Our home base in the city was the Fairmont Norfolk Hotel. Not as fancy or luxurious as the Fairmont in Mt. Kenya, but it was in a good location, right beside one of the markets that we were planning to visit. As we had dropped off our vehicle when we arrived in Nairobi, we hired a driver for the time that we were in Nairobi. It was a great call, as he knew all the best ways around town, as well as some places to eat along the way.

Our first stop was the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, to see the orphaned elephants. I had been picturing some sort of romantic scenario, where I get to hand-feed baby elephants, but the result was a biiiit different. The crowd at this place was massive, which meant that we ended up at the back of a group of school children, unable to get very close to the elephants. It was a bit of a letdown, as those people in front were taking photo after photo and not letting anyone else have a turn up close. If you decide to go yourself, get there early in order to beat the tour groups.

However, the elephants were exceptionally cute, and it did feel good to spend money to help a group of orphaned elephants, rather than pay some zoo. Although why they are orphaned in the first place (ivory) is so sad. By the time I have kids, elephants might be something you only see in zoos.

After the elephants, we had lunch before venturing to the Giraffe Centre. Now, if you have Pinterest, you’ll probably be familiar with Giraffe Manor.

It’s a fancy old house-turned-hotel where the giraffes come right up to your window and stick their heads in (you often see photos on Pinterest in “best hotel” lists). Well, these Giraffe don’t live on the Manor grounds but are part of the Giraffe Centre which is right next door. If you don’t have the money to stay in the Manor ($$$) or it’s booked solid (like it was when we checked) then you’ll want to visit the nearby Centre.

Here, you can get real up close and personal with the giraffes! Just watch that you don’t turn your back on them, as they like to head-butt you for more food. And as you can see in the photos, their heads are big!! The Centre started out as a breeding program for a variety of Giraffe that were going extinct, and now also serves to educate young Kenyan school groups on conservation and animal protection.

But the best part is how much you get to interact with the giraffe!!

At the end of our first day, we had a bit of time before dinner and opted to visit the Nairobi Animal Orphanage program at the National Park. It was a bit of a letdown, in that you find out so few of the animals get rehabilitated into the wild (they had lots of large cats). Kind of sad seeing large lions knowing they will spend their lives in captivity.

But you can bet I got to pet more cheetahs! Never tell me that I am allowed to touch cool animals because it will become my new mission in life… oh and I got a monkey to climb all over my shoulders. And can only find a crappy iPhone photo of it.

On our second day in Nairobi, we opted to spend it perusing the markets. I had read online that there were two Maasai markets on certain days, and that one was more geared towards locals, and the other towards tourists. Our driver opted to take us to the touristy one first, and it was a bit of a letdown.

Sure, there were tons of the styles of bowls and spoons that I liked, but so many sandals and purses and other “non-traditional” items. I had really been wanting to find things like masks, baskets, and carved gourds. This market had none. Although you can bet I still bought more bone inlay bowls…

So it was with some uncertainty that we approached the second market. And boy, it did not disappoint. It was huge! Just a big field-type space where the people all set up their little stands, and it can be a bit overwhelming walking through. Everyone wants you to stop and look at their stuff, and the odd trader can be a bit aggressive in following you.

But they had gourds! And baskets! And masks! And you can bet we came home with all three. We even went back to the market later, as we had been rushing through the first time, and it was only a short walk from our hotel.

I can definitely suggest picking the markets not located in malls if you are visiting on a day with two locations. The market might be a bit chaotic, and the sellers more pushy, but you’re more likely to find something unique. I even went home with a bunch of porcupine quills! This woman just had a box of them beside her necklaces and I spent like £1 on a handful. It was almost my favorite purchase because it was unexpected.

And so, after two days in Nairobi, we packed our bags for the final time and headed to the airport. 10 days went by so quickly, but it was an experience I doubt we will ever forget.

Okay, so after we left Samburu, we started on our way towards Shaba National Reserve. We were headed for some relaxation after a few days spent driving around on safari. The two reserves are right beside each other, but it took longer than expected to get there due to the ‘locals‘.

