Samburu Day 1

We’re getting way behind on posting. This last weekend, we went to a beach resort on the Indian Ocean and just relaxed and had a great time. However, we still haven’t posted about our trip to Samburu.

We were supposed to leave our apartment complex here in Nairobi around 8:30 for the five hour drive to Samburu. Naturally, we didn’t leave until closer to 9:00. Two curio stops later, it was about 12:30 and time to stop for lunch. We were only about halfway to Samburu (you can’t imagine the logistics of trying to roundup more than 30 law students at each curio stop).

Lunch was actually a lot of fun. The restaurant resembled a tree house. Below the wooden platforms were tanks of cold water where the restaurant raised its own trout. Naturally, we both ordered the trout and it was excellent.

After leaving the restaurant, we stopped at two more curio stops. Our van had had enough by the last stop and we asked our driver, who went by Karaoke (perhaps in part due to the study stream of soft rock classics streaming from his radio), if we could leave before the others. He agreed and we were the first to make it to Isiolo. The others, however, caught up when we stopped for gas and air in the tires.

A police checkpoint was setup just outside Isiolo. Normally, security waves us through these checkpoints. This time, a large group of villagers surrounding the checkpoint started shouting and pointing at our van. Instead of driving through, Karaoke got out to speak with the officer. The crowd surrounded us trying to sell various trinkets that they “had made themselves just this morning.” This was nothing new. Any time our van stopped in any village of any size, locals would surround the bus trying to sell us something, but this crowd seemed particularly pushy. One Muslim woman kept trying to get change for a $10 bill. The bill was folded in fourths so you could only see a small part of it and we all assumed it was fake. When no one would give her change, she began yelling at us for being afraid of them and buying from the curio stops instead of them. We tried to explain that none of us bought anything from the curio shops either. I’m not sure if that made it better or worse. Eventually, Karaoke got back in the van and we left.

The next stretch of road was unlike anything we’ve experienced in the states. The road was unpaved and filled with large potholes and washboards. And we were doing about 50mph down this long stretch of dirt road. Samburu is north of Nairobi and further north you go, the more dangerous it gets. As it turns out, there have been reports of bandits on the road from Isiolo to Samburu. The checkpoint at Isiolo was one way the government was trying to control banditry. It was also the reason we were going 50mph over such a horrible road. Slow targets are easy targets.

We managed to reach the reserve without incident. After everyone arrived, our guides paid our entry fees and we started the trip to our resort. The vans were spaced out a bit and we couldn’t see the van ahead of us for a few minutes. Finally, as we came around a turn, we noticed one of our vans stopped next a jeep heading in the opposite direction. There was no room to pass the van, so Karaoke stopped the van and got out to see what was going on. We popped the top in our safari van so we could all see it. One of the guys who was in the van got out and told us their driver tried to turn away from the jeep at the last minute, but his tire hit some sand and the van glanced off the jeep on the front driver’s side.

The damage all looked superficial, although the jeep had a good sized dent. We waited while the drivers figured out to handle the situations and they eventually reached some sort of agreement and we were on our way.

By this time, it was getting close to 6:30. The sun was going down and everything was cooling off. That meant the animals were starting to come out (it also meant we had to get to our resort quickly because there is not supposed to be any movement in the park after 6:30). We stopped briefly when we came across a herd of elephants sitting and playing along the side of the road. Our driver pulled over so we could grab some pictures, but light was getting scarce and most of the pictures didn’t turn out well.

Shortly after leaving the elephants, Hers happened to glance behind us and noticed a male lion, mane and all, walking across the road directly behind the vehicle. Unfortunately, we were moving at a pretty good pace and the driver didn’t have time to stop for pictures, but it was an amazing sight we probably wouldn’t have seen had it not been for the accident.

We finally arrived at Intrepids Lodge a little after 6:30. The lodge was amazing. Like the restaurant, the lodge was built into the trees about three or four feet off the ground. A large, muddy river flowed next to the lodge. Our accommodations were actually tents, but they were not what I think of when I think of a tent. These were large, luxury tents. Each tent had a four poster bed, a large desk, and a smaller vanity in the main room. At the far end of the tent was the bathroom, which was separated from the rest of the tent by a wall with a door. The bathroom had plumbing and a nice shower along with a couple of sinks. It made me feel as if I was some wealthy Brit on safari during colonial days.

Dinner was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time and after dinner, we headed for our tent to get a good night’s sleep. Our five hour drive turned into about ten hours and everyone was ready to get some shuteye.

Unfortunately, for Hers, the lodge runs on a generator. To conserve power, they shut off the generator from midnight to 5:00AM and she is not a big fan of complete and utter darkness (we’re talking can’t see your hand in front of your face here). I, on the other hand, was out as soon as my head hit the pillow and I stayed that way until our 5:00 AM wakeup call.

Pictures for Day 1 are already up on Picasa. Day 2 should hopefully be up soon along with another post.