written by ed; photos by jayne
For those of you following our travels, this post is a bit late, but Egypt has been so full-on with sites to see and history to digest that I’ve fallen behind a bit in writing but did not want to forget our last few days in Nanyuki.
Nanyuki was about a four-hour drive from Nairobi, and we didn’t get on the road until around 6pm due to flight delays, so the long, mostly bumpy road was done in the dreaded dark of night. Not that it mattered to our excellent driver, Martin, but driving during the day is hairy enough in Kenya, at night, well, let’s say it was unsettling and another adventure!
When we finally arrived in Nanyuki, it was about another 30-45 minutes to our Airbnb, something we really didn’t anticipate. Jayne and I kept looking at one another, like, where the heck are we and where the heck is this place?? We finally arrived, and the host had arranged some soup for us since we hadn’t eaten for quite some time.
Not sure how many of you have arrived late at night to a place you’ve never been before and then wake up the next morning and go, “wow”. It happened to me during my first trip to Australia. My future boss had arranged a pickup at the airport and I arrived at the Park Hyatt in Sydney quite late. The next morning, as I went downstairs in the hotel, the first scene I saw was the Sydney Opera House, the Harbor Bridge, and the Sydney harbor in all its splendor- an incredible sight, a vivid memory that has never left me.
Well, although the wake-up scene at our Airbnb was not quite as dramatic as what I experienced in Sydney, the beautiful vibrant colored birds on the deck of our cabin which overlooked a river was quite stunning. The property itself, with the main house, our cabin, horse stalls, and another house for a few workers were like an oasis in the middle of nowhere. The cabin was, at the time, the largest space we had experienced in any of our other rentals.
Nanyuki sits right on the equator at an elevation of about 6,000 feet with sunny skies year-round. It’s known for some safari game drive parks and the rare Grevy’s zebra (thinner stripes and white underbelly). We had a driver take us to Ol Pejeta Conservancy for a safari game drive, and while certainly not in the same class as the Maasai Mara, we did manage to see a few animals we hadn’t seen before, including the Grevy’s zebra, the hartebeest (same family as the wildebeest, a Grant gazelle, and the black rhino (shorter neck than the white rhino, so it grazes on shrubs versus grasses. Also, there is no difference in color, they are both dark gray. The white rhino’s name came from the Afrikaan’s, a West Germanic language, which called the rhino “weit” which actually means “wide” because of its mouth. So, the white rhino, the second-largest land mammal, is actually the “wide” rhino, a piece of trivia the next time you need a piece).
Hartebeest
The conservancy also gave you a unique opportunity of feeding a black rhino. Baraka was rescued as it became blind from a fight with another bull and has since become the ambassador to humans as he is quite gentle as you feed him some grasses supplied by the guides.
Our last nature stop in Nanyuki was a few days later when we went to the Ngare Ndare forest. When we arrived at the gate, our driver told us that we would have to pay by M-pesa, a mobile phone-based money transfer system used extensively throughout Kenya and several other African countries – no cash accepted. Well, we didn’t have an M-pesa account, so our driver paid our admission fees, and we reimbursed him later with cash.
Once in the reserve, we met our guide, who just happened to be equipped with a rifle, just in case any of the Big Five crossed our path on our hike to the waterfalls. The hike was in the heat of the day and mostly uphill. Fortunately (or maybe not; it would’ve been kinda cool to be confronted by one of the Big Five and see how the guide worked his magic – easy to say in hindsight!) we didn’t need the guide to use his rifle. We arrived pretty hot and sweaty, so the blue pool of water from the waterfall which originated from a lake in Mt. Kenya was a welcome sight. We made a quick change into our bathing suits and jumped into the pool (well, not quite jumped as some other younger people did from the ledge) which was icy cold but very refreshing after our hike. We stayed for about 20 minutes and then returned to the car and back to our cabin.
Our last night in our Nanyuki cabin had a bit of excitement. There was quite a downpour of rain a few times throughout the day and again in the early evening. Little did we know that when this rain occurs after an extended dry spell that flying termites in the ground are so excited that they emerge from seemingly nowhere and are especially attracted to light. Well, we had the light from our computer on as well as a couple of lights in the cabin as we prepared to go to bed. Before you could say “holy s**t”, there were hundreds, if not thousands (well, maybe 50 -100, but it felt like thousands!) swarming in the cabin, in our bed, on the computer around the lights, seemingly everywhere. We frantically shooed them out of the room as we shut off the lights and after 10-15 minutes, which seemed like hours, the onslaught was over with wings from the termites on the ground of those we inadvertently killed. Off to sleep.
The next day as we were leaving, we informed our host about the night’s events and she kind of smiled as if this was just a normal course of events, which of course to us, was not normal at all. She then explained that these termites are quite the delicacy among some Kenyans. We later found out from one of our friends at the Wildebeest Eco- Camp that, yes, indeed, some Kenyans like to eat them alive, but she prefers them fried! Who knew?
Given the road conditions in many parts of Kenya, it came as no surprise to us, and probably our driver, that on our drive back to Nairobi our car would get a flat tire. With that hakuna matata mentality, our driver calmly pulled into a “tire center” where someone came to inspect the damage. With some very obvious and skillful experience, the attendant with basically very little in the way of advanced tools, removed the tire, found the punctures, and patched them. Thirty minutes later, we were back on the road for our 4-hour drive to Nairobi.
We were to leave for Cairo in a couple of days and I had experienced some swelling in my left calf, (I reviewed that adventure in a previous post!) so we made a plan to go to the hospital after visiting the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Over the past four years, I’ve been making a donation to support two elephants at the conservancy as a birthday present for Jayne, a big lover of elephants. Given Covid, the conservancy had limited hours for visiting but, fortunately, we had made a reservation in advance and had an opportunity to see the elephants and their caregivers in action. Jayne’s two adopted elephants were not present as they had graduated and were about to be released into the wild, but there were thirteen others, each with their unique stories, If you are a lover of elephants and rhinos and feel inclined to donate, check out their website here.
After getting my medical clearance (no DVT) from the doctor at Karen Hospital, and a negative PCR test which took only 6 hours to receive the results, we packed our bags, said goodbye to the good folks at Wildebeest Eco-Camp, had a great last meal at the Talisman restaurant and made our way to the airport for an early morning (4:30 am) flight to Cairo.
We left Kenya with so many wonderful memories: the safaris and our guide Danson, our travel mates during the safari and Lamu (aka the Kenyan Krazies), the boatmen (especially Zillah, our “adopted son” who calls me “Pops” and Jayne “L’il Mom”) of Lamu, and the warm, gentle people we met along the way. We will miss all of you!
And of course, thanks, to Kelly Campbell and her team at The Village Experience who made this (and our visit to Egypt) all possible!
Stay tuned for the next blog which will be about Egypt, which as of this writing we are just 5 days away from leaving.
As always, if you’d like to email us, we’d love to hear from you! We can be reached at etrost@gmail.com or fitnessbeyond@aol.com
