Day 64 – Safari Number 2 – “Hippo Camp Game Walk”
Time: 08:30
Duration 90 mins
Animals seen… Impala
Birchall’s zebra
Giraffe (including babies suckling)
Hippo
Waterbuck
Buffalo
Pelican
Dik Dik
After the game drive we headed to Lake Baringo – 6hrs from Naivasha. On the way we stopped at the side of the road for some lunch at a river cutting its way through a small gorge.
Were originally told we might not make it to the lake as the roads had been washed away recently. Luckily there had been no rain in two months so we were ok.
When we arrived at camp the lake was very close it was up by about 200m. The really cool bit was that there was a group of hippos about 15m from the bank with babies and then I noticed a croc about 2m from my feet – a big boy about 8m in length, there were other small ones around as well.
We got the tents up and showered as dusk fell. The hippos were getting closer. Once it got dark we ate and packed away, then a guard came down and shone his torch into the trees and the hippos were all up grazing on the grass and soon disappeared as if someone had turned the torch off.
We went to bed with just the mosquito net closed so we could see the stars. The hippos must have found something hilarious because they seemed to be laughing all night long.
All of a sudden in the middle of the night Hannah woke me up because she thought the hippos were getting closer but they weren’t they just seem to be able to throw their voices. I led down then about 30 mins later I could hear a slow trudging towards out tent and the loudest munching i've ever heard. Then a torch light appeared and lit up a huge hippo just outside our tent door. Then as hippos do, disappear to get out of the light.
All night all you could hear was the hippos racing to the water like kids when they first get to the beach. The next morning we got up early for a boat trip with some of the others on a canoe type boat and got close to the hippos and saw loads of other birds, crocs as well as a fish eagle which we saw take fish from the water. There was also a chameleon stranded on a tree by the flood water.
We then had breakfast and packed up before leaving for the border into Uganda with one overnight stop in between – where Hannah had a few too many G&Ts (again)
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