We had an experienced driver who knew the animals and the terrain in the Masai Mara very well. This other group weren't so lucky and they spent most of their safari getting stuck!
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| 4x4 stuck in the Masai Mara |
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
The Miracle Safari - part 3
The plan was to camp using our own tent, cook our own food and pay for the game drives. We spoke with the owner of the lodge and he explained how their pricing worked. Taking their all-inclusive option was about 30 dollars more expensive but we'd stay in one of their 'big' tents, have all our meals in their restaurant and get two game drives a day. I asked if they took credit card as we didn't have enough cash to cover one night, they couldn't take card but they said we could pay from Narok when we were on our way back to Nairobi. We checked in for one night and ended up staying three.
Their big tent was a like a small house, multiple rooms and a proper bathroom with a hot shower, definitely worth the extra cash! It couldn't have been more perfect, the food, accommodation, vehicle and driver were all excellent. Within 5 minutes of our first game drive we came across a pride of lions, later a cheetah with cubs, then elephants, wildebeest, buffalo, giraffes, hippos, hyenas and the following morning a pride of lions having breakfast.
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Their big tent was a like a small house, multiple rooms and a proper bathroom with a hot shower, definitely worth the extra cash! It couldn't have been more perfect, the food, accommodation, vehicle and driver were all excellent. Within 5 minutes of our first game drive we came across a pride of lions, later a cheetah with cubs, then elephants, wildebeest, buffalo, giraffes, hippos, hyenas and the following morning a pride of lions having breakfast.
Related Blog Posts:
Thursday, March 15, 2012
The Miracle Safari - Part 2
We were walking out of Narok town in the direction of the Masai Mara hoping to catch a lift. A few mini buses stopped but none were going where we wanted, eventually one stopped and said they'd take us to another town from when we'd find a bus going to the entrance gate to the Masai Mara. After a very cramped 20 minute bus journey we stopped at a major junction, said goodbyes and waited for the next bus.
We wait for about 1 half hour before some locals approached us and explained that the next bus wasn't until 2pm. They suggested that we were better taking a bus to Narok and getting a bus from there. We explained that we'd just come from Narok! We ignored their advice as we didn't want to back track and soon afterwards a family in a 4x4 stopped. We took their offer of a lift but about 10 minutes in the journey we realized that the town they were going too was about 200km away from the entrance gate we wanted.
Soon we passed some people in training gear looking for a lift to the Masai Mara Marathon. At this point we decided it was a good spot to try get a lift so we said our goodbyes to the driver of the 4x4 and his wife. They gave us their number told us to call should we have any problems. We were closer to the Masai Mara but not quite there. A few more cars and busses passed but none were going where we wanted. Finally a minivan with only 3 passengers approached, we spoke to the driver and he'd take us for 100 dollars. We laughed at this suggestion and so did he. I suppose you can't blame him for trying! Then the lady who was sitting in the back surrounded by bottles of coke and junk food said we could have a lift if we wanted. We confirmed it was a lift for free and not for 100 dollars! She ran a catering business and had hired the van for the day and said we were free to come along.
Soon we were traveling on dirt tracks through the Masai Mara conservation area. The tracks were in very poor condition so it was a slow and arduous journey but quite an amazing way to make the journey to the game reserve. We passed small herds of elephants, zebras and saw herds of wildebeest migrating south to the Serengeti.
A couple of hours later we arrived at the finishing point for the Masai Mara Marathon. The lady had hired the van to take supplies to sell at the end of the marathon. Somehow we were destined to attend the marathon. After helping to unload the supplies we chatted the lady and the driver of the minivan. They said we could stay at the marathon event as there was plenty of food, drink and room for camping or if we wanted the driver would take us to the park entrance.
We decided on the park entrance, we set off on the 70km drive to the park entrance. The driver was very interested in what we were doing at the Masai Mara and what our plans were and what we would do when we got there and how we would get back to Nairobi.
The conversation went something like this:
Him> Are you meeting people at the reserve?
Us> No
Him> Do you have friends there?
Us> No
Him> What will you do when you get there?
Us> We'll find somewhere to stay or we'll camp.
Him> Do you not have anywhere booked?
Us> No
Him> Do you have a vehicle? you'll need one to enter the park.
Us> No
The conversation continued in this manner, question after question eventually he started laughing and repeated the words "The Miricle Safari".
