On Horseback with Zebra and Giraffe

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Today is the last day of our trip.  Joyce’s back has not been good and she chose not to try horseback riding, but stayed back at the Borana Lodge.  The rest of us drove out to the stables where the five children rode first:

While the children were riding the adults visited the nearby farm which supplies Boarana with all of its fresh vegetables and spices:

The four adults met the horses and children in the bush, and with Leah continued the ride through a beautiful landscape with zebra and giraffe:

The entire Borana Conservancy used to be a sheep farm and was donated to the Conservancy by Tony and Rose Dyer who still live on the property in the home built by Italian prisoners of war during World War II.  They are very old, but sometimes they feel up to having visitors and today was one of those days.  We sat on their veranda drinking lemonade and looking out over the amazing property while we heard their stories of old Kenya and their role in it.

Finally, after lunch, it was time to meet our plane at the airstrip.  This time Gil helped fly us back to the internal Nairobi airport:

We took one final photo of the family with Andy:

After washing up and having dinner at a local hotel within the game park literally adjacent to the city, went to the international airport for the long trip home.

The only major glitch in the whole trip came after arrival in Newark when we had one of those experiences people write about in travel columns.  We arrived home 5 hours late, and we spent 3 ½ of the 4 hours from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM sitting on the plane going nowhere.  We were only let out for 30 minutes from 8:00 to 8:30, and when we re-boarded at 8:30 there was no A/C on the plane until 9:15.  It couldn’t ruin the wonderful glow we all had of a spectacular time together.

Banquet in the Bush

Tuesday, July 8, 2014  Borana Lodge

Most of us are tired!  We decided that this morning’s game drive would be optional, and only Gil, Ellen and Josh got up for a 6:30 AM departure, but they had an extraordinary experience!  There is a wild dog which is a distinct species, and there was a sighting of a pack!  I missed it, but enjoyed sleeping in.  After breakfast the day was spent relaxing until the late afternoon game drive and once again it was: delightful.  Highlights included elephants with a baby:

And Oryx:

We came upon a baboon family with a very young baby:

Then came one of the most extraordinary experiences of our trip, and a complete surprise.  Our guide, Andy, had arranged for our last bush dinner to be something really unbelievable.  We came to a clearing where the Borana staff had set up our banquet.  There were multiple torches and a bonfire:

  

There was a beautifully set table:

We sat around the bonfire drinking our sundowners:

And we then had the most extraordinary barbeque dinner with three meats, multiple salads, vegetables, wines, and a delicious dessert of crepes with chocolate sauce.  We toasted our appreciation to Andy and began planning for the celebration of our 60^th anniversary ten years from now.  Some suggested that we plan our 51^st one year from now, but…

Tomorrow we begin the day with a horseback safari, then we fly to Nairobi where we’ll take an 11:30 PM flight to Zurich, connect to Newark and then Rochester, arriving home at dinner time Thursday night.

Black Rhino and the Ngare Ndare Forest

Monday, July 7, 2014  Borana Camp

Up early this morning for a game drive, hoping to find black rhino, so very rare, and leopard, the only one of the “big five” we have not seen yet.  We did find abundant elephant and reticulated giraffe:

And then we had a major sighting—three black rhino all together, extremely unusual as they are generally solitary animals.

Here’s an oxpecker using a rhino as a source of insects:

  

We went back to our lodge for breakfast, and then departed for Ngare Ndare Forest for a canopy walk, swimming in some pools of the river there, and a picnic lunch.  The forest is wonderful, cool and filled with first growth flora.  A canopy walk 60 feet above the forest floor allowed us to see the flora close up, including astonishing lichens:

 We had come in our swimsuits, and went swimming in some beautiful pools in the river, but some of us stayed in the water a very short time as it was quite cold.  There was some jumping from high rocks, mostly the children:

 As our drivers laid out our picnic lunch, the children waited patiently, but they were starving:

Finally, with the three youngest children exhausted (it was now close to 4 PM after a 6 AM start) we drove back to the lodge for dinner and early to bed.

Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and Black Rhino

July 6, 2014  Lewa Wildlife Conservancy

After breakfast we said goodbye to the wonderful people at Sabuk and went to the local airstrip where our charter plane picked us up and took us on a 20 minute flight which saved a six hour drive.  We went into the Northern Frontier District and landed at another tiny dirt strip.  Josh had a great talk with the pilot who had a short hop round trip to make and he invited Josh to fly copilot with him and even allowed him to take the controls for a while.  Josh was thrilled!

We were met by the Land Rovers from the Borana Lodge and taken into the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, a private park dedicated to wildlife conservation.  They have been instrumental in re-introducing the rare and endangered Black Rhino into the wild, and a substantial portion of Kenya’s Black Rhino population lives here.  The landscape is hilly and very dry:

We arrived at the Borana Lodge and were shown to our rooms.  Ours is giant, with a lovely fireplace and a huge picture window overlooking a large artificial pond. 

The Conservancy has a number of artificial ponds to supply the abundant wildlife with water, thus increasing dramatically the game population here.  In the afternoon we went out for a game drive, and I’ll include photos of some animals.  First, a large herd of Cape Buffalo:

The Oryx:

Reticulated Giraffe (the ones at Giraffe Manor had been Rothschild Giraffes):

African Pelicans:

 The endangered Black Rhino:

 Finally, we parked below Pride Rock, made famous by the Lion King:

  

We hiked up to sit on the rock for sundowners and to watch the sunset, then back exhausted and exhilarated for dinner and to bed.

Camel Safari at Sabuk

Saturday, July 5, 2014  Sabuk Lodge

Camel Safari this morning!  A 2 ½ hour game search on camel back and on foot with breakfast in the middle in the bush!

The camels are as rotten an animal as I remember, making horrible noises, spitting and drooling green slimy saliva, and needing to be struck with sticks around the legs to get down when ordered to do so.  Seven of us mounted five camels—Ben and Gil with their mothers and the other three children each on their own camel.  Joyce, Dan and I walked, but Joyce and a guide took a shortcut as her back has been acting up and neither a camel ride (with the incredible movement of the low back as you lurch along) nor a long walk seemed like a good idea. 

We had an armed Masai guide with us for just in case, but there was so much hilarity and enjoyment that I think we scared off all the animals.  We had minimal viewings:

Here’s the camel train:

About 2/3 of the way on our game search we crossed a road where the lodge had sent our bush breakfast:

The rest of the day at the lodge was spent at the river again with swimming and tubing.  Late in the afternoon we went on another game drive with viewings of multiple animals.  Dinner was in the bush again, after sundowners.  Here’s Joyce with one of the Masai at the dinner site:

Here’s the loo with wash-up sink set up adjacent to our dinner site:

And once again there was after-dinner entertainment put on by the staff, with our participation:

Finally, out came an anniversary celebration cake, marking our 50 years, and commemorating that we had met on a train!  How they are able to do this in such a remote area is beyond me.  It was served to us with celebratory champagne: