Toto Safari

So last weekend we went to Amboseli National Park and stayed at the Serena Lodge for the first safari of our stay. Amboseli is south of Nairobi and fairly accessible in that it only takes a few hours to get there and you don't necessarily need a 4x4.




The drive there was hilarious; what passes for highways round here are pretty laughable, or they would be if they weren't so scary. The joke goes that some president or other managed to get money for a 3 lane motorway but only 1 lane ended up in Nairobi and the other 2 are in a Swiss bank account. Again, laughable AND scary.




So yours truly got the delightful task of driving first and it took us TWO HOURS to get out of town and travel 50km! Traffic really is worse than London. And the roads have no markings or signs pretty much, sometimes they're 2-way and sometimes 1-way, full of trucks and 4x4's all overtaking madly and then there's the potholes and police checkpoints and roadside market stalls selling nothing but onions and oranges for miles, it seems. Very colourful and exotic all round.




Which is nothing compared to Amboseli. We made it eventually (it really was a hairy journey, not least because we had to get to the gates before dark and made it by a whisker) and whilst Pete sorted out our passes Alfie and I got accosted by some Maasai ladies who were selling their finery, which of course was like passing silver in front of a magpie. Alfie immediately came alive, beaming at the toothy ladies and grabbing their necklaces much to their delight. Thankfully we managed to get away with only a small beaded bracelet for him which he loved for all of a minute before pulling it off. Driving from the gate to the lodge took about an hour and much of it dark but we managed to see a lovely family of giraffe, several wildebeest, an oryx, some zebra and gazelles on the way. Not a bad start!





The following morning we were up at 5.45am and even had to wake Alfie, who thought this was all a great adventure. After grabbing coffee for the adults and a bottle for him we set off in the rapidly emerging light. Amboseli is lovely, quite flat with wide expanses of savannah and few trees, which means it's easier to spot the wildlife. Also a fair number of swamps which means the animals will eventually come to drink at some point during the day. So I saw my first hippo! And cried, of course. I always cry when I see a new species, so that's nothing to worry about. As I was training my bins on the lovely big hippo Pete counted another 5 next to it in the water; though you could only see their eyes and ears, so cute! While we might refer to 'the tip of the iceberg', in Africa one refers to 'the tip of the hippo'. Think I may steal that one!





But that wasn't all that magical morning, for around the corner we spotted another vehicle on a small bridge and wondered what it may be looking at. As we got nearer we saw him; a beautiful young male lion right by the front tyres. He was looking expectactly into the swamp below and as we waited with baited breath, we saw a female emerge. Yep, they were engaging in that age old ritual of courting, though the female was avoiding his attentions at all costs, hence hiding in the swamp. It was just amazing. The male passed by us close enough to touch and circled the car a couple of times. When he was a little farther away Alfie leant out of the open window and gurgled with delight. (As he got closer I made Pete close the window even though the lion could not have taken less notice of us). At one point the other vehicle left and it was just us and the lions. Truly magical. Eventually the female loped off , still in the swamp which must have been really uncomfortable for her, and the male ran up and down on the road, not wanting to jump in and get his paws wet. Wuss!

Then back to the lodge for a mega brekkie, including a glass of sparkling wine, why not? Alfie loved his pile of eggs, sausages and croissants (current fave food) and then we let him loose on the terrace surrounding the lodge and overlooking the bush, while we finished our coffees. He had such fun chasing leaves and eating ants (not really Nannie, honest) and climbing steps and charming the Maasai warriors that we called it his Toto (baby) Safari. Probably as much fun as watching the miaow's and the neigh's out in the bush! The staff thought it hilarious and from then on, whenever they saw us, they pointed and said 'Toto Safari' in a very loud voice.

That afternoon we went on another lovely drive and I got VERY excited when we happened upon a family of elephants by the side of the road; mummy, 2 juveniles and a little baby having a mudbath. How amazing? But that was only an appetiser, because half an hour later we landed in the middle of a MASSIVE herd; at least 80 elephants all around us!!!!!! So magic again.

We did see other animals, of course, a sedate family of giraffe; a bachelor herd of impala and plenty of birds; egrets, ibis, spoonbills, eagle (1), bee-eaters, ducks, flamingoes and pelicans. But it was all about the lions and the elephants that day.

We were so exhausted that we fell into our beds after out traditional African 'nyama choma' (grilled meat) and were up once again at dawn the next day for another drive. This time not quite so spectactular, we'd probably used up most of our credits on the first day, but lovely nonetheless. Alfie was fabulous throughout, even though we spent a lot of time in the car. Although within the park he climbed all over us of course, there being no restrictions except a max of 40kph. And he LOVED helping mummy and daddy to drive, something to do with his obsession with the car keys I think... All in all he did very well in coping with it all, and had some spectacular naps which is always a good sign. Though in fairness, he may well have been equally fascinated by a herd of donkeys or the flock of pigeons in Walthamstow town square. Ah well, we all had a superfabulous time and can't wait to do it again!