About two hours later we arrived at the Talek Gate entrance to the Masai Mara National Reserve! To be continued...
Related Blog Posts: |
| Hitchhiking in Kenya |
We wait for about 1 half hour before some locals approached us and explained that the next bus wasn't until 2pm. They suggested that we were better taking a bus to Narok and getting a bus from there. We explained that we'd just come from Narok! We ignored their advice as we didn't want to back track and soon afterwards a family in a 4x4 stopped. We took their offer of a lift but about 10 minutes in the journey we realized that the town they were going too was about 200km away from the entrance gate we wanted.
Soon we passed some people in training gear looking for a lift to the Masai Mara Marathon. At this point we decided it was a good spot to try get a lift so we said our goodbyes to the driver of the 4x4 and his wife. They gave us their number told us to call should we have any problems. We were closer to the Masai Mara but not quite there. A few more cars and busses passed but none were going where we wanted. Finally a minivan with only 3 passengers approached, we spoke to the driver and he'd take us for 100 dollars. We laughed at this suggestion and so did he. I suppose you can't blame him for trying! Then the lady who was sitting in the back surrounded by bottles of coke and junk food said we could have a lift if we wanted. We confirmed it was a lift for free and not for 100 dollars! She ran a catering business and had hired the van for the day and said we were free to come along.
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| Dirt tracks through the Masai Mara Conservation Area |
Soon we were traveling on dirt tracks through the Masai Mara conservation area. The tracks were in very poor condition so it was a slow and arduous journey but quite an amazing way to make the journey to the game reserve. We passed small herds of elephants, zebras and saw herds of wildebeest migrating south to the Serengeti.
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| Wildebeest in the Masai Mara |
A couple of hours later we arrived at the finishing point for the Masai Mara Marathon. The lady had hired the van to take supplies to sell at the end of the marathon. Somehow we were destined to attend the marathon. After helping to unload the supplies we chatted the lady and the driver of the minivan. They said we could stay at the marathon event as there was plenty of food, drink and room for camping or if we wanted the driver would take us to the park entrance.
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| Venue for the Masai Mara Marathon |
We decided on the park entrance, we set off on the 70km drive to the park entrance. The driver was very interested in what we were doing at the Masai Mara and what our plans were and what we would do when we got there and how we would get back to Nairobi.
The conversation went something like this:
Him> Are you meeting people at the reserve?
Us> No
Him> Do you have friends there?
Us> No
Him> What will you do when you get there?
Us> We'll find somewhere to stay or we'll camp.
Him> Do you not have anywhere booked?
Us> No
Him> Do you have a vehicle? you'll need one to enter the park.
Us> No
The conversation continued in this manner, question after question eventually he started laughing and repeated the words "The Miricle Safari".
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| Talek Gate entrance to the Masai Mara National Reserve |
About two hours later we arrived at the Talek Gate entrance to the Masai Mara National Reserve! To be continued...
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Sharon Shannon in Australia
I was lucky to be in Adelaide during the summer months where there are a number of festivals and events over the space a few weeks. One festival being WOMAD - World of Music, Arts and Dance. A wide variety of musical acts from all over the world. We managed to catch Sharon Shannon and her band who were headlining one of the stages.
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| Sharon Shannon at WOMADelaide |
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
The Miracle Safari - Part 1
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| Elephants at the Masai Mara |
With a few days to spare in Nairobi we decided to attempt a quick trip to the Masai Mara. According to the Lonely Planet, Narok is the gateway town to the Masai Mara. We didn't have our own transport so we would be replying on public transport and hitchhiking. We took a local bus and arrived in the evening. We spent a few hours wandering around the town trying to find somewhere to stay, everywhere seemed to be a "Butchery and Hotel" yet we couldn't find a room. The standard of accommodation was well below average, pretty seedy especially the 3 places mentioned in the Lonely Planet. Eventually we found a place that seemed reasonably clean, secure, wasn't attached to a butchery and had the possibility of meeting some other tourists.
The next morning we planned to go to the Masai Mara so our attempt at meeting people traveling this way started with dinner at the hotel restaurant. This didn't work out so well then just as we were leaving we met a large group of Japanese tourists who had just arrived at the hotel. Our lack of Japanese and their lack of English made for an interesting conversation but after some discussion we determined that they had hired two vehicles, were leaving at 6am for the Maasai Mara. They had room for the two of us and they said we were welcome to join them.
