Postcard from Kenya and Cape Town February-March 2010

After a painless flight I arrived safely in Nairobi on the evening of Tuesday 23 February. I was taken to the Fairview Hotel for the night, where I had to repack and put my Bush-gear into a small bag as I was only allowed 15k on my flights into the Bush. This I did with a whisky and a delicious bowl of tomato soup! I fell into bed at midnight and slept fitfully!

At 6.45 the next morning I was off on safari! My original flight had been cancelled so I went on a small plane which took me over Kenya for an hour – we flew passed Mount Kenya and on via Loisaba to Nanyuki – most of the time I had the little plane to myself and it was just wonderful! A second small plane – again to myself – took me to the airstrip at Elsa’s Kopje in Meru National Park. An amazing camp – and my room felt like it was out of doors! I fear I might hear too much over night!! Around me are plenty of birds and lizards and little guinea-pig type animals called Bush Hyrax which seem to be everywhere and like to use the shelf around my room as a racing track!

I spent the morning quietly unpacking and getting a feel for the place. Then had drink by the pool, lunched with the Manager, Sue, and spent the afternoon by the pool until 4.30 when I went off on my first game drive with George, my Guide. We had a good evening, saw quite a lot of small game plus a few white rhino, masses of giraffe. Around 6.15 we stopped for a sundowner in the Bush with giraffes as the backdrop! Then drove back to the camp for a quick change and dinner which tonight was in the garden – I was joined again by Sue and by Brenton, who had just arrived as trainee camp manager.

After a good night’s sleep, I was woken at 6am with a glass of juice and then went off on my next game drive, and Brenton came too. Again saw lots of game, including elephant, hippo, Grevvy’s zebra, which is very rare. Stopped for our picnic breakfast overlooking a river, and there we saw a crocodile sunbathing! Back to the camp at about 11 o’clock and we saw a little bush baby just on the approach to the camp – very rare as it is nocturnal. I spent the rest of the day relaxing at the Camp until the next Game Drive at 4.30 – a good drive but didn’t see so much – mostly buffalo and elephants, but that evening we had our sundowners with zebra as our backdrop! On return to my room at the camp I found a bat in my room which took a bit of dealing with! Having ducked and dived I hid behind my mosquito netting around my bed and at dinner asked the manager to get rid of it, which she duly did! We then had dinner under the stars!

On Friday morning I was up again for another game drive at 6.30 with George, and we had a great drive – saw many things very close up and actually saw seven lion, three of them in a tree! This morning we had our picnic breakfast with giraffes and a buffalo! Returned to the lodge around 10.45 to find elephants blocking our way, so we gently persuade them to move and let us through! After a light lunch and a quiet break by the pool I set off again with George on an evening game drive. Luck was with us again. We went back to where the lions were in the morning and found two and another walking away. With that two other cars arrived so we drove off and came back 15 minutes later when those cars had moved on. We found the lions still there and by searching the area we found the lioness who had wandered off. We stuck with her and watched her walk to the river for a drink and then walk back – absolutely wonderful sight! Our drive continued with the odd spotting of elephant, giraffe, and various types of the deer family until it came to ‘sundowner’ time. Having failed to find any animals to drink with we stopped to admire the mountains and within minutes four jackal walked by – quite amazing! A great day of game viewing! The day finished with dinner under the stars and I was joined at my table by the boss of Cheli & Peacock who owns the lodge, plus his Operations Manager, and of course Sue and Brenton, so we had a fun dinner.

Early on Saturday 27th, my last day at Elsa’s Kopje, George and I set off again this time on a long drive through the National Park to see Elsa’s grave – a really peaceful place to have our breakfast. We then did a short game drive at the end and saw a huge herd of buffalo as well as the remains of a ‘kill’ [a small zebra]. After a quiet afternoon by the pool George and I set off again, saw quite a lot of game and many large birds, finishing with a lion who had just killed but who was sadly rather distant and we couldn’t get close. So back to the camp for my last dinner at Elsa’s which was another fun one in the garden.

At 6.30am on Sunday 28th George and I set off to find our lion and we managed to get quite close but not close enough for good photos. So we had our breakfast and then went back to the camp to pick up two others and thence on to Meru strip for my flight to Olonana. It was quite long in a small plane as it hopped across Kenya for two and a half hours but it was great to see the countryside. Arrived at Olonana’s air strip where my guide, Joseph, met me. We had to wait for two others, Ted and Barbara, on the next flight, 15 minutes later, and then we set off through the wonderful Mara countryside passing lots of game as we went. We arrived at Olonana Camp around noon, where I have a nice room, built into a tent – it’s a very smart tent with electrics and running water! The camp is built alongside the Mara River and my tent is right beside the river. After unpacking I had a relaxing lunch then spent the afternoon at my ‘tent’ watching the hippos and baboons on the opposite bank of the river. At 4pm I went off on a wonderful game drive through the Mara with Joseph, plus Ted and Barbara, and we had a great time. Saw a pride of ten lions, plus another solo lion, a black rhino, plenty of elephants, one group with a particularly young calf, as well as a mass of varying antelopes etc, and sadly one very very young giraffe without a mother and with a bad leg.. We eventually left the park at 6.30 and had our sundowners overlooking the Mara before returning to Olonana camp for dinner.