Shakira Shakira

It's taken a while to get round to more writing, mostly because I've been recovering from a hellish bout of homesickness which lasted all weekend.

There I was, enjoying a £5 manicure and wondering where to take Alfie that afternoon (he was at home with Pamela, hark at me!) when out of the blue I was blindsided by a suckerpunch of proper homesickness. The feeling was so intense it threw me totally and the ripples of it lingered on for so long I felt quite depressed and even at one point like I was in grief. I wondered if it was because of my age/hormones (yawn) or because it's been a while since I travelled anywhere and then it struck me; it's been so long since I had a home to be homesick from! Which immediately made me feel much better.

That said, it wasn't all gloom and doom by any means. We had a super Saturday, lunching at The Talisman in Karen, a suburb of Nairobi named after Karen Blixen and full of artists and white Kenyans. The Talisman felt very old colonial though I can't put my finger on why. Perhaps it's the natives who look very much like they've sat out in the sun with one too many gin and tonics and have that slightly louche and dangerous look about them, like they have rifles at their feet and could easily pick off an animal or two between puffs of their cigarettes.

But the really enthralling and fantastic thing was the giraffes and elephants. The giraffe centre has ingeniously built a tower round which tourists can crowd with handfuls of giraffe nuts which the animals gratefully eat. Some will even let you pet them and don't seem to mind the squeals of delighted children at all. Some are only children themselves and don't quite reach up to the balcony in which case you feed them through the wire instead. I managed to take my eye off Alfie long enough to fiddle with my camera which enraged the grumpy old lady (giraffe) next to me to such an extent she proper headbutted me, much to everyone's amusement.


Then we went on to the David Sheldrick Foundation http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/ to adopt our baby girl Shakira. Her real name is Shukuru and she was born in September 2009, just like Alfie. She is a baby elephant who was orphaned when she fell down a manhole in the Tsavo National Park. A herdsman found her and managed to stop the rest of the village eating her and contacted the Foundation instead. They do a truly remarkable job in fostering orphan elephants and rhinos and encourage adoption of all their little ones. The main bonus being that, as fosterparents, we can go and see the babies being put to bed around 5pm every night. They come RUNNING back from their walks in Nairobi National Park, anticipating the 2 bottles of milk which they gulp down in a matter of seconds, before retiring to their mattresses in their stable. Each has a keeper who stays with them 24/7 and sleep on a raised platform in the stables, even having their meals in there. The young ones particularly need feeding every 3 hours (sma formula, in case you were wondering) but they do rotate the keepers so they don't get too attached to one human, which would be damaging in the long term. Interestingly, the blankets are supplied by the British Army and British Airways, amongst others!
It's a really wonderful place and not too busy in the evenings, so you get plenty of time to get up close to the elephants who love to sniff you with their little trunks and even suck on your fingers. Alfie did get a little worried by the trunk (they're remarkably hairy) and had a small cry but quickly recovered. In fairness he loved watching the warthogs and birds just as much I think. And Maalim the baby rhino is hilarious as he's very attached to his mattress, to the point of even taking it out for walks with him, though apparently he's stopped that now he's a bit older. He looked VERY cute asleep underneath it though.

I was so entranced by the experience that I completely forgot to take any pictures or videos (doh!) so you can have a look at Shakira here instead: http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/orphan_profile.asp?N=226
Isn't she adorable?

So we're settling in slowly but surely. Pete has been away a bit, working up country on a Kenya Project for STC. He comes home with horror stories of endemic abuse and children being married off at 14 and 15, but I know he spares me the really bad stuff. He's back now for a good long while and we're spending this weekend in Amboseli National Park, about 4 hours south of Nairobi. More elephant spotting, hurrah!


Alfie Update: This morning he spotted Pamela and immediately went to the shoe rack by the door and picked his shoes up (because they often go for a walk in the yard outside and she always puts his shoes on first). Cute! In the last week he has started picking his feet up when we're taking his trousers off. He also looks for and picks up his 2 rubber ducks when I start to sing the duck song at bath time. He indicates that he doesn't want something by sweeping his hands in front of him in a gesture that says 'Enough!' quite clearly and this can apply to food, someone wanting to pick him up or getting dressed/having his nappy changed. Sadly also mummy's boobs as he has now given up the final breastfeed of his own accord. He still loves games of any kind, especially chase and peekaboo (mummy gets a lot of excercise crawling round the apartment and hiding behind our 3 sofas) and also loves playing by himself with much focus and concentration. Books are a favourite, specially the hide-behind-the-flap kind which he is intent on destroying (we get through a lot of sellotape). And yesterday he picked up his hairbrush and tried to brush his own hair for the first time! There still isn't much of it though...


This week: Vicky and Alfie went swimming in the heated pool at the Norfolk Hotel http://www.fairmont.com/norfolkhotel where everyone was most surprised and interested to see a baby swimming, and spent a morning at the rather fantastic Nairobi Railway Museum http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail/Kenya/nrm.html which has loads of real locos in the yard to climb around. Alfie may appreciate this a little more once he gets older of course.