In broken English they explained that they had registered on the website and were surprised that we hadn't done so. We didn't quite get what this was about but we figured we'd be able to pay at the park entrance as we had done in Nairobi National Park. We said our goodbyes and arranged to meet at 5:45am the next morning.
About 20 minutes later the only guy who spoke some English arrived at our hotel room with a laptop and a few cables that hooked his phone up to another gadget that connected to his computer. He was able to access the Internet using his Japansese mobile and and a satellite! He said that it would be easier for us to register now so we sat and waited for the page to load. Slowly row by row the page loaded and what we saw was a website for the Masai Mara Marathon and a photo of a group of tourists and Masai Warriors running through the Masai Mara with a herd of wildebeest in the background!!
These guys weren't going to the national park at all, instead they were going to run a marathon in the conservation area surrounding the Masai Mara game park, about 70km away from the entrance! I thanked the guy, explained that we had no desire to run in the Massai Mara Marathon and apologized for the confusion. At 5:30am the next morning we started walking out of town in the direction of the Masai Mara. To be continued...
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Saturday, February 25, 2012
Wedding Car Combi
Derek and Madeline had quite an unusual wedding car, it was a rather luxurious Volkswagen Combi. Big enough to take all of the wedding party and an eski (Australia word for an ice box) to store some drinks.
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| Volkswagen Combi |
Friday, February 24, 2012
Sydney Harbor Cruise
We were in Sydney for a friend wedding and had a few days to look around. It was my first time there so I was happy to do some sight seeing. We took a boat cruise around Sydney Harbor that reminded me of a similar cruise that I did in Hong Kong where people were almost fighting over floor space to take photos.
This guy had 4 cameras, 2 of which for DSLR and he was taking photos of everything! It was even funnier when his friends would get him to take photos of them so he'd be using their camera while he had his 4 cameras hanging off his Cannon jacket.
This guy had 4 cameras, 2 of which for DSLR and he was taking photos of everything! It was even funnier when his friends would get him to take photos of them so he'd be using their camera while he had his 4 cameras hanging off his Cannon jacket.
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| Sydney Harbor Cruise |
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Can we borrow your mouse?
We were to be spending a few weeks working on an educational project in Boman G'ombe, a village between Arusha and Moshi in the shadows of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Our Swahili was non existent at this point but within the school community this wasn't a great problem, we could get by with English and a Swahili phrasebook. We passed our days helping out at the school, doing art and photography lessons. The school had a computer center but there were problems with some of the computers so I offered to try fix them.
Running a computer class in a village that has very unreliable electricity is very difficult. Most of the time there is no electricity and when there is, the power level is so inconsistent that the computers will regularly restart due to lack of power. The mouse didn't work on one of the computers, I concluded was a problem with the motherboard. If my diagnosis was right then a USB mouse would fix it, the problem was we were a 2 hour bus trip to the nearest town where I might be able to buy a USB mouse. If I was wrong I'd have wasted time and money on a useless mouse. It doesn't sound like a big deal now that I write it but at the time in the situation it was.
I found out that their was an Internet cafe at the other end of the village so figured I'd go there and see if I could borrow a mouse. We didn't really think more about it, that was our plan. On our way we came across a small restaurant so we decided to stop for some breakfast. We managed to order vegetarian food despite not speaking any Swahili. Just after we ordered the principal of the school entered, immediately she came over to see how we were doing. She was amused as to how we'd managed to go to the restaurant and order vegetarian food despite not speaking the language, she was even more amused or possibly worried when we explained our plan to borrow a mouse from the Internet cafe.
After breakfast we made our way to the Internet Cafe, it was a very small room with 2 computers. They also suffer from the same electricity problems as the school which makes it difficult to run an Internet cafe without a reliable source of electricity. In a combination of sign language, English and a few badly pronounced Swahili words from the phrasebook we explained that we wanted to borrow a mouse. We explained it was for the school, that we needed it to test something. We even mentioned the principals name but that didn't work as she didn't know her. The girl didn't quite get it no matter how many ways we tried to explain.
