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| Erin's Journal for Amboseli (10-27-02 to 10-28-02) Today was one of our longest driving days of the safari. We had to go over 300 km back to Nairobi, then on through to the Amboseli game preserve on the southern border of Kenya near Tanzania. We left early in the morning from Nanyuki, and it only took about 3 hours to get to Nairobi. Once there, Richard parked us on the street behind the Savuka office and left the motor running, making us think we'd be off again right away. Instead, we sat in the still running van for almost 40 minutes before he came back and turned off the engine, saying we were waiting for some picnic lunches to be prepared! What a waste of diesel! Meanwhile, I'd run out of books to read, and ran up to the office to get another one from the pack we'd left behind in the Savuka office. By the time I made my way back to the van, Richard was ready to go and we took off for Amboseli around 11:30am. We stopped along the highway around 1pm to eat lunch, then motored on. We arrived in Amboseli in the late afternoon and did a bit of a 'game drive' on the way in, but were shocked to see that the huge lake that once fronted the view of Mt. Kilimanjaro there has dried up since El Nino in 1998, and nothing much but a wasteland exists there now. There is a small ribbon of river that runs mostly underground, which provides the only greenery in the valley and is the focus for much of the wildlife that still exists there. We reached the lodge almost choked with the dust of the dry valley, and checked in. It wasn't anywhere near the quality of the Samburu lodge by the same company, but still much nicer than the accommodations of earlier in the safari! We showered off and went to dinner, where once again we were disappointed to have a fixed menu rather than the elaborate open grill format of the Samburu lodge, but the food was still good and the view was fun (you could see whatever animals came in to feed on the greenery grown specifically by the lodge). After dinner, we wandered outside the main lodge to a huge fire pit with a blazing bonfire and a guitar-playing tribesman with a very good voice. We sat there till my eyes were drooping, then called it a night. The next morning was a game drive at 6:30am, and as we were walking out to meet Richard, I felt a sudden dousing from above! I didn't get much on me, but was a little stunned to look up and see the monkey that had just peed on me! There was a large puddle right in front of me, which told me I could've gotten much more wet - as it was, I just went back in the lodge and cleaned the little bit off my forehead and rejoined my hysterically laughing male counterpart at the van promptly. Even the porters standing around were trying not to openly laugh at me...but I knew the truth! I knew that monkey was just aiming for Glenn's bald spot and missed!!! After that little mishap, I got monkey pee comments for the rest of the safari, but it didn't ruin my experiences of viewing lions, elephants, zebras and hippos that morning. We even came across a family of jackals, which are very shy and tough to find - we saw their 2 little kits peeping out of the den they'd dug in the ground - so cute! After safari, we had breakfast with our usual complimentary sparkling wine, then got our books and went to sit out by the pool. Each time we come across a swimming pool at these lodges, we seem to attract rain! So all afternoon, we dodged the infrequent rain fall out on the porch and watched the vervet monkeys stealing sugar from the coffee alcove. Then we had an afternoon game drive before dark, and dinner before another guitar session by the bonfire again. We were fortunate to see a hippo plowing his way through the tall grasses outside the restaurant window during our meal - so cool! The next morning we'd head out for Tsavo West, our last safari destination. |
| Vervet monkeys are all over in Kenya, and are generally viewed as pests by lodge employees. Tourists think they're just cute though - until they pee on ya! |