Kenya Day 1, Part 2, Wednesday, Mar 27, 2024, Afternoon

We drive away and head for the gates to enter the Safari Park. Upon arrival at the gate, the lady who has been delaying us leaves the van and finds the person who organized the tour. We don’t know what transpires, all we know is another person comes to join our van and we hear a story of how it was an amical agreement to swap people. We are thrilled as we don’t have to deal with her again.

We start our first Safari and quickly encounter an eagle in a tree. Then the first elephant of the day appears! We see many more animals including some kind of duck, more elephants, termite mounds and bats nests in the trees! A rain runoff watering hole! One thing is interesting, the ground is such a deep red color and the animals all have a resemblance to that color! In my memory, elephants are grey! Aren’t they? Well, they are a deep shade of red here, like the ground!

I used to think that the African scenery was somewhat ugly and plain. But after being on several Safaris, both in South Africa and now here in Kenya, I have come to see an absolute beauty in the African landscape. It is stark, a little bit barren and yet a magical and beautiful place. We next come across Springbok, a kind of antelope with distinctive coloration and markings. More elephants and then Impalas, another kind of antelope and then more elephants!

The Safari over, at least for the moment, we arrive at our Lodge where we’ll spend the night. We are shown to our room, which is an “A Frame” hut with two beds, a sink, bathroom and shower. There is even a porch in front for sitting outside to look for animals. We walk up to the main lodge and watch some interesting birds in a tree. They are “Weaver Birds” that resemble canaries yet they weave little nests of sticks in the branches!

Now it is finally time for lunch! I also indulge in a local African beer! It is a “Tusker” Lager so I’ll have to wait until I get home probably to get a good IPA! As a friend back home would say, it’s “Beer Thirty”! Cheers Tom D! Lunch is a buffet and is just so so. Quite edible but so so flavor. And the meal is served on an open porch location and there are bugs here. So it’s take a bite, swat a bug. Repeat.

After lunch, my camera is enamored with the Weaver Birds! I try and try to get a good shot of them, but they are fast movers! Wait, I was a high speed action photographer in my career! This should not be difficult! But the camera I have chosen for this excursion is not the best for action. So I burn images and work at it and finally get some fun shots, even one of them looking right at me! Their nests are another thing of beauty!

All of a sudden, rain starts. We have enough time to pull back on the covered porch and watch as a powerful African rainstorm sets in! The rain is literally blowing sideways! I’m not sure I’ve ever seen rain this powerful. The Lodge workers are actually squeegeeing the water out of the restaurant and reception areas! The song starts in my head, “I Bless the Rains Down in Africa, Gonna Take Some Time to do the Things We Never Had” Sorry, I can’t help it but the song implants itself in my head…. Here are the lyrics written by David Paich of Toto…

… I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She’s coming in, 12:30 flight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation

… I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say, “Hurry boy, it’s waiting there for you”

… It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

… The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless, longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what’s right
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what’s deep inside
Frightened of this thing that I’ve become

… It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

… Hurry boy, she’s waiting there for you

… It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa (I bless the rain)
I bless the rains down in Africa (I bless the rain)

… I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa (gonna take the time)
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had…

You’ll want your sound on for this!

The rain only lasts 20 minutes or so. We load back into the vans for an evening Safari. This tour just keeps getting better! But only a couple miles into the Safari, we encounter a traffic jam of 40-50 vans! It seems the front vans have found a pair of lions. But it becomes patently obvious that they are selfish as they don’t get photos and drive on. They were here first so they get to commandeer the road! We can see vans up front sideways across the road so no one can move through. Other Safaris that we have been on are more courteous and keep the traffic moving. It is very frustrating to say the least! 30-40 minutes later we get to move up and finally get a glimpse of the pair of lions. Not as spectacular as I have seen before but still, they are lions!

The driver hears on the radio that giraffes have been spotted and he turns around and navigates his way back through the traffic jam which is better now. This becomes our downfall.

I thought the evening Safari would last longer but a van in the crowd sees us and flags us down. It seems the rude lady who is always late left her bag in our van. She swaps back into our van and we are forced to end our Safari and go back to our Lodge. On the way back to Simba Lodge, we get to see some Duk Duks, another kind of antelope, actually the smallest antelope in Africa being only 2 feet tall! We all unload and then the van takes her back to the lodge they placed her at.

We go back to our lodge to call our Safaris for the day over. Let’s hope tomorrow has less glitches! Everything is soaking wet but we make our way to our hut. Sitting on the porch tonight is out of the question because the seat pads are soaked!

We go to dinner in the Lodge and it is a buffet again. This time, the bugs are fiercer. Eat. Swat bug. Eat. Swat bug. Repeat. This sure is an adventure! At dinner we meet a fun young French couple staying here and chat happily away! I got their names but now I find my notes program has truncated my info! I have their names as “Cibo” and (this is where my notes shut off)! So, Cibo, if you see this, comment on your partners name and I will correct this! While we are at dinner, the staff goes to all the huts and sprays them for bugs and also spreads out the mosquito netting that has been pre-installed!

Safely tucked inside our mosquito net, we bid you Adieu! We’ll be arising around 4AM for the real Safaris tomorrow!