Safari Day 4

We left Treetops at 7 am and drove to Thompson Waterfalls for a short visit. It was a huge waterfall, but when we got out of the car we didn't know which way to go. Eventually I spotted it, and we all felt stupid for not having seen it since it was so massive!

From the waterfalls we stopped at the Great Rift Valley. It runs from Isreal to Mozambique. We got talked into buying some stuff from the locals, a neat decorative plate meant to be hung up, and a small stone rhino which has the map of the world drawn on it. We talked them down to 500 Kenyan Shillings for them both, which we didn't think was too bad since they seller had started at 800 ksh for just the plate. We though it was pretty nice stuff besides.

From there we went to Naikuru National Park. The park has hundreds if not thousands of flamingos on its lake. Absolutely beautiful. So many flamingos that the lake just looks pink because of the masses of flamingos crowding it. We also saw lots of rhino (completing our Big Five sightings -- Elephant, Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Rhino -- top five most dangerous big game according to hunters, which is interesting since three of them are herbivores), the Rothschild Giraffe, lots of buffalo, zebra, impala, and giselles. We also saw our first eagle! I'd been hoping to see one and every large bird we'd seen I kept asking our driver if it was an eagle. I'd finally gotten the answer I was waiting for! It's a remarkable bird, huge and beautiful and elegant. No elephants at that park, but they do have lions, cheetahs, and leopards, but we didn't see any and neither did any of the other vans in our group.

We had lunch in a lodge in the park. Afterwards we watched some baboons playing nearby, one of which was a tiny little baby that was being carried around on his mom's back.

Then we drove to Lake Navasha, which is where we stayed for the night. We got on a boat ride around the lake as soon as we got there. There are hippos in the lake, so I thought we'd just see a hippo and that would be it. We saw loads of hippos, but we also saw 2 eagles (or it could have been the same one twice, I'm not sure), 2 Masai giraffes (that means we saw all three kinds, becuase the ones in Somburu were Reticulated giraffes. It's all to do with their markings, but those are the three destinct types), water buffalo, and lots of different birds.

There was a couple from one of the safari groups who managed to get stranded on the other side of the lake somehow, on foot. Our boat spent time trying to pick them up but couldn't get close enough, but a smaller boat managed to get to them. Our boat drivers were saying it was really dangerous for them to be where they were, because hippos are really aggresive towards humans and can be deadly.

As we were getting ready for dinner in our room, we kept hearing noises on the roof which were monkeys playing up there. Then we had a nice dinner with the rest of the group and got a well-earned good night's rest.