Sunday, 31 March 2013

Crescent Island

Crescent Island
Lake Naivasha
-March 2013-


During our 4-day Easter holiday weekend, we took a day trip to Lake Naivasha. The Lake is about a 1.5 hour drive from our home in Nairobi. We arrived at the Lake Naivasha Country Club, and took a short boat ride to Crescent Island. 

Crescent Island is actually a peninsula in the lake, shaped like a crescent moon. It is very unique in that you can do a walking safari around the peninsula - there are obviously no predators! The animals were initially brought to the peninsula to shoot the movie "Out of Africa," and the animals remain today. 

It felt like we were bothering the animals during our walking tour - as we walked toward them, they would walk further away from us. If we would stop approaching them, they would stop to graze. As we eventually passed by them, the herds of animals would return to the original spot we displaced them from!! It was neat to be so close to some safari animals.

The views of the lake and surrounding mountains are just beautiful. We finished up the day with a delicious lunch buffet at the country club before heading home! 




Our ride to Crescent Island

Drying off near the dock

In the boat

Hippos in Lake Naivasha

Eagle on the lake

Views from Crescent Island



Our old friend Mt Longonot in the distance








Baby giraffes grazing 

Impalas walking down the path

Sean, Chris & our Guide 

Wildebeests

Herd of Wildebeests 

Sheep grazing near the water 


















Seychelles

African Honeymoon
 in the Seychelles
-February 2013-

Living in Kenya, we are blessed to have the beautiful country of the Seychelles only 1,000 miles east of the coast of Kenya in the Indian Ocean. It is truly a tropical paradise, and we had the once in a life time opportunity to visit and vacation. 

We stayed at a Hilton hotel on the main island, Mahe island for an entire week. The hotel was wonderful, we stayed in our own villa on the ocean and the service was fantastic. Since we live in a country where we can be in the sun year-round, we were more focused on relaxing and enjoying the amenities of the hotel.

We thought we would have an easy trip to the Seychelles, a direct flight from Nairobi to the capitol of Victoria on Kenya Airways. Sadly, our luggage didn't make our flight. We were told the flight was too full, so the airline unloaded some of the luggage without telling the passengers. We arrived in a climate of 90+ degrees with just the clothes we were wearing. The hotel arranged a taxi driver who drove us around the island to get a few items to hold us over until our luggage arrived. We made do, but were incredibly relieved when our luggage arrived 2 days after us.

Our hotel was a 20 minute walk from a small town. About every other evening, we would walk down to the town for dinner, and always ended up at a great pizza place on the beach with no floor - just our feet in the sand. We also took the bus (about $.40 a person/ride) into Victoria one day and walked around. Overall, it was a truly relaxing and wonderful vacation. 


Our oceanside villa

The Hilton villas

View from inside our villa

Our balcony

Views from the beach in front of the villa







Couple getting married on the beach on Valentine's Day

Low tide






The other side of the Hilton
Infinity pool

Relaxing and enjoying the ocean view





Watching the sunset from our balcony






Last day in paradise!

Monday, 4 March 2013

Nairobi National Park

Nairobi National Park 
December 2012

In late December 2012, we visited and camped overnight at the Nairobi National Park. The park is only about 45 minutes from our home so it was a great introduction to safari in Kenya! It is much smaller than the other national parks within Kenya, but it is unique in its proximity to a major metropolitan area. 

Within the park are tented camps, although most would not give us credit for true camping. We had a bed, running water and a flushing toilet within our tent!! The camp sent us on 2 game drives during our stay, and in between game drives, we got 3-course meals! We also got turndown service, and hot water bottles in our bed at night! 

There is a significant amount of wildlife in the National Park - We saw giraffes, zebras, rhinos, a lion and a lot of antelope. It was the perfect weekend getaway to experience what Nairobi has to offer.


Inside our tent....my kind of camping!!

The dining tent  

Sean relaxing in the common area tent 

Our safari vehicle....the Land Rover Defender!

Our friend Chris visited the park and stayed overnight with us.
Sean and Chris in the Defender! 
 

The ignition for the Defender....wires......

Driving through the park

Enjoying views of the park through the roof of the Defender 

Buffalo 

Rhino mama and baby 

A beautiful little pond

Here comes the rain! Time to go home!! 

Sun setting on the park 
Goodnight Rhino

Goodnight Giraffe


Giraffes hanging out near the camp

This one blocked our way home for a few minutes

Sun rising over the park

Nairobi in the distance
 











Zebra Mama and baby



After a couple hours driving in the park, we finally found a lion!  






The easiest safari animal to spot....giraffe on the horizon

Impalas

Another pond in the park