Since our lodge was already inside the park we took a morning game drive on our way to Amboseli National Park. We hadn’t gone 200 meters past the security guard at the lodge gate when we passed a buffalo very near my side of the van. I asked Isaiah to stop for a brief photo as the lighting was good early in the morning and he was so near.
After a few shots I sat down from the opened safari roof and we moved for less than a minute when three white rhinos near the road inspired me to ask again for a stop. As they approached I went to town getting shots both with my digital camera and my iPhone. When one of the rhinos stepped casually into the dirt trail in front of us park regulations required us to stop the engine and wait until he cleared the path. The animals have the right of way and they are not to be stressed. Soon there were three vehicles behind us and five in front of us. All of them were snapping shots or peering through binos at our massive friend. After a few casual Kenyan minutes the grey mass before us slowly lumbered to the left ending the traffic jam.
Back down to Lake Nakuru we slowly drove in the hopes of catching photos of the famous flamingos by the dawn’s early light. The birds were there and the light was nice, but unfortunately the sun was behind the flamingos. A few spoonbills, marabou storks, and ibis helped round out our birding an I thought we were done for the morning.
As we headed toward what I thought was the exit from the reserve Isaiah took a path that dove down into into a deep gulley with some water and mud in the bottom. Trying to go up the far side the wheels began to spin. He nearly made it out the other side and slid back into the slop behind us. One more try with mud flying into the open top of the van and he gave up and backed out. Looking over at Dusty in her clean white safari shirt that was splattered in mud and I knew that it was a mistake to put on fresh outfits that morning.
I guess that Isaiah heard something over the radio because we didn’t head straight for the exit. After a turn down another trail we saw the telltale signs of a major sighting. Several safari vehicles on one side of the trail with tourists poking their heads through the roof of their vehicles focused on the grass to the right of the trail. As we joined the queue we quickly spotted a number of lioness and cubs on the short grass. Isaiah pointed to the left of them into the brush and the unmistakable mane of a mature male lion could be seen. Not a clear look, but knowing he was this close was exciting.
After a while we moved on to where another young male lion was in the brush on the opposite side of the trail keeping his distance from this pride. I guess he was either waiting his opportunity to move in or he had already failed in his attempt.
Moving on Isaiah spotted a pair of black rhinos in the distance. They are much less common than the white rhinos and here we saw two of them. Conservation has been effective in helping to raise the numbers from around 2,300 in 1993 to about 6000 today.
The names black and white rhino are misleading. White is actually Wide. The white rhino has a wide mouth while the black rhino has a mouth that comes to a point almost like a beak.
The trails leaving Lake Nakuru were full of game. Not all of it was rare, but it was all beautiful and wonderful to see. Isaiah was a bit jaded to the wildlife because he has seen it his whole life. This was not just a rare thing for me to see, but the light and motion and emotion of the moment made it speak to me and need to take photographs to keep for myself in the future and to share with others.
Ok,ok, I'll stop with the pictures for a bit. But with over 4000 to choose from it's hard to say no to something so cute. Yes. We finally did get on the road to our next stop.
Isaiah pulled into a service station and said he was concerned about a vibration at speed on the road. Not wanting to have a breakdown on the road, or worse in the middle of the savannah, he wanted a mechanic the check the drivetrain. He pulled in and was guided into a stall with terrazzo floors and tile walls that had a pit down the center for access to the undercarriage.
After about five minutes of pounding under the van the mechanic said he could not open the differential to examine it. He recommended another guy about three kilometers down the road. A call was made and he was waiting when we got there.
The same kind of stall with the same outcome. No luck. The next thing I knew the mechanic was walking in front of us as we crossed the busy main highway to one of the dozens of businesses we had seen everywhere we went. A ten foot wide storefront just like the butcher, hotel, or hairdresser had an arc welder in front of it. We backed onto a couple of ramps and another guy put wooden blocks under the front wheels. The access to the differential was so frozen that they were welding on a piece of metal to get leverage for the mechanic.
One more time across the busy highway and the differential and driveshaft were checked and found to be in good order. In less than an hour and with no appointment we had seen three professionals and completed a diagnostic check of the drivetrain.
On to Amboseli and mount Kilimanjaro.
The horn on that black rhino is most impressive!