For the past three weeks a large part of Kenya has been under a new lockdown. The "third wave" of Covid that was sweeping across the country was having a serious and concerning impact - enough that President Kenyatta enforced a new lockdown on five counties, including Nairobi.
The day the lockdown began was the day Eli and I were traveling for our belated anniversary getaway. It was belated by three weeks because I had gotten sick when we were originally supposed to go. (On a side note, we have a long history of one or both of us being sick on our anniversary. I guess that's the risk we took when we got married in March!) In the end, we were better off because, as it turned out, the lockdown provided us with a completely private experience - we were literally the only two guests at the resort! Everyone else had to pack up and leave and get into Nairobi before roadblocks would make the city inaccessible. We were the only people who didn't need to pass through the lockdown zone to get home afterwards. (Most of the business for resorts comes from people in Nairobi, or tourists, who are few and far between in these Covid times).
The lockdown was announced while we were at the Aberdare Country Club for lunch. We'd never been there before and it was a beautiful and peaceful environment with excellent food. We're still amazed to find such places in Kenya. It seems so strange that such places exist in Africa, but there are lots of these gems around the country.
This peacock appeared and strutted around our table for a bit. His iridescent colors were so striking. I loved watching him walk about the place with such authority! I especially loved watching him pose on the bench overlooking the valley, as if he owned the entire place.
We used to be so good at taking photos together. Kids have completely ruined that. But our 15th anniversary called for a photo together!
There were several other groups of people at the country club too - until the lockdown announcement, and then those other people were packing up early and getting on the road back to Nairobi. We felt so bad for them but there was nothing to be done. We simply headed on to our next destination: The Ark in Aberdares National Park.
The Aberdares are a mountain range within a national park, and it's been on our bucket list for awhile, especially since it's just on the other side of the mountain from us. We didn't get to explore much inside the park since the resort wasn't far in, but it definitely wet our appetite. It's a beautiful place, and quiet. We breathed deeply there.
On the drive in, something big and dark darted off the road and into the bushes. We couldn't tell what it was but we knew we'd never seen something like that before. It kinda looked like a small bear, but of course that couldn't be right. We slowed down as we drew closer and saw it just off the road. What does that look like to you?
On the drive in, something big and dark darted off the road and into the bushes. We couldn't tell what it was but we knew we'd never seen something like that before. It kinda looked like a small bear, but of course that couldn't be right. We slowed down as we drew closer and saw it just off the road. What does that look like to you?
Then it turned and looked right at us. We'd definitely never seen this kind of animal before! It had tusks like a warthog, but it was huge and darker and hairier. We later learned it was a giant forest hog. They only live in this part of the country and were almost decimated by the lion population in the park until the Kenya Wildlife Service removed all the lions back in the 90s (moving them to other parks) and then the giant forest hog population was able to rebound. Fascinating, huh? I had to wonder, what would it be like for KWS park rangers to show up to work one day and hear that their job is to track down and dart lions in order to relocate them to another park? So crazy!
As we drove on, a hyena and herd of waterbuck met us on the road too. The hyena promptly wandered into the bushes and curled up for a nap while the waterbuck hung around and gave me some great photo opportunities. I love how much wildlife you can encounter just from driving through a park in this country!
The Ark is a resort that was built to look and feel like Noah's Ark, and is situated right next to a watering hole. The beauty of this idea is that the animals all come to you whenever they wander to the water. All we had to do was hang out and watch. There were four levels of viewing areas, so you could watch wildlife from a balcony, from an indoor sitting room, or even at ground level. It was spectacular. And we literally had the whole place to ourselves!
We saw more giant forest hogs (and piglets!) and tons of elephants (and babies!) when we first arrived. There were also buffalo and hyenas and bushbuck. And lots of birds around the water including Egyptian geese and herons. It was incredible to just sit back and observe the animals.
One of the highlights came at night when we saw a weasel-like creature dart across the rocks right in front of us. We rushed to the ground level viewing area in hopes of seeing whatever it was again, and we were not disappointed. It turned out to be a large-spotted genet! We'd never seen one of these creatures in the wild before! They are nocturnal, which makes them hard to spot, but oh such beautiful creatures. The boys were so excited and jealous when we told them about it.
In the morning we had a spectacular view of the mountain. We live on the forested side of the mountain and can only see the peak from a few areas on a good, cloudless day. The other side of the mountain, like where we were in the Aberdares, has incredible views almost all the time. This photo does not do it justice. We marveled at the sight.
And then we hunkered down to play a game! There was no one else to bother, so we took over an entire sitting area and spread out Dominion. And kept watching the wildlife.
In the middle of our game, a buffalo fight broke out. These two males duked it out for almost 15 minutes! I was glad to snag some photos of it because it was intense. At one point their horns were completely locked together as they stood side by side. They wrestled back and forth, trying to break free from each other, and we weren't sure how they'd ever get apart. But after several minutes they did and kept right on fighting. That's when I finally pulled out my camera. In the end there was a clear winner and the loser high-tailed it out of there, as you can see in the video.
And this lady just cracked me up! She stuck her tongue up her nose more times than I could count :)
And one more photo together, which makes two in a 24-hour period. That might be a record for us these days!
Eventually we had to go. The resort was gracious to let us stay as long as we liked since we were the only guests, and it was particularly gracious since they decided to shut down the resort as a result of the lockdown. All of their other upcoming reservations were cancelled because no one could come from Nairobi, so we literally stayed there during the last night they were open until this lockdown ends. Talk about good timing!
We slowly made our way back home. On the way, we stopped in Nanyuki and splurged on Ben and Jerry's ice cream. We didn't even know it existed in Kenya, and what a treat. It was expensive but it was sooooo good. A perfect way to end our getaway!
Here's to 15 years and many, many more to come!
