After such an amazing morning, the boys had a swim to cool down. I did some blogging and then it was time to head off to the lookout on the cliffs, over Lake Nakaru. As we drove past the lake edge, we saw flocks of pelicans, and heaps of ibis, both white and black, and many different storks. And then, at the waters’ edge, is a flock of flamingos! Who said they’d all vacated the lake? Although it wasn’t the spectacle we had hoped for, they were pretty impressive.

There were two hippos hanging out with the pelicans. They were trotting around and quite hilarious.

We went up to the lookout and could see the rising lake. It’s at a record peak height, and William tells us we would normally drive at least another 800m into the lake on a road we can’t see for water.
On the way back, we stop and watch a bachelor herd of impala having duels, as they try to become the dominant one.

As we go back past the flamingos, they take flight, and I can only imagine what it would be like if there were thousands of them here.

Then we see the baboons again, as they head off to bed. They are so fascinating to watch. We took a lot of video here.

We were nearly back at the lodge when we saw a black rhino in the bush. The black rhino is the one that we saw at a large distance from the road earlier today. We stopped and watched as it found its way to the road, only to see that it had a baby with it! Given the declining population of these animals, it was a treat to see a baby trotting along behind mum. Could we possibly have any more lucky moments?
Sorry for the poor quality of the photo, but the light was fading fast.

All in all, it was another good day! (not that we’ve had any bad ones)

We headed out today full of hope and anticipation for a full dance card. We have seen so many animals and birds, great flora, magnificent trees. But there are two things we need to make the trip complete: a leopard and a rhinoceros. Is today the day?
We had been out for at least an hour, enjoying the Reserve. The tracks are smooth (on the whole) and you don’t feel like you’ve just got off a rocking boat when you get home, like we did in the Mara. We saw the baboons descending from the trees, a group of cuddly Waterbuck antelope,

and then in the distance we saw two black rhino! They were a long way from the road, but distinctly different to the white rhino. They have small tusks, and are usually solitary. As there were two, they must have been a mating pair.

There are no boab trees in this area, nor the Masai Mara, as they only grow below 1000m, and we are currently at 1860m. But below is an acacia that is picture perfect. They look similar to the Balonite trees in the Mara.

Nearby there was a group of Rothschild Giraffes. These are endemic to this area, and have white legs.

Here’s one of the elegant African storks that abound around the lake here.

We were heading back to the lodge when we got a call on the radio that some vehicles had seen a leopard. So we raced to the spot – a narrow one lane track, already packed with cars from both directions. A log jam to behold. All cameras were pointed to a tree that was out of our view. After some argy bargy, and much slipping and sliding in the mud, everyone regrouped in a parallel track, to try and see the leopard as it crossed the dense bush. But super-guide William decided we’d leave the pack and stop about 300m down the road where the road bends round, saying the leopards would cross there. AND THEY DID! We were the only car to see them. A mother and two cubs. As they appeared from the foliage, I was speechless (I know, it’s hard to believe) and could only fumble to point the camera at them. First the mum, then the two cubs. They were spectacular. I only got one good shot as the second cub headed into the bush:

Our hearts were racing for at least an hour afterwards. Even William was excited!

So leopards – check.
We started for home, and what do you know? There’s a white rhino. It was at least 200m from us, but we sat quietly and watched, and snapped what photos we could. I think Harry took a shot every 15 seconds. The rhino slowly but surely made its way towards us. The photos got better and better. Until he actually came right up to the road and crossed just in front of the car next to us. William had his fingers on the ignition keys, ready to make a getaway.

Wow, what a morning. We still can’t get the smiles off our faces. Africa has delivered its big five and more.

It’s goodbye to the plains today as we move on to Lake Nakaru. If you’ve ever seen those pictures of thousands of flamingos crowded over a lake – this is it!
There’s a road that takes us in a nice straight line from where we are in the Masai Mara, but William says the road is “very bad” and we can’t use it. Coming from him, I can hardly imagine the state of the road we want to use. So we must head back towards Nairobi, along the rocky, lumpy, crummy road we came on, and then head north west towards Lake Nakaru on the main road from Nairobi to Uganda. At least it’s all on sealed roads, but two sides of the triangle is very African. The impatience of most drivers on the Kenyan roads beggars belief, and the overtaking techniques are rivaled only by the Spanish, who like to make a road built for two cars wide, fit three cars when they choose.

We hit a rock too many on safari yesterday, and started the day with a leaking diff. The workshop at the lodge had us on the road only a couple of hours late.

