Safari Day 5 - Aberdare & Lake Nakuru National Park

There wasn't much activity at the watering hole during the night but around 3:00AM we were awakened by a group of 6 hyenas outside our window. In the morning this large forest hog was grazing outside the window.



This young bushbuck made an appearance at the watering hole, as it headed to the salt lick.



After breakfast we board a small bus and head down the dusty park road to return to the Aberdare Country Club to reunite with our tour guides.



Mt. Kenya in the distance.



We pack our luggage into the Land Cruiser at the Aberdare Country Club and prepare for our next stop, Lake Nakuru National Park.



The Aberdare Country Club peacocks give us a sendoff.



As we travel to Lake Nakuru National Park we pass through the Kenyan farmland.





This area is noted for growing red onions and other vegetables. Our tour guide stopped and bought some garlic at one of these roadside stands.







A truckload of cabbage headed for the market in the town of Nakuru.



We pass back and forth across the Equator at least 3 times on todays travels.





A Cape Buffalo skull at the entrance to Lake Nakuru National Park.



Time for lunch at the Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge, located within Lake Nakuru National Park.



Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge overlooks Lake Nakuru.




A weaverbird nest next to the restaurant.



After lunch it was time for a game drive around the Park where we hope to see some of the 25+ eastern black rhinoceros. The Park also has around 70+ southern white rhinos. We soon found these Helmeted Guineafowl.



Grant's zebra, the smallest of six subspecies of the plains zebra.



Water monitor lizard



A large herd of Cape Buffalo along the shore of Lake Nakuru.



We move in closer to the lake and the Cape Buffalo.



Lake Nakuru is home to large concentrations of flamingos due to its abundance of algae. Lake Nakuru is a very shallow in an endorheic basin (limited drainage basin) which causes warm alkaline waters that produce the algae.



A tower (group) of Rothschild's giraffes.



The Rothschild's giraffe is one of the most endangered distinct populations of giraffe, with 1,669 individuals estimated in the wild in 2016. In the center of this photo is a new born Rothschild's giraffe.



This baby Rothschild's giraffe is only a day or two old and still has the umbilical cord still attached.



Giraffes eating leaves from the thorny acacia trees.





A troop of Baboons with Zebra and Impala in the background.



A large male baboon.



A female baboon with a young one on her back.





A Secretary Bird (Sagittarius serpentarius). These are very large birds with an eagle-like body and crane-like legs. They can reach a height of over 4 feet tall.



We find some male Impala as we continue to look for the rhinos.



Finally at the end of the game drive we spot two rhinos far in the distance, in a swampy area. The rhinos are in the middle of the photo.



Following our game drive at Lake Nakuru National Park we are back on the road heading for the Great Rift Valley Lodge at Lake Naivasha.

Along the drive I noticed this unusual cloud formation that resembled a face with pointy ears (or the Pointy Haired Boss from the Dilbert comic strip)



The view from our room at the Great Rift Valley Lodge.