The Equator and Nakuru

What a weekend! We traveled to Nakuru for a safari and had some great adventures!

Our journey began on Friday afternoon when our Van came to pick us up at the IU House. A total of five of us went, and we had a 10 passenger van, so we had plenty of room. We departed around 12:30 in the afternoon. I sat in the very back, so I was lucky enough to experience the true bumpiness of some of the Kenyan roads- imagine some of the Illinois roads, turn them into dirt/gravel, and multiply it by about 1,000. Quite a ride! You have to weave back and forth to try and miss the potholes- it's almost like a game.

Our van- This one was private, but public vans like this are known as Matatus.

It was about a three hour journey to Nakuru, and we were all sleeping, when Will calmly said, "Hey we just passed the equator," like it was no big deal! Two of the girls with us, Andrea and Brittany, started screaming saying "You have to go back! You have to go back! We'll pay for more time!" It was hilarious! Salem, our driver, was quite the trooper and took us back and let us look at the souvenir shop too. I think he might have been a little startled and probably thought we were insane. We were right on the equator- in the middle of the world! I kept wanting to run back and forth- it was really cool! We didn't even know we were going to pass it on our way to Nakuru, so it was a great surprise! Plus I was happy to take advantage of my first shopping opportunity at the souvenir shop.
The official sign of The Equator! Right in the center of the world...

The three Purdue Pharmacy students ON the equator! (Messai, Will, Mallory)

This was the sign on the other side of the road when you're going the opposite direction (from south to north)- I think the north to south sign was cooler.

After enjoying our time at the Equator, we continued on our journey to Nakuru. We arrived a little late, so we missed our afternoon game drive (when you see the animals), but we took a long drive (6 hours) on Saturday. We stayed at the Lion Hill hotel, and made good friends with the receptionist, Esther. When we got to the hotel, she upgraded us to the suite! We had our own little house with two bedrooms and a common living room as well as a porch where they kindly lit a fire for us in the evening after dinner. Will, Messai, and I shared one of the rooms, and it only had two beds, so they said they would have another bed in the room by the time we got back from dinner. Well, they did have a bed in the room, but they pushed all three beds together as close as possible in order to fit in the mosquito net (see picture). You can imagine our reaction when we walked in the room; we all just stopped and started cracking up! We felt like little kids- and of course I was in the middle bed- definitely a good story.

This is our suite! See the fire place on the left, and two rooms connected by the living area in the middle. We were definitely grateful for the upgrade!

Our three beds all pushed together- too funny! At least we didn't get any mosquito bites!

There was a traditional dance show at 7pm, so we watched that before dinner. We even danced with the Kenyans during one of the songs! They tried to teach us one of their dances, and I think this was probably pretty hilarious for them, considering our dance skills. The music and dancing was really amazing though, and I enjoyed learning about a different culture that has a deep appreciation for art and music.

The Traditional Dancing at the Lion Hill hotel.

More traditional dancing...

My attempt at the traditional dancing- it was pretty fun and definitely freeing- I can see why dancing is so popular! I know it was pretty funny for everyone else too!

Following the dance, we enjoyed a buffet dinner with lots of desserts! Sweets are not a large part of the Kenyan diet, so we all binged on anything sweet we could find. After we were stuffed, we went back to our suite and sat outside by the fire. It was very relaxing, but we were always on the lookout for wild animals or glowing eyes in the bushes, considering we were in the middle of a national park with wild animals. It almost felt like Jurrasic Park.

We woke up the next morning and ate a wonderful breakfast and began our 6 hour game drive at 7am. Early morning is the best time to see the animals because they are out and about since it is cool outside. At first we saw water buck, impalas, gazelles, and other deer-like animals. They were really interesting! We also saw baboons and warthogs, which were one of my favorites. Whenever I saw one, I thought "hakuna matata," which is a Swahili phrase meaning "no problem" and is actually said here!

Later in the morning, we were driving by some open fields with impalas, zebras, etc. Our driver, Peter, noticed some vultures in the trees and he told us that the lion was near and the vultures were waiting for the kill. We then started an exciting lion hunt and even did a little off-roading to see some carcases up close. Some vultures and other birds were feeding on the left-overs, but there wasn't much left at all. We didn't see the lion on this drive, but we actually saw it on a tree on our way into the park. This was an accidental viewing, but it was great! We were so glad to see it, and apparently it's not too common to get a glimpse of the lions at this park.

Back to the carcases... we were driving up to a certain carcass, and we all got our cameras ready as we got closer. We were anxiously awaiting to get a glimpse, but as we got closer, a massive swarm of flies invaded the van. I cannot begin to describe this, but the flies were so dense that we were blinded. You could hardly see! Needless to say, we didn't catch this on camera, but we were closing the windows and covering up trying to survive the fly attack! As soon as Peter got us out of there we started laughing, but wow- that was gross!

We also went to Flamingo Hill where there were literally thousands of flamingos in this lake. It was a beautiful sight, and I couldn't wait to get there. When we arrived, however, we discovered that flamingos don't smell very good. We were able to get out of the safari vehicle and walk around by the flamingos. It was such a neat experience and a beautiful sight to see a sea of pink. We took some pictures, enjoyed the scenery, and were on our way again. As we were driving away, we saw a hyena prey on a flamingo. We stopped and watched it devour the flamingo. I don't mean to be graphic, but it was quite a site- just like the discovery channel!

As we proceeded on our drive, we saw rhinos, elephants, and more animals mentioned previously. We got within 10 feet of a giraffe and probably within 15 feet of a white rhino. They are truly amazing creatures, and I felt surprisingly safe. I think the animals were used to people coming through, and they respected the cars just like we respected (or feared) them.

I am going to make an online photo album and post the link on the blog, since I took about 450 pictures during these adventures! I will try to get these up soon so you can see the wildlife!

Off to bed for now. It was a great weekend- a nice little African vacation :)

Love to all in the US!