I saw a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills.

Actually I have seen many farms so far on my trip to Africa, even some in the Ngong Hills as we passed through on the way to Nairobi.  The farmhouse depicted here is certainly a bit more grand than most farmhouses we have seen, but it represents one of the more influential places in my interest in Africa  I realize that there is a lot less cache in just having seen a place like this rather than owning it.

We spent one week in Kenya, we are now just into Tanzania.  We entered Kenya at night, on a 12 hour bus ride from Kampala, Uganda.  I think I survived in kind of a shellshock.  From the horrendous traffic for close to two hours to escape Kampala, two hours stumbling through customs, ,many hours  bolt upright in seats without room for legs.

We spent three days/nights in a two bedroom apartment ten kilometers from Nakuru.  After the hectic 2 week s birding tour in Uganda and the soul destroying bus ride relaxing in a nice place felt deserved.  We ate in restaurants twice in that time, cooked simply and chilled at the apartment making plans and bookings for the rest of our trip.

Our one productive day was with a nice man, Moses, known by the caretaker of out apartment.  He came to us as a bird guide and we hired him to take us in his strange van birding at Lake Nakuru National Park, which is why we touched down here as our first stop in Kenya.

After an hour of very confusing logistics to pay 61 USD each we entered the park.  When we sat in our seats we could not see out the window; perhaps a child could.  The top did open like most safari type vehicles here, and so we spent the day jumping up and down to see the birds.  As it turns out Moses did not know birds.  He did spot a few but mostly it was up to us to find and identify the birds.  He did drive us all around the park for the whole day and we did just fine.  With a guide like Tony from Mamaland in Uganda, we would have doubled our take.  As it was we didn’t get many new birds, but it was a lovely scenic drive and I improved on a number of my bird photos. We did get a distant look at a Lion.  I am including a shot of a Lilac Breasted Roller that has been my favourite African bird since 1985 on my first trip to South Africa with my family. 

Lake Nakuru is famous for its Flamingos and while we did see some the largest concentrations of birds were the Pelicans.  I have enclosed a shot of them herding their prey into clusters.  They would then, sometimes in unison, dive their long necks down to grab their lunch.  Very fun birds to watch.

Our bus trip from Kampala taught us a lesson.  To get to Nairobi we hired Moses, in a better car, to pick us up at our apartment and drive us to our hotel in a lovely suburb of Nairobi.  It took us three hours and I did not have to be peeled from my seat.

We spent four nights in The Acacia Tree hotel in Karen a district in the south of Nairobi.  It was recommended by our Uganda tour companion Ronnie and it was wonderful.  In some ways the Acacia tree is fairly normal, but the people, service and contacts that we got there were incredible.  We were still somewhat in relax mode but we did get out and about.

One day we walked about 3 km to the Karen Blixen Museum, where a lovely young guide showed us around and explained that the farmhouse we toured is original and that a famous film was shot there. Our guide smiled shyly when, in response to my request, she correctly recited the famous first line of one of my farourite African books.  We walked back, stopping at a very fancy place for coffee and samosas.  The day was great for me because it was the first time in over three weeks that I have been able to walk a small amount.  If you have not figured out the farmhouse by now I give up.

Our big event in Nairobi was a day with a real bird guide, Daniel, in a real safari vehicle touring Nairobi National Park.  We got many birds, quite a few new, and I again improved my photos a bit.  I have included a shot of the snake bird, the Anhinga, swallowing his lunch.  We had watched as his long snakelike neck topped by the fish swam across the pond to the side where he was able to swallow the catch.

Rich took more photos that I have seen him do so far on this trip.  We saw lots of Giraffes, a few hippos and rhinos, but the star of this day appeared near the end of the day.  We were driving along not really watching for new species much when a Serval, a lovely small cat ran across the road into the tall grass.  He disappeared fast but we drove carefully along a few meters and there he was, in the grass staring up at us.  We got some good shots and then he slipped back into the grass, appearing in the road with a partner, where they posed for a few minutes for us.  What a fitting end to a lovely day.

The next day, our last in Kenya, The Acacia Tree staff had arranged out onward passage Tanzania.  We were taxied into the centre of Nairobi where a limousine took us and two females on the five hour trip, crossing the border, to Arusha, Tanzania near Mt Kilimanjaro.  We will have one day off and then on to an other venture.

Tanzania