Eventually I said I would like to use the Internet for a half hour and paid for this time. Then I slowed disconnected the mouse explaining that I'd return it in a half hour. I'm not quite sure the girl understood what we were doing but she agreed it was OK for us to leave with the mouse. She wasn't losing money as we'd paid for the computer so she seemed content with that. We returned to the school, tested and confirmed them mouse worked then returned it to the Internet cafe. The girl at the cafe was quite pleased to see us return with the mouse. Strange how it seemed like a perfectly logical solution at the time but I wouldn't dream of walking into an Internet cafe in Dublin and asking them if I could borrow a mouse.
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| View of Mount Kilimanjaro |
Our Swahili was non existent at this point but within the school community this wasn't a great problem, we could get by with English and a Swahili phrasebook. We passed our days helping out at the school, doing art and photography lessons. The school had a computer center but there were problems with some of the computers so I offered to try fix them.
Running a computer class in a village that has very unreliable electricity is very difficult. Most of the time there is no electricity and when there is, the power level is so inconsistent that the computers will regularly restart due to lack of power. The mouse didn't work on one of the computers, I concluded was a problem with the motherboard. If my diagnosis was right then a USB mouse would fix it, the problem was we were a 2 hour bus trip to the nearest town where I might be able to buy a USB mouse. If I was wrong I'd have wasted time and money on a useless mouse. It doesn't sound like a big deal now that I write it but at the time in the situation it was.
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| Computer class at Bomang'ombe |
I found out that their was an Internet cafe at the other end of the village so figured I'd go there and see if I could borrow a mouse. We didn't really think more about it, that was our plan. On our way we came across a small restaurant so we decided to stop for some breakfast. We managed to order vegetarian food despite not speaking any Swahili. Just after we ordered the principal of the school entered, immediately she came over to see how we were doing. She was amused as to how we'd managed to go to the restaurant and order vegetarian food despite not speaking the language, she was even more amused or possibly worried when we explained our plan to borrow a mouse from the Internet cafe.
After breakfast we made our way to the Internet Cafe, it was a very small room with 2 computers. They also suffer from the same electricity problems as the school which makes it difficult to run an Internet cafe without a reliable source of electricity. In a combination of sign language, English and a few badly pronounced Swahili words from the phrasebook we explained that we wanted to borrow a mouse. We explained it was for the school, that we needed it to test something. We even mentioned the principals name but that didn't work as she didn't know her. The girl didn't quite get it no matter how many ways we tried to explain.
Eventually I said I would like to use the Internet for a half hour and paid for this time. Then I slowed disconnected the mouse explaining that I'd return it in a half hour. I'm not quite sure the girl understood what we were doing but she agreed it was OK for us to leave with the mouse. She wasn't losing money as we'd paid for the computer so she seemed content with that. We returned to the school, tested and confirmed them mouse worked then returned it to the Internet cafe. The girl at the cafe was quite pleased to see us return with the mouse. Strange how it seemed like a perfectly logical solution at the time but I wouldn't dream of walking into an Internet cafe in Dublin and asking them if I could borrow a mouse.
Friday, January 27, 2012
The Presidential Safari
After visiting the giraffe centre we went to the main entrance to Nairobi National park to see if we could arrange a safari. The information desk said the best option for those without vehicles was to use a taxi and they could arrange one. We spoke to their suggested taxi driver but apart from it being very expensive we didn't really think we'd get to see much driving around in a taxi! We walked to the park entrance to see if there were any other options. Here's a sign from the near the park entrance.
Here we got talking to one of the park officials. He suggested that we could use the presidential vehicle, we thought he was joking at first but he explained that it was the parks vehicle and in absence of Obama coming to visit they've decided to make use of the vehicle. The cost would be 10USD per person, considerably cheaper then the 80USD taxi the lady at the information desk was try to sell us. We organized to meet them at the gate the next morning at 6:30am. We didn't pay anything at that point so we were still little suspect as it seemed a little too good to be true and extremely weird that such a service would not be advertised or mentioned at the information desk. We took a moto taxi back to the campsite and organized with the driver to collect us at 6am the next day.
Next morning we arrived by motorbike much to the amusement of the security at our campsite and also the officials at the national park. We got there paid the 40USD park entrance and the 10USD for the vehicle and driver. The guy wasn't lying, we actually had the presidential vehicle all to ourselves for a morning safari in the national park!
