We started the day of 12/13/2024 by checking out of the Lake Naivasha Sopa Resort and driving to our boat tour. Here are some parting pictures that I took before leaving the resort: We loaded into small boats like this: We saw lots of hippos: They are very territorial, so once they slip their heads under the water, it is best to move to a…
On 12/12/2024 our schedule got switched around. We were supposed to visit Lake Elementaita, do a boat ride on Lake Naivasha, and have the option to visit Hell’s Canyon (using the resorts drivers if we chose to). The boat ride was going to happen first but, at the last minute we changed to visit Lake Elementaita first. Lake Elementaita is called a soda lake, which…
On 12/11/2024 we checkout out of the Sweetwaters Serena Camp in Ol Pejeta and drove to Lake Naivasha. The drive was long and boring, and the first hour was entirely on unpaved roads. The drive took us through Thompson Falls, which was nice, but the vendors were so aggressive that it ensured that we did not buy anything. The previous places we had stayed were…
On 12/10/2024 we started our game drive early, for reasons which soon became clear. As any photographer knows (I am not a real photographer, but I’ve talked with a few), early light is the best light and everything just looked better. We got back at 8am to eat breakfast and to relax. At 10am we left to visit the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary (Chimpanzees are not…
12/9/2024 was the day that I was most looking forward to because we got to meet Baraka the black rhino. I’ve always had a special interest in rhinos and there is exactly one rhino in the entire world that you can get close to and pet (and live to tell the tale). Baraka is blind in both eyes and is unable to survive in the…
On 12/8/2024, we checked out of the Samburu Sopa Lodge and drove to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. On the way, we stopped to visit the Samburu tribe and to learn more about their culture. They welcomed us with a welcome dance, gave us jewelry to wear (which we later had the option to buy), and then they started explaining their culture. Some highlights are: They…
While 12/7/2024 was technically our second day of safari, it felt like my first as I was incapacitated on my first day. But that was behind me, and having slept for 14 hours, I started the day feeling great! I had no idea what to expect – I knew that I’d see animals, but I didn’t know how many I’d see or how often. The…
Let me take a moment to describe how our safari worked. There were 14 people in our safari group, which required two land cruisers (so we had 2 drivers). Karen Cleveland lives in Seattle, but operates the safari company (she also attended the safari). One of the drivers (Geoffrey) is her brother-in-law and the other is a friend/business associate named Komora. Karen owns the land…
I awoke on the first day of the safari (12/6/2024) feeling sick as a dog and I had no idea how I’d manage to drive in a vehicle all day – I actually contemplated skipping the safari altogether. Fortunately, my body naturally (and violently) expelled most of my intestinal contents and with the help of Imodium, I felt well enough to risk the ride. I…
We arrived in Nairobi around 6am on 12/5/2024 and we had the whole day to kill before our safari started the next day. We were tired (I am unable to sleep on airplanes, and I only got a short nap the night before), but our room at the Hilton Garden Inn was not available until 3pm. So we dropped our bags off at the hotel…