See, we ended up caught in the thick of a massive herd of camels! The locals tend to herd their livestock through the reserves, which can often scare off the more exotic animals. In this instance, I didn’t mind too much, as I happen to love camels. On my bucket list is to do a camel safari through the desert, and stay in a bedouin-style tent.

Once we got through the camels, it was pretty quick up to the Sarova Shaba Game Lodge. The terrain here, despite being so close to Samburu, was far more rocky and looked fairly volcanic. As we got closer to the lodge, the rocks gave way to trees and then the river that runs alongside the resort. Shaba Lodge was a lot ‘fancier’ than Samburu, and we wanted to make the most of our two days of relaxation. So we checked into our room and headed for lunch.

We pretty much spent the next two days in and around the pool, reading our books and snoozing. It was quite lovely! There were more people at this lodge, and yet we pretty much had the pool to ourselves! Most of the groups staying there were taking safari tours each day, while we had already spent over three days doing just that. So instead, we ate and got all kinds of lazy for two days…

After Shaba Lodge, we made our way back to Nanyuki and headed towards the Fairmont Mt Kenya Safari Lodge! We had yet one more night booked for relaxation before heading to Nairobi and got some seriously good rates at this super-fancy hotel. Our room (or should I say rooms?) was like a little cabin tucked away from the main buildings (sensing a theme?). It came with a little sitting room, a huge washroom, a bedroom, and a large patio. The best part of all was the fireplace! Despite what you might think, Kenya can get quite cold at night, depending on your elevation. Not that we really needed it, but Richard and I both love a good open fire.

But despite all the finery and fireplaces, we were mostly there for the wildlife! Right beside the hotel is the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy, which you can visit. It costs a small fee, but you get to actually touch the animals, which is quite awesome. Well, you can’t touch the leopard they have, but you can touch cheetahs!!

One of Richard’s colleagues visited this hotel six months before we did, and actually got to go into the enclosure with them and play! See, cheetahs aren’t normally dangerous to adult humans. We’re too big to be viewed as prey to them (which is why I specified adult) so they act more like dogs than anything else. However, when we got there they would no longer let anyone into the enclosure, stating that the young cheetahs were too big now to play safely. We were able to pet one of the cheetahs through the enclosure though!

That thing purred so loudly! It was quite crazy putting your hand through a fence and petting a cheetah… having it lick your hand with its crazy rough tongue. It really was just a big cat.

Other than petting cheetahs, we got to stroke some bongos, feed ostrich and monkeys, as well as see the most adorable little pygmy hippopotamus. All in all, despite the disappointment that I wouldn’t be able to actually play football with a couple of cheetahs, it was still quite fun! Like a really exotic version of the Beacon Hill Park petting zoo.

Afterward, we headed back to the hotel for some tea before dinner. The hotel has lots of peacocks roaming around (perhaps what first reminded me of Beacon Hill Park) as well as these crazy prehistoric-type birds with the most dangerous-looking beaks. It might have driven Richard nuts how they kept trying to sneak up on us and steal food, but I loved it. You can bet that I was throwing them crumbs for sure!

Not only did the hotel have strange birds, but they also had horses and a pair of labradors that you could take out for a walk! Of course, Richard and I did just that… and these two dogs almost ripped our arms off! But it was fun to walk around the safari lodge with a pair of exuberant canines.

In the end, we relaxed and enjoyed the hotel for a little over a day before embarking on the last bit of driving for our trip. We were heading back to Nairobi, dropping off the vehicle, and seeing the sights. Stay tuned for the last post on our Kenyan adventure!

Okay, be prepared for a reeeeaaaalllly long post (with way too many photos) – I’m not quite sure how to condense it any more than this As I’ve mentioned before, Richard had to go away at the end of May for a month, for work. But, unlike most jobs where maybe you go someplace boring, his sent him away to Kenya! Not exactly great, being on my own for a month, but it meant that we could do a Kenyan safari at the end of his trip!

