Naivasha Adventures

During the week between Christmas and New Year's, we took a trip just a couple of hours car ride north of Nairobi.  It was our first time as a family to really get out of the city and see a little more of the Kenyan countryside.

Here are some pics from the ride up...

selling sheep skins

selling produce

First glimpse of the Rift Valley

Of course, souvenir shops lined the lookout viewing areas. 

I was surprised when we went through one stretch where both sides of the road were lined with forests like this, full of some type of pine-ish looking trees.

Passing through a small town.

I'm always amazed by how much can be carried on the back of a bicycle or motorbike.

Then we turned off of the paved road and head down a dirt road.

Cacti bushes lined both sides of the road for a while.

Then, more open country.

Finally, we entered an acacia forest and knew (from the directions) we were getting close.

We made it to the cottage, which was located on 62 acres with several other cottages.

We unpacked the car and went out to explore a bit.  We ran into several dead ends and the kids got tired and went back to the cottage.  That's when Michael and I found some fun treasures...

This was the only monkey we saw that night, but after dark we did hear some (we assume) screaming in the trees around us.

After grilled hotdogs and hamburgers for dinner, we made smores.  Obviously very serious business for T.

The next day we headed out to go visit Crescent Island, which is one of the places Michael had gone with the 7th Graders on CFS back in the Fall.

Saw some monkeys on the drive out.

And some zebra just grazing out in the fields.

 Before going out to the island, we went for a boat ride to see some Hippos and lots of birds.  K had the camera for most of the day and she got some good shots.

Those are little beady hippo eyes sticking up out of the water behind J.

That's a picture of the end of Crescent Island, which is really a peninsula sticking out into Lake Naivasha.

 After the boat ride, we drove down to Crescent Island and walked out to see the animals.

Joshua was determined to get as close as possible.

These two fish eagles sounded more like sea gulls as they fussed at us for walking under their tree.

Two gazelle bucks fighting.

A Push-me, Pull-you!

This was K's favorite pic of the day.

Look closely, those are guineas out there with the sheep.

 As we were leaving one of the workers asked for a ride out to the road (it was a fair distance out).  He told us that the animals come and go as they please.  For example, sometimes they have 20 giraffe on the "island" and sometimes (like that day) they only have 4 or 5.

Cow in the road on our way back.

I'm intrigued with what can be carried on a bike.

 After our first night at the cabin, we learned that it gets COLD at night in that area.  So after that, we made a fire every night and morning.

More s'mores!

 The next day we stayed at the cottage and took  the kids out exploring to see some of the treasures we had found that first afternoon.

Picnic at the top of a cliff overlooking our cottage.

T checked out the view over the wall.  More forest.

Heading back down.

Back again.

Carcasonne on the porch.

A new dice game by candlelight.

Some views inside our cottage...

On our way out that last day... (I'm just so intrigued with everything, I can't help taking pictures as we drive. ;)

On the way home, we stopped at Mt. Longuenot, a dormant volcano, to do a little hiking.  K was less than thrilled with this stop.  She and I made it halfway up but the boys went all the way to the top.  It was more strenuous than I was expecting (or maybe I'm just more out of shape than I realized).

At the halfway point just before they head on up.

At the top with the crater behind them.  Another time, we hope to go back and all of us go to the top and hike the rim.

 Views from the top...

On the way back down.

They made it!  And I had water waiting for them at the bottom.  They had run out part way down.

He was filthy but had a good time.

 More road pics...

That's a herd of cattle and goats with their shepherd.  We saw herds and shepherds dotting the landscape all through that area.

Selling roast corn to passersby when the traffic slows down (which it often does).

I couldn't quite capture on film what the traffic was like on that drive back.  We were definitely in more traffic that day than going.  It was New Year's Eve and I think lots of people were headed back into the city.  It was pretty slow going for a while.  I'm thankful that my husband is a good and confident driver.  It was a fun trip!