We drove the beautiful road into the Great Rift Valley from Nairobi to Lake Nakuru, all which again showed an entirely different and awe-inspiring part of this great country.
The Great Rift is known worldwide for it's wide, lush, green valleys and high cliffs. It runs clear down Africa from north to south and was created by a huge upheaval thousands of years ago. It is miles and miles across with hundreds of volcano cones within the valley floor. Nothing like it anywhere in the world. Tall, big tree forests on tall mountains overlooking the valley and cliffs. More rainfall and, therefore, seems more prosperous with it's farms, orchards, and gardens. And, herds of sheep everywhere.
Excellent road, even with a short “two carriage” section! The Ogborns cheered for joy as we drove peacefully along amid little traffic and few big trucks, almost like were we on a Sunday drive. Don't get me wrong. It was not like a nice I-84 Interstate, but more like Hi-Way 55 to McCall, but without the traffic. It was absolutely great for Africa!
Lake Nakuru was very different terrain from our Tsavo West and Tsavo West safaris. Lush, green forests and grasses. Rivers and waterfalls. Rolling hills and rocks and caves where you expect to find a lion den every time.
And, of course, the beautiful lake with it's thousands of famous pink flamingos that you see in every video or pictures of Africa. And, we finally saw rhinos...many of them including a baby that was only a few weeks old. That completes our seeing the “Big 5!”
We made two game drives, all in our own vehicle, rather than bothering with a formal safari guide. We just found the animals ourselves or followed a fast moving safari land rover to a super game sight or kill. That again saved us very big bucks. We again saw leopards in the trees, many elephants, cape buffalo, giraffes, zebras, all kinds of gazelles, antelopes, bucks, warthogs, baboons, monkeys, etc etc etc.
We also incredibly saw the elusive and rare Columbus monkey with its black and white body and long tail. And, again we saw the mating giraffe ritual, only this time it was a different, beautiful variety of giraffe.
We stayed at the Sarona Lion Hill Lodge, a beautiful, old,
romantic, and historical place at the base of the foothills with gorgeous grounds on Lion Hill overlooking the park. Great, historical artifacts were everywhere from the old big game hunting days. Excellent, gourmet dining and tribal dancing and singing entertainment in the evenings.
We stayed in individual lodging units winding from the dining and swimming area up the hillside. Beautifully spread out, giving it a very intimate, historical and romantic feeling. Although it was surrounded by an electric fence to keep out the predators, it's name gave us a rather exciting, but frightening feeling, especially as I walked the long path from our place to the main lodge to ask them to wake us in the morning for the game drive. Maybe that was because three workers were killed in the area not too long ago by lions!
It was a great time and we are grateful to Corwin and Peggy for the opportunity to safari with them this way. They are old safari pros and have truly delivered on their promise that we will see many, many animals, even though much of our time in Africa has been given to the measles program, rather than sightseeing. It is hard to believe that the animals mentioned above are so numerous that they have become kind of common place as we look for the more exciting big cats and kills. And, we have only been on four safaris and 8 game drives, with 1 more safari and 2 game drives to go (which will be in the famous Masai Mara, which reportedly has the most animals of all!). 
And, all of this just in Kenya, which is world famous for it's animals. We'll just have to come back sometime to see the rest of this unbelievable, vast country.
Well, I'd better close for now and get ready for bed. Safari drives are tiring, but it's nice to return to a nice lodge, great food, a nice shower in precious water, and a good bed. At many lodges, especially in the drier countries, they save the shower water for watering the grounds. But, not here in this more lush place at the base of the hills. It seems like a paradise for both us and the animals.
We love you all. Don't forget us. And, say a prayer now and then that we don't become dinner for a hungry pride of lions!
Lots of Love to you all,
Dick and Lawana
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