We were driving for about 15 minutes through the park and so far hadn't seen any animals. I was starting to think this was the catch and then we spotted a lion! Our guide knew what he was doing and had gone specifically to where he knew the lions would be. One of the lions came quite close to our vehicle which made for some great photos.
After an hour or so watching the lions more tourists started to arrive. At some point the lions got curious and decided to investigate the cars.
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| Who has right of way? |
Here we got talking to one of the park officials. He suggested that we could use the presidential vehicle, we thought he was joking at first but he explained that it was the parks vehicle and in absence of Obama coming to visit they've decided to make use of the vehicle. The cost would be 10USD per person, considerably cheaper then the 80USD taxi the lady at the information desk was try to sell us. We organized to meet them at the gate the next morning at 6:30am. We didn't pay anything at that point so we were still little suspect as it seemed a little too good to be true and extremely weird that such a service would not be advertised or mentioned at the information desk. We took a moto taxi back to the campsite and organized with the driver to collect us at 6am the next day.
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| 6am mototaxi to Nairobi National Park |
Next morning we arrived by motorbike much to the amusement of the security at our campsite and also the officials at the national park. We got there paid the 40USD park entrance and the 10USD for the vehicle and driver. The guy wasn't lying, we actually had the presidential vehicle all to ourselves for a morning safari in the national park!
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| Presidential Vehicle |
We were driving for about 15 minutes through the park and so far hadn't seen any animals. I was starting to think this was the catch and then we spotted a lion! Our guide knew what he was doing and had gone specifically to where he knew the lions would be. One of the lions came quite close to our vehicle which made for some great photos.
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| A lion a few meters from our vehicle |
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| Same lion, different view |
After an hour or so watching the lions more tourists started to arrive. At some point the lions got curious and decided to investigate the cars.
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| A lion investigating one of the other vehicles |
As it started to get crowded with tourists our guide suggested we leave the lions and go further. Next we came across a Rhino. This guy kept his distance from us so I didn't get a particularly great photo.
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| Rhino in Nairobi National Park |
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Mombasa to Nairobi by Train
After spending more time than intended on Zanzibar island it was time to make our way back to Nairobi. We'd heard about an amazing but very unreliable train journey from Mombasa to Nairboi. We decided we'd go to Mombasa with the hope of getting the train from there to Nairobi. Worst case we'd take the bus if we couldn't take the train. You couldn't book train tickets online and when we got to the train station they were closed. Luckily they had a timetable posted on the wall so we found out that there was a train leaving the following day.
We arrived the following day to find a queue at the station. It was January 1st so there were new prices for 2012 but the staff hadn't been given the full details. As a result they were not selling anything tickets, good news for us as we hung around and eventually got a ticket when they did start selling them.
As expected the train was late departing. We went for 1st class tickets which was a private compartment and included dinner and breakfast in the dining cart. I could see why some people are sometimes disappointed with the train journey as they probably have misconceptions as to what first class is! The train is from the 1960s and the compartments haven't been update since then. Almost everything was functional and it was clean just perhaps a little worn.
The train crawled slowly through Kenyas famous Tsavo National Park. We didn't spot any wildlife although it was still quite an impressive journey with some amazing views. We woke up to an amazing sunrise with Mount kilimanjaro in the background. I decided to enjoy the sunrise rather than scramble to find my camera but I got a shot of Kilimanjaro later in the morning.
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| Mombasa Railway Station |
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| Mombasa to Nairobi Train |
As expected the train was late departing. We went for 1st class tickets which was a private compartment and included dinner and breakfast in the dining cart. I could see why some people are sometimes disappointed with the train journey as they probably have misconceptions as to what first class is! The train is from the 1960s and the compartments haven't been update since then. Almost everything was functional and it was clean just perhaps a little worn.
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| Compartment on the Mombasa to Nairobi Train |
The train crawled slowly through Kenyas famous Tsavo National Park. We didn't spot any wildlife although it was still quite an impressive journey with some amazing views. We woke up to an amazing sunrise with Mount kilimanjaro in the background. I decided to enjoy the sunrise rather than scramble to find my camera but I got a shot of Kilimanjaro later in the morning.
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| View of Kilimanjaro from the Mombasa to Nairobi Train |
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| Meandering through the Tsavo National Park on the Mombasa to Nairobi Train |
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