Like everywhere else in the world, travel around Kenya has been limited since Covid-19 came to the country. We've mostly stayed put in Chogoria since March, which is a great place to stay put. Nairobi is completely off-limits since the city has been on lockdown for months, but thankfully we're still able to travel to Nanyuki on the other side of the mountain. Nanyuki is a great town where we can stock up on groceries, including Western goods, and also enjoy the feeling of "getting away" for a night or two. It's one of our favorite places in all of Kenya.
After nine weeks without leaving Chogoria and literally not going more than a quarter-mile radius from our compound, we went to Nanyuki for a couple nights over Mother's Day weekend. It was good for our souls to just go somewhere, and to get some supplies.
We stayed at a wonderfully charming historic house that we discovered last year. The house was built in Nairobi in 1912 and was slated to be torn down, but a British family decided to rescue the old house by moving it to Nanyuki. The house was disassembled piece by piece in Nairobi, then reassembled piece by piece in Nanyuki and is used as an AirBnb site. The wrap-around porch has a lovely view of Mt. Kenya, which I thoroughly enjoyed while eating the Mother's Day omelette Eli made for me.
That porch was the perfect reading spot. Few things make me happier than time and space to read a good book (and a favorable ambiance, which this porch provided in spades).
While I sat reading, the boys had a blast playing in the yard and running amuck (including Daddy Horn). It was a breath of fresh air to get away from the hospital for a bit.
Shortly thereafter we had the privilege of going to Nanyuki again, this time to Ol Pejeta! We'd never actually stayed inside the conservancy before, but Covid discounts made it possible. Our safari tent sat right along a pathway to a watering hole, and we saw these two black rhinos walking past as soon as we arrived. It was only the beginning of some amazing wildlife encounters!
We followed this pair down to the watering hole, which was in front of the resort's dining hall. They took a drink and hung out for awhile, and we got to watch them up close and personal! The wildlife of this country never ever ever gets old to us. We are amazed every time!
Check out the horn on this mama! It's one of the longest and pointiest rhino horns we've ever seen. Did you know that rhino horns, like fingernails, are made out of keratin and never stop growing? Rhinos have to rub them to trim them down, like filing a nail.
Asa, of course, was particularly excited. He's the most rhino-lovin' boy out there!
Also near the dining hall were these two birds. A Verreaux's Eagle Owl was sleeping in a high branch of a tree - it was the first wild owl we've seen in Kenya and later that night we watched it hunt! It swooped across the yard, caught something in its talons which proceeded to shriek its death knell, and then the owl landed in another tree and started eating dinner. It was amazing!
The other bird is a Go-Away Bird, so-named because of its distinct call that sounds like it's saying "go away" and which we knew about from a picture book called The Go-Away Bird by Julia Donaldson (author of the Gruffalo books), but we'd never actually seen one yet. On our first night at Ol Pejeta, there it was, right above our heads in a tree. Such a fun discovery!
And this bushbuck greeted us back at our tent. Apparently a number of them jump the electric fence each evening to avoid predators who aren't nimble enough to jump the fence themselves. Smart antelope!
In the afternoon, Eli drove the kids around the conservancy to see animals and I hung back to sit on the porch in peace and read. Have I mentioned how much I love time and space to read a good book? You might be catching onto a theme here :) The only problem is how little time and space this Mama has to actually sit and read a good book. It's very rare. So when the hubby offers to take all the kids away for a couple hours and leave me in peace, I've hit the jackpot. It was a double jackpot when a literal pot of chai was delivered to our tent. It was a triple jackpot when this behemoth walked right by! What a tank! What a beautiful, muddy, sour-faced tank of a creature! Gotta love me some white rhino staring me in the face!
And then this! We came back from supper to this! An entire herd of elephants ambling toward the water hole at night! Thankfully there was a spotlight near our tent so we could see them. They were so quiet we might never have known they were there except for that one light. It was like a dream. Baby elephants and their mamas! Baby elephants!!!
After all that excitement, we crashed into our beds and zonked out. Now, something I do NOT love is getting up early. I used to be able to do it. I used to want to do it. That was years ago. Like, years and years and years ago, back in college. Nowadays, I can hardly get out of bed in the morning. I hate waking up and would sleep half the morning if I could. So the fact that I did wake up early on this one particular morning at Ol Pejeta - early enough to see the sunrise - will go down in the history books of Mama Horn. I won't deny that it was hard to do, but I am so glad I got out of bed. My purpose wasn't even to see the sunrise - it was to get into a safari jeep and go on a morning game drive - but this sunrise was the highlight of that morning. It was stunning and consumed the entire sky space over the plains. (Notice the peak of Mt. Kenya on the right of the second photo.)
And here are some photos from the game drive. Like I said before, the wildlife of this country never ever ever gets old to us.
So we had a couple successful trips to Nanyuki. We're grateful for each opportunity to get away for a bit. It's hard to mentally check out when you live at the same place that you work. These little excursions are really important for us and we're thankful for each one, especially if they include mountainous views and abundant wildlife!
