Lake Nakuru Lodge

I'm getting behind on my blogging. There is much happening now, but I need to be chronological. So this is our trip to Lake Nakuru on June 16-17. We left Nairobi increased in elevation and encountered some beautiful fog. I actually think we were in the clouds.
We had thought to leave earlier, and Elder and Sister U, planned to leave much earlier than that... but we ended up getting away somewhere around 11am. When we were half way there, we called the U's, they were within a few minutes of us!

So we met and wound our way through Nakuru to the National Park. The street lights testified to the immense flamingo population.

Lake Nakuru is part of the necklace of rift valley lakes and is quite alkaline. There are many marshes around it and wonderful forage for animals. It has acacia forests and savanna and bluffs. Some of "Out of Africa" was filmed here.
Once we came into the park, we headed for the lodge for lunch. Here is a view across the pool, similar to the one at the restaurant's outdoor patio. Here a storm is brewing.
These were our rooms. Very nice. Those are solar water heaters on top of the roofs.
Here is the Masai guard watching; watching against what, one may ask? I think baboons. Or perhaps he's there for photo opportunities.
Here we are, happily eating on the patio. You see Elder Fox in the reflection, and beyond that the wallow where the water buffalo are, and next to that a happy baboon habitat. And they are happy. You see, they creep up over the lip of the patio, right next to the wall. Then they watch and wait. The moment your head is turned, they jump to the chair, and snatch your food. Elder Fox lost his bread stick. Sister U. suddenly found herself eye to eye with a baboon when I vacated my seat. (No, she did not mistake me for a baboon.) A moment later, some of her dessert was gone! And she was sitting right there!
The grounds of the Lodge were lovely.
It was delightful to relax and decompress. For those 24 hours, we didn't think of or talk of the 40,000 things that needed to be done in Kisumu. We met a safari guide from Orange County named Sue Fox. We visited with a matre d who asked us to bring the church to Nakuru. We avoided getting stuck on a muddy road, and we saw some amazing animals. See the next blog for those.