lake nakuru

january 4, 2009
we woke up to hot tea and chocolate and a wake up visit to our tent. some people complain of no hot water but marci's shower had no cold shower so she opted for a hat day. once they got the cold water pump running, we were back in business. we had a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit, juice, eggs, and pancakes (which they call waffles). after breakfast, we took a half hour drive through nakuru town, the third largest in kenya, to lake nakuru, a preserve famous for flamingos and rhino. there we saw pelicans, giraffes, rhinos, baboons, monkeys, jackel, wolf, two lions, gazelle, wart hog, impala, storks, flamingos, and antelope. we drove across the dry lake bed viewing many varieties of birds. in fact, this lake is a world center for bird watchers. we enjoyed an elaborate picnic lunch at a beautiful vista point high above the lake, which was used to film scenes from the movie out of africa. kudos to all, and especially the women, who took advantage of the only outhouse available and did, indeed, pee in the ground. we're campers now.
lunch was great. they packed veggie burgers, hamburgers, butternut squash soup, bananas, drinks, african tea.
back at the equator yesterday, noah left his glasses at our lunch stop area. through careful inter-guide communication and transportation, we intercepted the glasses from another tour bus just outside the park entrance.
we stopped at the gift shop for ice cream, negotiating with the dozens of monkeys that surrounded us, attempting to get a bite of the food.
on the drive back to our camp, we played sweet and sour, seeing how many of the local people would wave back to us. we spent the afternoon relaxing in the very very cold pool, and on our deck. the kids wandered freely around the campsite while we packed for the next stage of our journey.
dinner at 630, shephards pie, butternut squash soup and sweet pancakes for dessert. for the diabetic carnivore (Marc), it was lamb and a little fresh fruit.
during dinner, we played games to entertain ourselves while they prepared the courses. after dinner, we played a couple rounds of boggle before retiring to our hot water bottled beds. lailah salama (good night in swahili)