Mt. Kenya
Trip Start
Jul 13, 2005
1
3
11
Trip End
Aug 06, 2005
Where I stayed
Mount Kenya National Park,
Kenya
Monday, July 18, 2005
We breakfasted, loaded the vehicle, and were off. Along the road we stopped to watch a troop of baboons play and fight. We could have watched them for hours, but we were on the way to Mt Kenya-at 16,728 feet, it is Africa's second highest peak. "Our drive will take us into the Central Highlands, the heartland of the Kikuyu people. This is a very fertile region, well-watered, intensively cultivated, and thickly forested. The land was coveted by the Europeans who began arriving in ever-increasing numbers once the railway through the area was completed. The settlers established coffee and tea plantations on the eastern slopes of Mt Kenya and cultivated wheat on the western slopes" (from the brochure). As usual, we stopped at a souvenir store at mid-morning. Our lunch stop was at the Trout Tree Restaurant. It was set in a lovely valley with lots of trees. Our table was on a platform about halfway up a tree, with a great view of the trout pond/beverage cooler. We saw troops of black and white long-haired colobus monkeys, a rock hyrax (a gopher-sized animal whose closest relative is the elephant), and cute squirrels. The food (Steve had trout, of course) was delicious.
Our accommodations for the night were at the Serena Mountain Lodge, "uniquely designed and situated to provide one with an often extremely close-up view of a wide variety of wild animals as they come to drink and cavort." The lodge is configured in a large semicircle around a waterhole which favored by the animals for the salty soil around it. The accommodations were not plush, but we did get to see a lot of animals. Steve took the optional nature walk. Judy stayed up late to watch the animals. We saw waterbuck, Cape buffalo, and elephant. There was also a very determined gazelle that kept trying to get to the water, but it was shooed away by the elephant. One baby elephant practiced his trumpeting on a bird. Finally, the smaller animals were driven off by three hyena, leaving just the elephants. Two of the elephant were not getting along and we could hear trumpeting and the trampling of bush as they vied for dominance.