See, Kenya is surprisingly expensive! We were probably the only young people we saw at any of the places we stayed, other than a few couples on honeymoon. Everyone else seemed to be either there for work or retired. The only way we were able to afford the trip was because Richard’s flights were already taken care of, and we got discounts at the places we stayed.

I loved this cactus, it was seriously massive!

But enough about that, let’s talk about the actual trip!

I flew into Nairobi airport in the afternoon, and Richard came to collect me. He had rented a vehicle through work for most of our trip. See, while there are national reserves in and around Nairobi, some of the best ones are a fair drive away. Our first day was pretty much all travel as we drove from Nairobi to Nanyuki. It was a sort of halfway point from Nairobi to the Samburu National Reserve, which was our first safari destination. During his previous month there, Richard had found a nice little hotel in Nanyuki called Le Rustique, where we could spend the night. I’ll be honest, I was pretty tired after my long indirect flight and crashed pretty quickly.

The next morning, we drove to the reserve, and I began my new favorite game of “find the animals”.

If you know me personally, and especially if you knew me as a child, then you know I love animals. I wanted to be a veterinarian for the first 13 or so years of my life, as it meant being surrounded by animals. I asked to visit the pet store like most kids ask to go to the candy store. I may have also convinced my dad to buy a few pets while in said stores…

So knowing that you can imagine what going to Africa and seeing animals on safari was like for me. When we first drove into the reserve, I started scanning for anything in the desert shrubs. We passed these amazing little hanging bird’s nests in the trees and even saw a flock of ostriches in the distance, but it was mostly just an empty landscape everywhere I looked. I was starting to feel like it was going to be hard to find animals, when we suddenly rounded a bend and I saw a giraffe in the distance! And then that one giraffe turned into three (!), and as we started driving towards them, we turned a corner and saw three elephants!

Suddenly it seemed as though there were animals all over the place! So we drove around a bit more before heading to the Samburu Game Lodge to settle in. The lodge was mostly empty, with the exception of ourselves and another group of about 6 people. We stayed there for 3 nights of our trip and were almost always the only people in the dining room. The staff there were lovely, and I loved how the whole resort was in the middle of the reserve. Baboons and monkeys ran all over the place, and the river running through meant that elephants were often to be seen. There was even one point where an elephant tried to come up on the riverbank beside our little hut and had to be driven back by the staff. We saw two genet cats (not a cat, more like a spotted mongoose) in the dining room; we think they lived in a small nook above the catering tables. The only slightly scary thing was hearing that leopards had been spotted in the trees at night before – we were always guided back to our hut at night by one of the staff members.

But despite the threat of leopards, I loved how the place was in the middle of the jungle, and was surrounded by wildlife. I swear, half of the staff employed at places like this, are there to shoot the monkeys away with slingshots. The baboons can get quite aggressive.

We stayed in one of the huts the furthest away from the main buildings, with a lovely view of the river from the patio. It’s not exactly five-star luxury, but you don’t expect that in the middle of a Kenyan National Reserve. The location couldn’t be beat, and the people were lovely.

Now, back to the safari! Most people, when they go on safari in Kenya, pay to be driven around in groups on tour. I personally hate being on a tour – I want to go where I want and see what I see. Even if it means that we might not get to see everything, I much prefer having our own vehicle and just driving around. So for us, when we got up in the morning, we’d scarf down a nice breakfast, and hop in our vehicle! Then we just drive out of the game lodge, and we’re on the hunt! We would just pick a direction and drive, following whatever trails looked promising, and see what we could see.

There were a couple of instances where we decided to follow a group of vehicles. See, all of those tour groups have radios, and when they find a big cat (which is what everyone wants to see, and the hardest to find) they let everyone else know where it is. So when you see a cluster of vehicles, you know there’s something worth seeing. The first time we saw a cat, it was because we had rounded a bend and saw two large vehicles stopped up ahead. We pulled up alongside the anti-poaching vehicle, and they let us know what it was. Turns out, it was a couple of cheetahs just sitting in the brush! We sat back and waited for the vehicles ahead of us to move on, and then drove a bit closer to get a look.

