Lakes Naivasha and Nakuru

We visited two lakes in Kenya in the space of a few days. We would have very much liked more time at both, but that was the case with everywhere we went. The highlights of Lake Naivasha was a boat ride where we could watch hippos swimming and see lots of birds. Lake Nakuru offered flamingos and white rhinos as well as our only striped hyena sighting.

Music: "Crossing the Bridge" by Jerry Goldsmith.

Lake Naivasha had stunning grounds that we were able to explore during the day provided we were alert for any irate Cape Buffalo. After dinner we had a guard escort us all back to our rooms to be sure we weren't attacked by startled grazing hippos; this was our only time in life we have been able to say we tipped our hippo guard. We also had some lovely encounters with grazing giraffes and duelling waterbuck on the grounds.
Our room at Lake Nakuru was perched on a little hill wher we could overlook the area and wander around. There were several bird feeders on the grounds and one of the highlights was the nest of a paradise flycatcher we could see through the branches. There were displays of local dancing in the evening and we enjoyed the pool during the hottest parts of the day.

Whistler/Blackcomb

Redirecting from Africa again briefly, our friends Anne and Yves were in town for the past week and we took a weekend camping trip up through the sunshine coast. We were actually double-booked that weekend and Kathryn was attending a friends wedding in Seattle. Anne had lived in Vancouver years ago so we headed out to Whistler to comment on how much its grown and take in some epic mountains.
Whistler is a very popular spot for all manner of sports both summer and winter. Snowboarding and skiing are the main draw, having been a host site for the Winter Olympics, but BC has a very dedicated downhill mountain biking crowd. These guys were just running a short stunt course but were about 3 meters apart and doing jumps that made me dislocate my hip just thinking about it.
There's also a rather insane gondola running between the peaks of Mt Whistler and Mt Blackcomb that we took a ride on. Below is a panorama (click to enlarge) from the peak of Blackcomb looking down on the town of Whistler and Garibaldi Lake.

Matbronze Gallery

One our last day in Nairobi we took in several tourist sites such as the Giraffe Sanctuary and a number of curio shops. We also had a visit to the Matbronze Gallery which is equal parts coffee shop and art boutique for rich folks. The grounds themselves are very pleasant with lots of sculptures of African wildlife which are free to roam around.
The interior is quite pleasant as well with numerous works of art in all shapes and sizes as well as a window you can look through to see artists creating their next sculptures. While all of it was beautiful, it fell in the unfortunate categories of 1) too expensive to buy and too huge to move OR 2) affordable and so small you'd lose or forget it.
We did make friends with the local cat however and were able to get this picture of him juxtaposed as Kenyas greatest predator.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

We've touched on the Ngorongoro Crater in the past and although we only had a few hours in it, there was a huge range of wildlife to see in there along with some unforgettable encounters that we've highlighted in particular.

Music: "Crossing the Bridge" by James Newton Howard

The lodge we stayed at Ngorongoro was very nice, but being nestled in the forest and on the edge of a gorge, it was impossible to get good exterior pictures, so you'll all have to make do with a few interiors. The bar area below was host to a group of acrobats and dancers that evening which were quite impressive and the view from the deck out over the crater was a joy.
The rooms were quite nice and cozy. I had my birthday at this particular lodge and it was also the birthday of our friend Roger, so there was a fun evening of drinks and merriment.

Herons

The networks of lakes and rivers that criss-cross east Africa are a bountiful source of food for many animals, and herons are one family of great opportunists for wetlands hunting. This Black-Headed Heron was a common sight throughout our trips and very comparable in size to our Great-Blue Herons here in Canada.
Smaller in stature but every bit as charming, this Squacco Heron (perhaps the most enjoyable heron name ever) was about the size of a bittern and resting in the reeds in Amboseli.
Since Africa gets a giant version of everything, they also have the Goliath Heron, which the photo below doesn't really do justice to since there's very little else in frame for scale. This particular bird can get up to 5ft tall or more and this particular one was very striking as it strode through the Mara River in Kenya.

Amboseli Highlights

We spent several days at Amboseli in a forested lodge near the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro. The biggest draw of Amboseli is its resident elephant population which I think the video below showcases nicely. We were able to watch them cross the road infront of and behind us a few times on game drives and the experience is breathtaking. There were several prides of lions there as well and we could see them on the prowl from our lodge one night. Unfortunately the mothers and cubs never came close enough for closeups, but we still got some nice family shots.

Music: "Old Bagdad" by Jerry Goldsmith.

The lodge at Amboseli was very nicely concealed from view (as most of the lodges on our trip were) by being completely surrounded by lush jungle. This also helped keep the sun off during the day and kept the pool nicely shaded for easily-burned people like myself.
The decor at Amboseli was very nice as well as all the bedrooms and dining room had stylized paintings of animals and birds in them. We really lucked out there and wound up with a double suite and patio so what little time we did spend in the room was certainly spent in luxury. We didn't get much mileage out of the patio since although you could see elephants in the distance from it there were also baboons directly outside of it and we didn't feel like trying our luck with them.

Baby Things

Since the last post was a bit grim and red in tooth and claw, I thought I'd lighten the mood with some baby things...
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
This little white rhino was carefully following its mother in the forest not far from our lodge at Lake Nakuru.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
This lion cub was part of a pride of lions in Ndutu and was thoroughly charming. There were a pair playing together but this particular photo wins for cuteness due to his 'awe shucks' grin.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
We saw this tiny baby elephant (which Kathryn and I dubbed 'The Smallephant') in the Maasai Mara. Our guides told us it was likely only a few months old and is so cute it boggles the mind.