Our Africa Trip Begins… Kenya: Great Rift Valley, Saidia Children’s Home, and Lake Nakuru National Park

July 21- After uneventful flights we landed in Nairobi.

We made our way to the hotel, ordered room service, and crashed. Needless to say, the back-to-back treks from Portland to Shanghai, and then Shanghai to Nairobi left us completely and totally worn out. We slept so peacefully we nearly missed our introduction meeting! Our Kenyan leader, Mutiso, a kind, soft-spoken man, briefed us on the tour and explained we’d have a group of 25, including our driver, Chris, and cook, Cosmus. I must admit that I was a bit disappointed we weren’t again on a Dragoman tour, as it had been my favorite travel experience thus far. I had to do a bit of wrestling with the fact that this trip wouldn’t and couldn’t be the same as our last overland experience, but convinced myself to try not to compare the two, as recreating our first trip was pointless and silly, and this excursion would be filled with its own magic and adventure (and trust me, it was!).

July 22- Happy anniversary to us!!! We awoke blissfully happy to be celebrating 6 years of love, happiness, adventure, and partnership. I thank God every day for blessing me with the most perfect husband and best friend!

We loaded the sparkly new truck and left the hotel by 7:30am. We moved through the outskirts of Nairobi, where we stopped briefly at a viewpoint overlooking the Great Rift Valley. The bright sun smiled down upon the sparkling emerald valley below us. The landscape softened with distance, and the horizon was completely veiled beneath a milky haze. Still, the view was breath-taking, and we stood happily on the rickety wooden platform, soaking in the surrounding beauty.

Back aboard the truck we traveled through simple shack towns and deep red earth. Around mid-day we arrived at Saidia Children’s Home, a home for abused and abandoned children. Once invited inside, we were ushered straight into a large room where the doe-eyed children sat waiting for us excitedly, grins spread across their soft ebony faces. We were encouraged to start playing with them right away. Many of the older children hung back shyly, while the younger toddlers rushed to stake claim to us by either grabbing our hands, or stretching their arms and whimpering to be held. A small, sparkly-eyed boy named Job (pronounced “Jobu”) quickly grasped my hand and heart. He couldn’t have been more than 3 or 4, but acted with great spunk and confidence. We moved out to the playground to run around, play, and giggle with the giddy children. After some time, the head of the home returned from church and welcomed us all back into the large room, where she talked to us about the purpose and history of the home. We were all truly impressed with this forward-thinking project! During the presentation Job curled up on my lap, and before long, was fast asleep. Melt my heart!!! I’m fairly certain, if given the opportunity, I would have taken him home with me! After a few more minutes of play, we bid our sweet new friends farewell, and loaded back on the truck with full hearts.

Tickle, tickle!

If that’s not the face of pure joy, then I don’t know what is!

We continued on to Lake Nakuru National Park. We found our soggy campsite and set up our rusty, musty tents. Ick…

After a quick lunch we piled back onto the truck for a game drive in the park. As we made our way towards the lake my heart soared and I craned my neck, scanning the horizon for the brilliant sea of pink I’d imagined countless times since learning we’d be visiting the park. The majority of the flamingos, for which the park is famous, however, had not yet returned to the lake, as the water levels were too high. Say what?! We only saw a handful of long-legged beauties, amongst numerous pelicans and storks, and from quite a distance. Needless to say, it was a disappointment. However, I managed to recover and enjoy the sights;). We continued on around the lake, and the ride was bumpy, but pleasant. The scenery was lush and absolutely beautiful, and we spotted a variety of other animals, including a host of bird species, impalas, waterbucks, Thompson’s gazelles, cape buffalo, giraffes, zebras, vervet monkeys, baboons, a leopard (that was faaaaaar away in a tree) and white rhinos (another animal the small park is known for). Mutiso informed us that many rhinos had been moved to the park because of it’s relatively small size, therefore making tracking and monitoring these great endangered beasts much easier.

Moments after we arrived back to camp it began to sprinkle, and within minutes the whole sky seemed to open up and pour on us. Brilliant lightning and bone-rattling thunder accompanied. Sheets of rain spilled down on the park for several hours, flooding a number of tents (thankfully not ours!), and we had to eat our dinner huddled in the tiny cook cage or on the truck. The rain eventually stopped by the time we went to bed, but the surrounding red soil was covered in deep lakes.

Vervet Monkey

Impala

Plains’ Zebra

Night time… day time! This goofy pelican totally reminded us of the bird at the beginning of this hilarious BBC talking animals clip– have you seen it?