Kenya | Day 6: Nakuru – Naro Moru

As usual, another early rise as we were up for an early morning game drive. What is a game drive? A game drive is an adventure that entails viewing wildlife in the comfort of a 4×4 open Land Rover which accommodates 4 to 10 people, a sure way to give you that classical safari feeling. Safari game drives are one of the most popular ways to see wildlife in a National Park. For this morning game drive, we spotted – an augur buzzard, grey-headed helmet-shrike, long-crested eagle, white rhinos, baboons and even three lions lounging in the shade of a large tree! Incredibly, the second sighting of lions occurred just outside the fence of our campsite. There, lions had made a kill during our absence, and two of the cats were defending their prize from a half dozen jackals and some greedy-looking vultures; they were also being dive-bombed by a brave pied crow. That was indeed a drama of real-time National Geographic!

Early morning game drive before leaving to Naro Moru.

White Rhinos.

Can you spot the lions resting in the grassland?

A tower of giraffes feeding. 

After packing and a quick breakfast we left for Naro Moru (home for the next 3 nights) which is almost a 4hrs drive from Lake Nakuru National Park. We broke the drive into several portions separated by brief recreational breaks. Our first stop was at Thompson’s Fall Lodge, where we looked at the waterfall, observed a chameleon that had serendipitously been located near the toilets, and enjoyed some chilled Coca-Cola out of glass bottles.

Chameleon spotted. 

Thompson Falls.

For the next stop, we stopped for a picnic lunch at a shop located on (or more likely near) the Equator. The shopkeepers let us use their toilets and chairs/tables because they know that at least some of us will purchase souvenirs; they also earn a small fee by doing a demonstration of how water (supposedly) spirals in different directions when poured on different sides of the Equator.

We are near the Equator.

After our lunch break on the Equator, we continued our road trip to our campsite. Along the way, the horizon was amazing with Mount Kenya as the backdrop. There was a brief period of intense rain but it cleared up before we arrived at Mountain Rock Lodge and started to set up our tents. The lodge was rather a luxurious campsite as it provides a hot shower and there is a bar where we can buy drinks and relax in front of the roaring fire while waiting for dinner to be prepared.

We had a brief talk from Kenyan staff member Martin Odino of Wildlife Direct, who discussed the avian diversity of Kenya and his efforts to conserve it. Then after, late dinner before having post-presentation drink and calling it the first night at Naro Moru.