Emily and Matthew’s Website

July 9-10

We took a 'deluxe' matatu to Nakuru -- the ride was slow but par for the course. We were stopped by the police along the way -- allegedly for speeding but we thought we were going at the same speed as everyone else on the road. The most interesting thing we saw on the road was a pair of wild zebra just hanging out on the side of the road.

We stayed in a very nice hotel in Nakuru -- Hotel Merica which had a nice pool and a glass elevator! Emily had her first taste of ugali -- the traditional Kenyan food of corn meal -- and declared it to be 'good.'

The next morning we got an early start and headed into the Nakuru National Park with a driver and another tourist. The park was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING -- we saw a troop of baboons, lots of African buffalo, zebra and their calves, impala, gazelle, hyenas, white rhino, black rhino, agama lizards, vervet monkeys and hyraxes. And of course, FLAMINGOS! We saw 1.2 million flamingos standing in the lake -- a stunning sight.

One of the highlights was going up to Baboon Cliff and looking down over the lake and the park -- from this vantage point we saw a hyena run into the water, grab a flamingo by the neck and drag it out.

July 11

We got a luxurious slow start to the day relaxing around the hotel. In the afternoon, we hired a driver to take us to Menengai Crater. It was quite spectacular even though the weather was a bit hazy. We climbed around a bit, chatted with some local secondary school students, collected some igneous rocks and climbed up a rickety lookout tower which I (Emily) found terrifying. It creaked and rocked in the wind. After recovering from the fright of the 'tippy tower of Menengai' we headed back to Nakuru, ate dinner and watched the Constant Gardener (which has scenes shot in Nakuru!) on television!

July 12

After breakfast, we gathered our things and headed via matatu back to Nairobi. Back in Nairobi, we had lunch at a fantastic restaurant called Trattoria. Emily had pizza and Matthew had pasta -- unbelievably good! Emily did not sleep especially well because Mateo was so excited for our trip to the Mara that he woke her up 3 different times in the night thinking that it was time to leave!