Pink Flamingos & Real Cappucino
Lake Nakuru
Kenya
August 21, 2018
Ziwa Bush Lodge. We're getting a little spoiled. Our own private luxury huts, two of them. Canopied beds, lacquered wood floors, huge stone shower. No windows just screens with roll-down shades.
Great lunch overlooking their pond: chicken coconut soup, fish with a Marsala sauce, strawberry ice cream with brownie capped by a real cappucino. They know what we like. Nice to have a break from the buffets they offer us at every stop. Pelican House meals were the best, but this is a close second.
Drove to Nakuru National Park. The water in the lake has risen over the past two years. The old check-in gate and office now sit in several feet of brackish lake water, so new check-in office up on a hill.
Many baboon families along the way, cute little babies clinging to their mothers. But we are in a hurry, racing to see a male lion that has been sighted. Standing up in the observation roof, I see a herd of parked safari vans. Must be the place. We edge into a space and can see the brown mane hair of the lion hidden in grass 50 feet away. A tail flicks. Same jerky motion as the lions tail in Wizard of Oz. Then a lioness shows her head. The lion sits up and mounts her. All the tourists are pleased and amused. He goes at her for about half a minute then lies back down. Yawns, rolls into his back. Lazy lion afternoon.
Then we drive to the lakeshore. Water buffalo, five rhinos and so many flamingoes the lake looks pink. Thousands. Several take off into beautiful flight, and Jen is surprised: we've only seen them in zoos where there wings are clipped. Never seen them fly. But they fly beautifully, look like Navy jets.
Ellie says it's nice to see rhinos in the wild, before they go extinct. I think elephants and giraffes will make it, but I don't have much hope for the rhino. There are only about 600 left. And there must be at least 600 Asian millionaires who each need a horn.
Back through the city to the lodge. Housekeeping brought hot water bottles for our beds, this time wrapped in a furry wrap. Very nice to have. May try to keep that habit at home.
Next morning, woke to a (not too) distant rhythmic sound. Was it a machine or pump running? As I woke I realized it may be a call to prayer from a nearby mosque, someone yelling urgently and repeatedly through a sound system. But it's in Swahili maybe, not the usual Arabic, so I don't recognize it as such. Going now for more than 20 minutes. That'll win the hearts and minds.
