Days 5-7 … Finally a break – we are spending the night in a tree

After 5 days of non-stop discovery of Kenya and the plight of the Kikuyu tribe we are taking a break and heading to Aberdare National Park to spend the night in a tree and watch the wildlife come out of the forest to get fresh water and take salt from the ground around the tree.   We saw families of baboons, warthogs, antelope and best of all elephants. We couldn’t believe it when we watched 10 elephants come out of the forest and over to our tree. There was one LARGE male and many females. The cutest thing was a baby elephant always being protected by the herd and staying underneath the mother.

   

 

 

 

We went to Lake Nakuru National Park for a game drive (self driven) and this is where the REAL adventure began. It was so unbelievable to see these animals out in the wild and not in a cage. Father JB has a 4×4 Suzuki he can use so Father JB, Father David, Kevin and I hopped in the truck and off we went. As we started down our first trail, we had to slow way down to let the 100 or so baboons cross in front of us.

 

 

 

   

 

 

To see them walking right next to the truck (mothers with babies hanging underneath them as they go by) was incredible. We saw giraffes, flamingoes, columbus monkeys (big white fluffy tails), many varieties of dear, zebras, water buffaloes, and white rhinoes (so intimidating).

It has been raining here off and on and the trails we were taking (and making some of our own) had deep ruts and wouldn’t you know it … we “bottomed out.” So here we are stuck in the open plains with HUGE water buffaloes, with HUGE horns attached to their heads, trying to push with all our might (and slipping in the mud) to get the truck free. No luck … and now the animals are getting nervous and we can see them starting to face us. Kevin pulled a brave, dangerous and ingeneous stunt … he ventured off through the plains to retrieve a very good size branch. We were able to wedge it under one of the tires and with Father JB jamming on the gas pedal, the rest of us pushing with all our might (mud covering us – mostly Kev), we finally were able to break free.

A quick wash off and into the truck for our escape as the buffalo were running past. As we continued on our way, we were just in awe seeing these animals living in their natural habitat. This was truly nature in all its glory. Finally, we stopped for lunch (we had packed lunches) on Baboon Cliffs and we had quite a time with one of its residents. He wanted our food and kept pestering us, so we finally gave in and shared our lunches with him.

 

They almost seem like little humans the way they interact with us. Anyway, it was a wonderful break, but back to our mission – day 8 is next …