and then we both stood there in the truck yelping like school children. Lenny stopped the truck and we all spent a few minutes ogling the spectacle.

*Heavy downpour. Cape Buffalo and Impala*

The rainbow faded, the clouds moved in again, and we trekked on to find another few rhinos beneath a lone tree. A group of rhinoceros are known as a crush. Giraffes, a tower; baboons, a troop; zebras, a dazzle. Things I learned that day. Species tally now: 20.

Greg and I were getting pretty dialed in on shooting as a team. We both saw how to frame certain scenes and were getting better at communicating where to shoot. Having spent years of watching nature documentaries and perusing National Geographic magazines, we had in our minds the style of wildlife shot that we wanted to capture for ourselves. There was a general understanding, an innate sense, of how we should be capturing those images. While Greg had the 600 mm lens shooting tight, he would perhaps recognize a shot or an angle that would be good for a different lens. One of us would be up high shooting, one might be down low on the windowsill with a wide-angle lens. We had been initially nervous that the team shoot wouldn’t work very well, that perhaps we would become attached to certain lenses, get tired of each other, or worst of all that our egos would get the best of us. Our fears were completely unfounded. Our teamwork strengthened over the course of the trip and we worked together as both brothers and as professionals.

We drove into a more forested region of the park. I was really surprised at the diversity of the ecosystem. There were marshy areas right next to jungle right next to savanna. But really, we were just blown away by the sheer numbers of species living in a single area. Lake Nakuru was a real surprise for us. As a half-day part of the trip, we expected it to be a short game drive with mostly landscape shots of a lake and some trees. It was just an afterthought for us, so when we were met with such variety it was fulfilling to find that it was more than we bargained for.

As we entered the edge of the savanna, a vehicle in front of us had stopped and was pointing at something in the low scrub next to us. We asked what they could see: a serval. Servals are a type of African cat, spotted with tufted ears. At first we strained to find anything in the dense growth, but then suddenly we could see it. We managed to get off a single shot with the serval looking at us before it disappeared. It’s a perfect representation of how elusive these cats can be. Although there are many serval in the wild, spotting one is incredibly rare. Lenny noted that this was the first serval he had seen in almost a year. Lenny and David, like many guides, work almost 300 days a year on game drives, so we appreciated the rarity of this encounter. Our Tester luck was starting to take hold.

We left the serval to visit with some Rothschild giraffes for a bit. Rothschild giraffes can be distinguished from their Maasai counterparts as the Rothschild has “bobby socks” and the Maasai have irregular patched spots on their legs.

*Rothschild giraffe on the savanah. Note the white bobbysocks.*

The day was growing late. We had been in the field for almost three hours now. The park closes at about 6 pm, so we started to make our way back but we came across a lone male rhino and had to stop again. There are only about 22,000 white rhino and about 5,000 black rhino left in the wild, so while the all of the white rhino we had seen were really cool, we wanted to see a black rhino.

As we left the park, there was a seed of doubt in our minds since we had not seen black rhinos, lions, or some of the other species we were expecting to see, but we were still hopeful for what the Mara might hold.

We returned to Sunbird and found the Lodge completely devoid of any guests other than ourselves. We were treated to an exquisite dinner of steak and whiskey. The dining hall was dimly lit and it would have been extremely romantic if it had been my beautiful wife instead of Greg’s scruffy face. We returned to our cabin and turned in for the night.

Species count for the day: 39. We had shot nearly 2,000 pictures.

We were off to the Mara the next day.

-Ed & Greg

Kenya 2019: Maasai Mara Part 1 – First Impressions

Kenya 2019: Nairobi

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