The thing about a lot of third world countries is that there is always a construction department, but rarely a maintenance department. So in a nutshell, things are rarely serviced, painted or repaired. Like the guard rails along the precarious road edge, that have been wiped out by a vehicle (I hope it saved the driver), and remain a mangled mess. Or the toilets that once worked. The window that was once not broken. The bowser that used to pump diesel. The painted sign where the paint was once not peeled off. The road that once had no pot holes. All these things make it the experience we love.

So we made it to Lion Hill Lodge on the banks of Lake Nakaru, and here’s the deal on the flamingo thing. Due to the high rainfall this season, the lake is rather full. This presents two problems. One is the fact that the flamingos like the water knee deep (no sign of that) and the other is that the normally salty water is rather on the freshwater side due to being diluted by the rain. And that means that there’s not much algae to eat, which is what the flamingos like to eat, so they’ve upped and gone to some other lake. How’s that for annoying? Tourist based thinking that is.

Well, we’re not too fussed. William has “guaranteed” that we will see rhinoceroses here, and that’s a big call from any guide. He showed his colours today, when we went for a late afternoon safari.
The lions here are a different type to the ones in the Masai Mara. These lions  like to rest in trees, mainly on the low lying branches. This has contributed to the decline in the leopard population at this reserve because that’s what the leopards like to do. And it’s  quite rare to see a lion doing just that. But we came across two within 10 minutes driving today, and one had just awoken and wandered off into the bush. The other was still sleeping in the tree. There was an absolute traffic jam, as vans in both directions just stopped and jostled and generally made the Westgate Bridge in peak hour look like a good run. There is no where to pull off the track and get around the whole affair. And William just backed up to what looked like a really bad position to observe the lion. He said it would wake soon, and that when it did it would walk our way. And he was right. It was worth the wait. It was another lucky sighting.

Here he is just perched in the tree.

Time for a stretch.

Okay…last lion photo. They are so grand. And we were really close.
We also saw Thomson gazelle, Waterbuck antelope, buffalo up so close it was scary, dozens of baboons heading up to the treetops for the night, some helmeted African guinea fowl, a black shouldered grey kite (the ornithologist here again), and no rhino. Worse still, no leopard.

I love watching the baboons. There were dozens making their way along the road.

Above is a buffalo. They don’t really ring my bells, but are one of the big five. So you sort of have to take a photo.
Before dinner, there was an African dance for us to watch, and Harry was enthralled. I bought him a drum as a souvenir, which he takes everywhere and has named Fred. That’s a Harry thing to do. Here’s Harry and Fred:

It’s been nice to stop here for four nights at Simba Lodge. I think we might have eaten enough food to last us a month. It reminds me of the buffet days at the Swagman Restaurant. Remember that anyone? The Indian dishes are superb, but all the deserts are, well, dreadful.
Hello to everyone in 3/4B and 3/4C at Bellbrae School. Fergus and Harry are so sad to be missing school this week. But they will have lots to tell you when they get home.
Like what we saw today:
Started with cheetahs. There were two – a mother and a young one. They were hunting for something to eat, but we didn’t see any action. Then we saw a Martial Eagle sitting in a nearby tree, more ostriches, a juvenile Pygmy Falcon, and giraffes feeding on leaves so high that they had to stand on tiptoes to reach.
It was quite a lion day too. We saw a car parked by a lone tree, so we followed their tracks through the long grass to see what they were looking at. We found a lion with his pride of 4 lionesses sleeping soundly in the shade of the tree. The photos below tell the story. Another lucky find for us.
Later we came across another honeymoon couple of lions, also making a new lion. Very Discovery Channel.
We saw lots and lots of hippos in the Talek River. They look so slow and gentle, but can be so very dangerous. The guides hate it when we want to get close for photos.
Another session in the pool, and today John has the boys learning backflips. After the cool off in the pool, we met with the off duty staff from the lodge at their soccer pitch. The boys took along their AFL footy, but soccer was the game that won the vote (15 Kenyans to 3 Australians).

Fergus and Harry playing soccer. The Kenyan in red is Alex who was our waiter for all our meals here. We got to know him quite well. Still couldn’t talk them into playing Aussie rules though.

One of the cheetahs we watched hunting.

Here’s the lazy lions having siesta.

A tired King of the jungle.

Here’s a large harem of impala. The male who “owns” them is just out of the shot.

Below is the male from our honeymoon couple. He was rather pleased with himself.

We were meandering across the plains of metre high grass, when John noted that, should the Kenyan government ever decide to abandon the Reserve for these wonderful animals, that contract for harvesting the entire area would be a “nice one” indeed. Those that are into the harvesting caper (Alison take note) would appreciate the idea.
Then, we came across another van with a flat tyre where Athens had already pulled up to help. So of course, Our guide William did too, and my question is:
How many Africans does it take to change a tyre?