{"id":133,"date":"2022-03-31T15:38:08","date_gmt":"2022-03-31T15:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irissrin.com\/blog\/?p=133"},"modified":"2022-04-26T12:17:33","modified_gmt":"2022-04-26T12:17:33","slug":"safari-to-kenya-nairobi-to-amboseli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irissrin.com\/blog\/safari-to-kenya-nairobi-to-amboseli\/","title":{"rendered":"Safari to Kenya – Nairobi to Amboseli"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a continuation from Safari to Kenya – New Jersey to Nairobi<\/a>. We left off there with going to bed on Thursday, March 3 after a long day we spent exploring Nairobi. We pick up here the next morning and focus on our visit to the Amboseli area, on the border separating Kenya from Tanzania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Amboseli (Friday, March 4 \u2013 early on Sunday, March 6)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The next morning after a quick breakfast at 0600 (the staff at the Sarova Panafric<\/a> were amazing to set-up the buffet by then), we said goodbye to Benson at the front-desk, checked out, and headed to Wilson Airport<\/a>, transfer courtesy Gamewatchers<\/a>.\u00a0 We got there early, relinquished our suitcases to Gamewatchers (to be returned to us when we were leaving Samburu<\/a> 4 days hence) and headed into the departures area to check in for our Safari Link<\/a> flight to Amboseli National Park\u2019s<\/a> airstrip.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This was a largish room and it all felt more like a general aviation flight than anything else.\u00a0 The area outside was busy \u2013 lots of Cessna 208B\u2019s and a few smaller planes being serviced, fueled etc. We weighed our Duffel bags and backpacks at the solitary check-in counter and found it was 3kg overweight!\u00a0 Thankfully, the lady let it go \u2013 I don\u2019t know what we could have given up from our gear and what we\u2019d have done with it.\u00a0 While waiting, we grabbed a coffee at the little caf\u00e9 (Kenya grows excellent coffee, low in acidity and flavorful\/bold, just like I like it!) in the departures area and watched the various planes just outside the door prepping for their flights to various parts of Kenya.\u00a0 We finally spotted ours and soon it was time to board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After a quick brief from our captain, we were buckled-up and set to go.\u00a0 The little plane lifted off in a few minutes and suddenly we could see Nairobi, concrete and glass towers, residential suburbs and the National Park.\u00a0 The scenery soon gave way to more rural surroundings, an arid area (I later learned that this was probably part of the Great Rift Valley) and then finally to swampland.\u00a0 About 40 minutes through the flight (the Amboseli airstrip is about 100 miles from Nairobi\u2019s Wilson Airport), we started our way down from about 20,000 feet to the paved Amboseli airstrip, right outside the National Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As we exited the Cessna, we saw a Gamewatchers 4×4 waiting next to a building that housed the restrooms \u2013 Kenyans call these Washrooms.\u00a0 We walked over and there we met Amos and Daniel, our Maasai guides for the 2 days we were planning to spend in the Amboseli area.\u00a0 As I looked around, I saw an open space to the south, lots of scrub and some hills in the distance before suddenly realizing that I was looking at Mount Kilimanjaro!\u00a0 Unfortunately, I didn\u2019t use my DSLR which was still in my backpack, instead resorting to my phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At the 4×4 we met Steve and Cindy from San Diego, CA.\u00a0 They were guests at the Porini Amboseli Camp<\/a> where we were headed next (or so we thought!) to freshen up before our planned afternoon game drive.\u00a0 Amos then pulled out a table from the Toyota Landcruiser and served us all with a much-welcome cup of coffee from a flask.\u00a0 We then found out that we weren\u2019t headed to the camp since that was a 2-hour drive.\u00a0 Instead, since we were right at the National Park, we were going to spend the rest of the day doing an extended game drive starting right then!\u00a0 That came as quite a surprise, but out came the camera, finally!\u00a0 We hopped into the second row of seats with Steve and Cindy right behind the guides and we were off on our very first game drive with little idea of what to expect.\u00a0 We were dressed for camp, not for Safari with our technical clothing, but soon those concerns were forgotten! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My word!\u00a0 By 0900 we were a mile or two away from the airstrip and saw this large tract of swampy land and spotted our very first flamingoes!\u00a0 Daniel laconically said, \u201cLesser Flamingo\u201d and when urged to explain told us that you could distinguish them from the Greater Flamingo by the pinker bills and darker brown beaks \u2013this has to do with their diet; they are surface feeders and subsist on blue-green algae; Greater Flamingo feed from the bottom of alkaline lakes on crustaceans.\u00a0 I was also able to use the DSLR to get a better picture of Mt. Kilimanjaro, just visible through the morning haze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As we drove further from the airstrip, we spotted a herd of about 15 elephants including a couple of babies.\u00a0 They were headed in our direction and Daniel stopped to let us take pictures.\u00a0 Imagine my state of mind.\u00a0 90 minutes earlier, we were in a proper airport waiting for a flight.\u00a0 Now, suddenly, we had been transported to a place where animals roamed freely, and we were witnessing one of Africa\u2019s big five!\u00a0 Very heady stuff, indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Just as suddenly, the herd departed at a tangent, and Daniel set off again.\u00a0 We drove through the dirt track between the permanent and temporary tracts of the swamp and viewed many birds \u2013 black winged Stilts, more Flamingo, a Glossy Ibis, Egrets, Teals, Squacco Heron, Gray Heron, Gulls, Kingfisher, Egyptian Geese and others.\u00a0 (I am no expert on birds, but I was lucky enough to sit with one of our other guides later in the trip to identify everything we saw and photographed.)\u00a0 Soon, we came across a big, lone, bull elephant standing in the swamp just off the track, an egret balancing precariously on his back, while he munched away contentedly on big tufts of grass.\u00a0 (The blocky thing around his neck is a tracking collar; later in the day, we came across an Elephant Research station in the National Park and my guess is that they were tracking some animals to understand their behavior better.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We left our friend behind and went on through the park.\u00a0 Daniel stopped again to point out a hippo out in the distance and a couple of buffalos.\u00a0 We approached a lodge that had been abandoned years ago, the buildings slowly being reclaimed by nature.\u00a0 Not far from the lodge, we saw a herd of wildebeest and a troop of monkeys, followed by a herd of zebra.\u00a0 It must have been around 1030 in the morning, and it was getting distinctly warmer.\u00a0 The radio next to Daniel crackled and he exchanged a few words in Masai.\u00a0 He then said to us, another group spotted a lion pride, \u201clet\u2019s go\u201d!\u00a0 My heart leapt up in my suddenly dry mouth.\u00a0 What a day it had been so far! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And so, off we went, eager to see the third of Africa\u2019s Big Five, that too in the first 3 hours of our Safari.\u00a0 About 5 minutes later, we stopped again, this time among a group of a few other 4x4s from other Safari operators.\u00a0 And just as quickly, we saw a male lion headed right for us about a hundred yards away.\u00a0 Walking a few yards behind him was his pride, all 14 of them with multiple lionesses and cubs.\u00a0 All were walking purposefully toward a stand of trees, probably to get shade and water.\u00a0 They walked right past us \u2013 maybe 50 feet away.\u00a0 A Pumba (Warthog) gave them a wide berth and remained watchful until the pride walked across a stream and vanished into the trees.\u00a0 The whole encounter lasted under 15 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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