This is an odd Dragoman adventure because Christi and I are joining part way through and will leave before the truck reaches its final destination. Once again when I was planning this in San Francisco and looking at ways to explore the remote north of Kenya, Dragoman was the only reliable overland company that ventured up that way. There was no guarantee of course that there would be space available or that our itineraries would mesh, but somehow they did. Because this is not the start or finish of a section, there is no formal joining meeting. Instead Christi and I search out the drivers at the Boulevard hotel in Nairobi, pay both our joining fee and kitty and then its all aboard the Dragoman express (see here for more details on joining a Dragoman tour). Next stop Lake Nakuru National Park. In truth we could have combined a visit to Lake Nakuru with a visit to the Masai Mara National Reserve, but as Dragoman are going to Nakuru anyway, there seems little point in paying twice.
Our Dragoman truck goes by the decidedly unrugged name of Nora. It takes almost 3-hours of spluttering and coughing before we reach Lake Nakuru National Park, which lies in Central Kenya, 140 km north-west of Nairobi. The park mainly comprises the soda lake itself, although over the years more land has been set aside including savannah grasslands around the lake and an escarpment overlooking the lake. The park supports a wide ecological diversity, especially the Greater and Lesser flamingos. Indeed, the lake is a world famous habitat for Greater flamingos (bill has a black tip; less common) and Lesser flamingo (deep red carmine bill and pink plumage; more common). And these guys come in the hundreds of thousands. It has been estimated that as many as two million flamingos call the lake home. They feed on the abundant algae, which thrives in the warm waters.
After looking at the lake and flamingos close up we drive up to the top of the escarpment and view the lake from Baboon Cliff, before continuing on to Makalia North campsite. As we’re putting up the tents and the guys on cooking duty prepare dinner it starts to rain. Just great. The toilet block also leaves a lot to be desired and while there are showers, the water is absolutely freezing. All in all, it’s a cold, damp night and the last thing thing I want to be doing is sleeping under canvas. Torrid images of the Hilton hotel in Addis Ababa fill my night-time dreams: rolling around in a king-sized bed amid clean white sheets, luxuriating in a steaming hot bath, and fine dining in a fancy restaurant. It’s a shame the reality does not match my raunchy dreams, although apparently lions were seen on the periphery of the camp site during the night. Missed that.
Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching tale of love and test tubes.
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