Jambo!

Jambo! Jambo! This means welcome in Swahili.  Welcome to Kenya.  Day one of my safari I flew from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Nairobi Kenya to meet up with Greg E. Poo.

A driver picked me up at the airport, and as we made our way out of the arrivals lane the driver confirmed I was here on safari.  He said that Kenya has the best safaris:  "In fact, there is a giraffe in the field over there".  Seriously?  As I gaze into the field across the highway leaving the airport, sure enough there is a giraffe.  FIRST DAY!  That's pretty cool even though it looked like a tall brown speck and was at least 3 kilometers away.

I met up with Greg at the Hotel Panafric, and I was blown away by how much I missed him and by the luxury of a modern hotel.  After the power outages and cold showers of Ethiopia I found the safari hotels and lodges a bit overwhelming. 

Greg and I travelled with a fabulous group of people through Intrepid Travel, and our leader was a local Kenyan named Jacob.  Jacob told us up front that our chance of seeing animals on the safari was 3%.  Seriously?  Jacob has a thick Swahili accent, and maybe he means 3% chance of NOT seeing an animal?  We paid a lot of money for only 3% otherwise.  Hmmm...I was a bit concerned.  

We hopped into our overland truck which is a modified semi or cube van.  They installed large windows and bucket seats, an overhead look-out and voila - a safari vehicle.  The windows had a seam right in the line of sight, and it was a bit crowded and uncomfy but the excitement of being on a safari won us over.

Jacob and Zanner in the Intrepid overland truck.

Our first stop was the Aberdare National Park (near Mount Kenya).  We stayed at "The Ark Forest Lodge", a remote hotel villa modeled like  Noah's ship.  We were greeted by an incredibly beautiful peacock; not bad for day one.  Access to the Ark was via a high suspension foot bridge/catwalk.  This helps keep the people away from the animals, which I appreciated.

"Jambo!  Welcome to Kenya!"

The catwalk to The Ark.  Yes, we walked in two-by-two.



You don't have to tell me twice!



Inside our room on The Ark.

In the Ark there were multiple levels, a dining room, a bar, and several viewing decks.  The best part was a stone bunker built at ground level, accessible only from inside the Ark.  The stone bunker has no lighting and there are no chairs in the bunker as it is standing room only.   The stone walls have rectangular openings at eye level. This allowed us to be less than 10 meters away from the watering hole adjacent to the facility.  After sunset, we hid out in the bunker and watched the lit-up watering hole.   I was tired and watching a bunch of mud wasn't very exciting. 

Watering hole at sunset.

Just when my patience was wearing thin, along came eight elephants.  The elephants were so close I could smell them!  I watched them eat, pee and poo.  The elephant family consisted of babies, teenagers, adults and seniors. 

My first African elephant!

The rocks in between the bunker and the elephants prevented me from getting tickled by a trunk.

One elephant had tusks so long that  they curled up and crossed one another.  This created a built in trunk holder for the old elephant.  Cape buffalo also joined the elephants, and one elephant trumpeted to get the buffalo to move away.  That was pretty awesome for our FIRST DAY!  Take THAT, Jacob, and your 3%!