riontel | Kenya: Part 2 (Lake Nakuru)

Part 1: Amboseli

After two action filled days at Amboseli we drove to Lake Nakuru, on the way getting bogged down in traffic on Mombasa Road through Nairobi (those roundabouts are evil!) and getting acquainted with local traffic police. Brief encounter with the cops cost our driver, and ultimately us, even though I asked for a bathroom, not for him to go faster, mere 6k Kenyan shillings at ~83KSH per dollar with official speeding fine set at 50k. Remind you of any place? After a lunch interlude at a popular all-you-can-eat meat spot called "Carnivore" (while others partook of ostrich and crocodile meat along with other more mundane bites, I quite enjoyed my "vegetarian" fish, thanks for asking) on the outskirts of Nairobi and a short stop at an overlook point for Rift Vallely, we did reach Lake Nakuru. By then it was too late for a proper game drive but the route to our camp was enough to realize that the lake has changed dramatically since we saw it last in 2011. Surrounding areas were all flooded, previously accessible roads were washed away and flamingos were nowhere in sight. Eventually we did come across a puddle situated right next to some sort of sewage collector where remaining holdouts (сынок, есть такое слово - Родина) were congregating in pale semblance of previous pink glory. According to some sources the places to be nowadays if you are a flamingo are Lakes Bogoria, Turkana, Oloiden and Natron.

On the way we lucked out to run across a black rhino climbing out of a mud bath right by the dirt road. Apparently, everybody's been looking for him that day but we spotted him without even trying. Lake Nakuru is well known for its white rhinos, black ones are less frequent in the area.

In the evening, at the camp, while waiting for the rest of our party to gather for dinner, N. and I chatted with the manager. I suspect as a result of that chat, the next morning along with the usual breakfast fare served to all the other groups we received a delicious Indian pea dish accompanied by puri, cooked special for our table. Since it was rather chilly and damp, we enthusiastically consumed the hearty offering before setting out on the game drive.

Flooded Lake Nakuru from Baboon Observation Point:

Ironically, there were no baboons at the Baboon Observation Point, though we saw lots of them everywhere else, however, rock hyraxes, small relatives of elephants, were scuttling all around.

Rothschild's giraffe (which is different from Masai Giraffes we saw in all the other parks and we never got to see Reticulated Giraffes at all, except in a picture in Sweetwaters)

Male Dik-dik, one of the smallest antilopes, with males being even smaller than females

We got to see white rhinos as well

The number of birds in the area was much diminished from our previous visit, not sure if it were due to the flooding (and consequent reduced water salinity, which is what chased away the flamingos) or the roosting season. We did get to see some, like a beautiful Yellow-billed Stork, some Marabou Storks and Spoonbills (I leave it to you to figure out which bird is which ;), but all the pelicans and flamingos were elsewhere.