DAY 2
After an exhausting first day Sav and I decided sleep was sorely needed. We woke up just before 9 and swam in the hotel pool to cool off. We then repacked our bags to make things easier to find and organized our clothing for the evening and for tomorrow. Our pre-tour meeting began at six, there were only 4 of us at the meeting originally and another arrived a bit late. So far there are two Australians, a Kiwi and two South Africans (us). Another two guests arrive early tomorrow morning and then we pick up 3 more in Kampala (Uganda). Steve is our tour guide and our drivers name is Ben. Steve and Ben are both Kenyan. They have both worked for Acacia Africa for many years. So far our tour group seems very friendly but also a little shy. We were told to meet at reception at 7 and that we should be on the road in KAVANGO (our truck) at 8. Sav and I stayed afterwards to chat to George to discuss our blogs.
DAY 3/ REAL DAY ONE
A little sleepy from our 5:55 start to the day we packed up the last of our luggage from our hotel room. After breakfast we carried all our bags (super heavy) to our truck, KAVANGO. Our two other guests had arrived early this morning (an American couple) . We left Hotel Boulevard around 8:30 on our new mobile home and started our journey towards Lake Nukuru. Further along we stopped at a beautiful lookout spot of the Great African Rift Valley and had our first taste of the souvenir sellers whose items that were mainly made of wood were gorgeous and glossy. A while later we stopped at a garage/minimarket to purchase some more water and some snacks. The bathrooms there were chaos and absolute disgusting, literally a hole in the floor. Ew. Hand sanitizers were a win. We arrived at Lake Nukuru National Park and started setting up our lunch. A cheeky baboon ended up stealing one of our loaves of bread, luckily we had enough left for us. After lunch we all climbed into a smaller game viewing vehicle that kinda reminded me of a mini truck. The scenery was beautiful and quite different from South Africa as it was lovely and green. We saw many animals: Zebra, Impala, Water buck, Buffalo, Giraffe (a species of giraffe I'd never seen before, they were a lot smaller and darker in colouring), Silverbacked jackal, hyena, rock dassies and so much more. My highlights were seeing a pair of silverbacked jackals, a hyena, a tortoise and the amazement of our fellow travelers. It's strange to think that so many people have never seen zebras or impalas before, yet for us they are normal and also quite boring. After a long bumpy drive we finally arrived at our campsite Punda Milias. The showers were even better than the ones at Hotel Boulevard. George then taught us how to set up our tents (slightly complicated since the poles get so tangled). The tent arrangements were pretty quick to sort out, Sav and I sharing a tent. Dinner was really delicious especially since we were all very hungry. A big campfire had been set up so we all sat around it on tiny wooden stools. One of the men kept referring to the fire as being the "African TV" from when he was young. We were later joined by two sisters from the Netherlands. Sitting around the campfire was really enjoyable as we all began to bond a bit more and we even learnt a few peoples weaknesses (snakes and spiders). On my side of our tent was two mattresses (we were allowed 2 each as there is only 7 of us), my pillow, my sleeping bag inner and my sleeping bag. After climbing into my sleeping bag inner (basically a linen sack) then into my sleeping bag I felt very warm and snug (also kinda like a potato in a sack)
Oh yeah, when I put my head torch on earlier in the evening I ended up hitting myself pretty hard on the nose and I can already feel a bruise (oops).
No comments:
Post a Comment