Cheetahs are a lot smaller in real life than you’d think, but so so beautiful. We sat around for a bit, until the anti-poachers told us to move on, as the cheetahs needed to go off and hunt. So we drove around a bit more, trying to find something else before the sun went down. On our way back to the lodge we actually spotted the cheetahs in the distance, hunting, which was cool.

The other time that we found big cats, was quite a different experience. See, on our second full day in the Samburu Reserve, we decided to go out before breakfast and catch the sunrise. We drove up to a nice spot and just watched it from the sunroof of our vehicle. It was quite pretty. But, as we started driving away to find some animals, we got a flat tire! Driving around before the sun was up meant that we drove over something we couldn’t quite see, and popped a tire! So we pulled into the nearest resort and attempted to switch to the spare tire.

I say attempted because the manual that came with our vehicle had the wrong instructions for removing the tire, which was located underneath the rear of the vehicle. Eventually, some of the staff from the resort came out to help, and it took us ages to realize how to use the limited tools that we had to lower the spare. In the end, we got the tire on just before breakfast was about to finish, and raced back (carefully – we only had one spare) to the lodge to eat.

But before we got very far, we saw the tell-tale group of vehicles clustered. So we drove up to see what they were looking at. Turns out, it was three young male lions, and their lioness mother! Just lounging around with their freshly killed zebra! However, the other groups were everywhere and completely in the way of us being able to see anything. We tried to sit back and wait for them to move on, but other tour vehicles kept coming up, and just driving in front of us. It was so rude, and frustrating. Finally, we had to go because we were going to miss breakfast, and there was no sign anyone was leaving soon.

With the exception of our beautiful sunrise and a brief glimpse of a lion, it was a wasted morning. After we ate, we asked around if there was somewhere we could go to repair the tire. We were directed to one of the safari guides, who apparently knew someone in the area who could help us. So two guys hopped in our vehicle with us and guided us to a nearby camp. The owner there did a patch job on our tire while we waited, and made some new friends!

One of the anti-poaching guys who we’d met the other night stopped by as he was heading out, and he and Richard got to chatting about the local weaponry. It wasn’t long before they had me trying out his rifle to see how heavy it was. A little while later (and a fair few shillings) we were back on our way to the lodge.

We decided to try and make the most of our afternoon by heading back to where the lions were, in the hopes they might still be around! Well, they weren’t. But then we got an idea… what if we came back just before dusk, and parked the car by the kill? Scavengers like hyenas only come out at night, so maybe if we waited we might see something?

So we did just that, spending the day driving around before returning as the sky began turning. But to our surprise, it wasn’t hyenas waiting when we got back. The three young male lions had returned! And we were the only vehicle in sight! We were able to simply drive slowly into the middle of the group, and park up. Then we just sat there, watching them relax, eat, and generally be the laziest lions around. It was awesome. We stayed for a good while before our old friends, the anti-poaching crew, turned up to tell us that we had to go back to our lodge. All, in all, a great end to a very frustrating morning.

On our last day in the Samburu Reserve, we had a leisurely morning breakfast, before one last drive through the reserve to the gates. We were on our way to the Shaba Reserve, to spend a couple days relaxing in a bit of luxury (nice pool and food). As we drove through the familiar trails, we happened upon a massive herd of zebra, and spied something unusual! There were different zebra! Now, I had stupidly thought of zebra as only one type, not really thinking there were multiple varieties. Turns out, there are three main types of zebras out there! The rarest ones are the Grévy’s zebra, which is the most common type in Samburu Reserve. The zebras we were seeing in large herds everywhere are actually the most endangered! The smaller ones we saw on our last day (which were rare to us) are actually the more common plains zebra. You learn something new every day!

plains zebra (above) + Grévy’s zebra (below)

And so, we drove back through the gates to the reserve, on our way to the nearby Shaba National Reserve, for the next part of our trip…