MERCEDES AND JAVIERS’ KENYA TRIP (or why Jayne’s gone green)
on the way to an adventure
Just before Easter Mercedes and I were having lunch.I told her that I was off to see Jim and Shirl in Wales for the holiday and looking forward to it.“Guess where I’m going” she preens “Kenya?” – “oh yes, Javier and I are off bird watching to Mount Kenya”.“How lovely” I managed to spit.Suddenly Cardiff seemed to have slightly lost its appeal.“Well when you get back I want to hear all about it and see the photos”.So this is what they did. First stop – Masai Mara.Lion time (not Tusker – yet).It is THE place to be if you want to spot lions.They were particularly lucky as they managed to see a pride with cubs, right by their van.
masai mara lion cub
masai mara cubs
anyone got a light,masai elder and masai moran
spot the white masai
masai mara sunset
Then it was on to Lake Nakuru.It’s had quite a bad press lately as its most famous feature, the flamingo, had been dwindling in number due to the reduced level of the lake and consequent disease.However, those beauties are back and the photos they took are most impressive. Lake Nakuru is also one of the few places in Kenya where you’re almost guaranteed to find white rhino.They’re usually seen grazing beside the waters of the lake with the flamingo as a backdrop – not something you’d see every day.
Talking of rhino, their next location was Sweetwaters.What has that to do with rhino?Well, they’re developing a sanctuary to rescue black rhino, even rarer than the white.Just to give you and idea of how endangered rhino are, in the 1970’s there were around 20,000 in Kenya.Now wait for it – by 1982 there were less than 400. Shocking don’t you think?Today there are confirmed cases of 420.Anyway, places such as Sweetwaters, Solio Ranch in the Aberdares and the David Sheldrick Trust (more famous for the rescue of elephants in the BBC elephant diaries) are doing their best to make sure they don’t become history.
pink flamingos,lake nakuru
white rhino,lake nakuru
not quite a pink cadillac
Morani the sweetwaters camp black rhino
Morani the rhino,sweetwaters camp
chimp at sweetwaters camp,the old chimp reserve
Actually, Sweetwaters began life as a chimpanzee reserve.Chimpanzees in Rwanda were seriously threatened and here they could find sanctuary.Right, cut to the chase – birdwatching on Mount Kenya.They drove as far as they could to the lodge (3048m). They walked a beautiful but steep route up to 3500 m and saw 50 species of birds including the Montane White Eye (no I’d never heard of it either but would have paid good money to see it).
snowy mount kenya
mount kenya silhouette
speaks for itself
naru moru river lodge, mount kenya
mountain terrain
mountain terrain
mountain terrain
a walk on the wild side
montane white eye
mountain plants
After all that exertion it was time for some R and R on the coast in Mombasa.They stayed at the White Sands Hotel, a great place with lovely gardens and excellent food.Also ideal for diving.They felt quite at home when they encountered the following on their travels:
Go Madrid go (forgot to tell you that they’re Spanish and Mercedes is a Madrilena)
The trip was complete with a tour of Mombasa, including the famous Fort Jesus …… built by the Portuguese in 1593 as a fortress.Today it is a museum of coastal antiquities…
fort jesus,mombasa
fort jesus,mombasa
Mombasa's oldest mosque
lamu style doors,mombasa
lamu style doors,mombasa
lamu style doors,mombasa
Thanks for these amazing photos and especially for the beautiful picture you painted of the Secretary bird – I’ll always treasure it.
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By the way, in case you were wondering, I had a great time in Cardiff and Kenya was never far from our thoughts.On Saturday night our nieces, Jade and Jessica came over and I showed them photos of the trip.They were spellbound and we can’t wait to go there together.They were coming up with all sorts of ideas for fundraising in their school and it made me realise that with children such as these, there’s hope for Africa’s future.
