Globus Kenya & Tanzania: The Safari Experience - Thompson's Falls and Lake Nakuru - A Long Drive
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Once again, we were up at 6:00 and on the road by 7:30. Today started with a long drive to our next destination, Lake Nakuru. But since we missed our walk on the equator line yesterday due to the Cape Buffalo, we stopped this morning for a photo op.
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| I was in the North, Arlona was in the South |
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| Smooching at 0°0'0.0" |
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| L-R, Sue, Joel, Felix (our driver), Linda, Garry, Arlona, Vicki, Lila, David, Jill, Tim, Neda, Farhad, Evans (Tour Director) |
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| L-R, Sue, Joel, Felix (our driver), Linda, Garry, Arlona, Vicki, Lila, David, Jill, Tim, Neda, Farhad, Katana (the other driver) |
With that formality out of the way, we were off for the 4.5-hour drive to Lake Nakuru.
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| The long, lonely road - we moved from the lowlands to the highlands, and things got progressively greener |
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| Euphorbia, or candelabra trees - highly poisonous |
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| This area produces a huge amount of red onions, and they were on stands along the road |
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| The light green patch just left of center was cabbage on a local farm |
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| Truck loading here is crazy |
A little over two hours into the trip, we stopped at Thompson's Falls for photos and a rest stop.
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| Our first glimpse |
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| The Falls sit on the Ewaso Ng'iro River at an elevation of 7,740 feet ASL near the town of Nyahururu |
We visited a couple of the local vendors and negotiated four Coke Zeros for $5 - a pretty good deal. With everyone refreshed, we continued on for the last two hours of the trip.
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| Along the road, all kinds of livestock were grazing |
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| Felix had to stop for sheep |
We peaked at about 9,200 feet above sea level before starting back down to the lake.
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| You can see Lake Nakuru in the distance |
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| Lake Nakuru is an alkaline lake in the Rift Valley that extends from Jordan to Mozambique |
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| Entering the National Park |
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| We drove what could only be loosely called a "road" to get to the lodge |
Evans, our Tour Director, spotted a Long-crested Eagle in a tree as we drove in.
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| A tree full of cormorants |
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| It's like a cormorant apartment building |
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| Arriving at our lodge |
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| Old-school keys |
We were given an orientation and then had lunch before departing for a 4:00 game drive.
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| Pied Crow |
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| Pelican convention |
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| Juvenile Fish Eagle |
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| Fork-tailed drongo |
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| Another fork-tailed drongo |
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| Pelicans |
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| Cape Buffalo, wading in Lake Nakuru |
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| Gray Heron |
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| Apparently, the White-breasted Cormorants were telling jokes |
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| The Great Egret did not see the humor |
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| African Fish Eagle |
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| A canoodling pair of African Fish Eagles |
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| Common Eland |
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| You can't see me |
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| Lilac-breasted Roller |
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| Augur Buzzard |
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| All the giraffes at Lake Nakuru are Rothchild's Giraffes |
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| First, I clean one side |
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| Then I clean the other side |
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| Much better |
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| Grey-backed Fiscal |
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| Greater Blue-eared Starling |
A main goal for this drive was to get to the water's edge to see the thousands of flamingos who visit Lake Nakuru.
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| They were packed in, and so were the pelicans |
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| Great White Pelican |
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| Glossy Ibis |
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| Black-winged Stilt |
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| Roosting pelicans - yes, they can land in trees |
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| A couple of African Spoonbills were foraging for food |
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| One of these is not like the other |
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| A pair of African Spoonbills |
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| *Boom* |
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| Back at it |
We needed to start heading back to the camp as the sun was going down. Along the way, we found more Rothchild's Giraffes.
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| The hills across the lake were on fire |
Back at the hotel, we enjoyed dinner and then called it a night. We leave here tomorrow morning at 7:30 to head to the Maasai Mara.
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