Travels in Kenya Part 1
By Lucille Sive
On a recent trip to Kenya I had the opportunity to enjoy outstanding accommodations, conversations over sundowners watching dramatic African sunsets and of course thrilling game drives in the Kenyan bush. Watch for the next few blogs about my travels in Kenya.
Sundowners at Lake Elmenteita
One of the most magical destinations I had the good fortune to visit is Lake Elmenteita where accommodations at Lake Elmenteita Serena Camp were as perfect as I expected! Each spacious tent is superbly decorated and overlooks the lake and gardens. So perfect in fact that I had to drag myself out to go on the afternoon game drive in the Soysambu Conservancy. But I did not want to miss the game drive because one never knows what you’ll be lucky enough to encounter.
So I left the stunning camp at Lake Elmenteita to experience a game drive in the Soysambu conservancy and I was totally blown away by its beauty, tranquility and abundance of wildlife! The conservancy, which forms part of the Great Rift Valley and together with Lake Nakuru and Lake Bogoria form part of a UNESCO world heritage site, supports one of the largest populations of birds in the world, most notably the Lesser Flamingo and the Great White Pelican. So of course that was the first focus of our game drive. We headed down to the lake and spent some time observing and photographing these beautiful birds. The scenery is impressive with the lake surrounded by mountains and dominated by The Sleeping Warrior, a rocky mountain that appears just like its namesake. (It is pictured in the image below)
After a pleasant, though somewhat muddy, stroll along the shores of the lake we continued our game drive through the conservancy. The woodland areas are populated by extraordinary yellow barked acacia trees. These magnificent trees literally do have yellow trunks and branches and the colour seems to cast a luminous glow within the forest – spectacular!
The diversity of wildlife is amazing. We encountered elegant elands, graceful giraffes that stared at us with large eyes shaded by beautiful long eyelashes and a huge herd of buffalo. A rare sighting of three Colobus monkeys frolicking in the treetops contributed to an exhilarating game drive.p
Our day was to become even more gratifying as we headed to the top of the cliffs overlooking the lake to meet some Lion World Travel guests and surprise them with a delectable spread of snacks and cocktails to enjoy while they watched the magnificent sunset over the lake and recounted stories of the day’s events. A talented guitarist and singer added to the welcoming atmosphere. All our guests were pleasantly surprised and had a whale of a time!
One of our guests was a lady celebrating her 77th birthday in Africa. We watched in delight and with a tear or two in our eyes, as she and her husband enjoyed a dance to the music. He had mentioned that he wished to dance with her in Africa and I am so pleased to have been a part of providing the perfect romantic setting!
Tomorrow it's on to the Maasai Mara…