On Monday we set off after an early breakfast on another game drive. We soon saw some delightful young lion cubs, but they were really only visible with binoculars, so we made our way on into the Mara, and lo and behold there were four cheetahs. Quite incredible! They had just made a kill and were enjoying their meal! We watched them for about an hour, with vultures hovering ahead in nearby trees waiting for the carcass. The cheetahs then wandered around near to our car so we saw them close up before lying down to sleep off their meal. After a coffee-stop we went on a search for lions but our Land Rover got very stuck in a bad ditch and it took poor Joseph half an hour to get us out of the ditch! They have had a lot of rain recently and the tracks in the Mara are very wet so we tended to slip and slide and waltz our way along the muddy tracks, sometimes more like rivers than roads, with mud flying everywhere! On the way back to Olonana we saw rhino, hippo, giraffe and many other animals. Then a late lunch and a large glass of wine! That afternoon it absolutely poured with rain, so that when we set out for our evening drive we could not get across the ford-bridge to the Mara Park as the river was moving at a tremendous rate. We eventually drove in at an ‘illegal’ entrance, but we saw nothing and got pretty wet in spite of our special raincoats! After a sundowner – or rather a raindowner – in the park we drove back to the camp.

On Tuesday 2nd March, Joseph and I, with Ted and Barbara, set off on a fantastic 9 hours in the park. Our first view of the park was with sun rising over the Mara – a truly beautiful sight. Then we journeyed across the park, making our way towards the Tanzanian border. However, unbelievably, Joseph suddenly saw a male lion in the long grass in the distance so we hurried towards him and there he was with his two lionesses. We stayed with them for a while until they started to move, and then Joseph decided he knew what they would do! And he was right of course! They made for the road we had been on so we raced back there and watched them make a kill of a baby gazelle. We followed the lioness with the kill, and the lion chased her taking the ‘kill’ off her, so the lioness missed her meal! We sat and watched them for quite a while – listening to the lion crunch the bones of the little gazelle, all rather sad. Eventually they all lay down to sleep and we moved on. Quite amazing! So we ventured on towards the Tanzanian border where we stopped for our excellent bush breakfast just short of the border and after breakfast stopped a little further to admire the Serengeti. We then set off to see a lot more animals, including a rhino, buffalo, giraffe very close up, loads of hippos out of the water, some standing up, and three huge crocodiles not to mention a few other lions in the distance. Then unbelievably Joseph spotted a leopard and we got very close before he descended his tree and shot off into the long grass. Joseph was a marvel that day, even though he got us stuck again in the very muddy Mara, and it took us over an hour to get unstuck! We eventually got back for a late lunch at 3.45! But what an incredible morning – the Big Five in one go!

Later that afternoon in rather rainy conditions, Joseph took me across to see a Masai village just behind the camp. It was an extraordinary place – all their cows in the middle with a bush around them, their tiny mud homes, their bright clothing with so many beads around their necks. I had an enjoyable hour with these people before going back to the camp for a quiet dinner. There was so much rain over night that by next morning everything in my ‘tent’ was really damp and I was quite glad to be moving on! It was a wonderful three days with a brilliant guide.

I was up early on Wednesday 3rd to pack and after breakfast I set off for the airstrip that was about 40 minutes from the camp. There I took a small plane to Nairobi, arriving at midday. I was taken on a short tour of Nairobi, as well as making a brief visit to Karen Blixon’s house in the Karen suburb. Had a nice lunch at The Verandah in Karen and then headed for the airport for my evening flight to Mombasa. I arrived at 7pm and was in the Serena by 8pm, and it was good to have a bath and recover from the safari! The hotel is set in wonderful gardens, with a good sized pool. My bedroom is very small but overlooks the ocean and the garden and I am just minutes from the pool. So my days at the Serena were spent relaxing with a book, swimming and soaking up some sunshine!

On Tuesday 9th March I set off back to Nairobi on an early morning flight and got to the Norfolk Hotel soon after midday. The hotel gave me a lousy room and their pool was not working but thankfully I was invited to visit the De La Rue banknote factory that afternoon so I did not have to worry too much about the hotel. The DLR General Manager picked me up around 2.15 and off I went for a most enjoyable afternoon in the DLR factory. It was great to be back and I found it all fascinating – bringing back many happy memories! In the evening I joined the GM for some drinks and then helped him entertain some visiting customers. A fun afternoon and evening!

After a very short night, I went back to the airport for a very early flight to Jo’burg and on to Cape Town, and it didn’t take long to get out of the airport and on to my apartment on the Marina. It is a lovely place overlooking the Cape Town Waterfront and from my bedroom I have a view of Table Mountain. On the first day I discovered that I had a friend at the Cape Grace Hotel, so joined him for drinks at 6.30 for an hour before he had to leave for the airport. Day two was spent at the pool relaxing in the sunshine, and day three I went out to the winelands with my new Tour Guide, Bryan. We had an excellent day, starting at Durbanville Hills winery, and then went on to the Waterford Estate where you can taste wine with chocolate! We had a lovely lunch at Dieux Donné overlooking the Franschhoek and Stellenbosch valley. After lunch we called into Rickety Bridge winery before making a long tour across the Franschhoek Pass and we drove off-road across farmlands to Botriver coming back on to the main road Kleinmond. After stopping at Steenbraswate Pump Station for a good view of the Strand we drove along the coast to Gordons Bay and back to Cape Town by 7pm.

After a quiet Sunday by the pool, I spent Monday morning on my balcony and then met up with a new friend for lunch at Wakame at Mouille Point which was excellent. Walked around the Waterfront for a while in the afternoon and saw my old ship Discovery in port! On Tuesday went into the Waterfront to meet two old friends for lunch at Willoughbys. After leaving them went for a ‘glass’ at the new hotel the ‘One & Only’ – meant to be a seven star hotel. Stunning view from their bar but not sure about the seven stars! The next week, except for one rather cloudy day, was spent quietly by the pool soaking up the sunshine, with the occasional meeting with friends! On the Saturday I met up with my friend June for some coffee and scrambled eggs in the extended Cape Quarter, and then we went on for a glass of wine at the fabulous new restaurant, The Grand & Beach, and on the Sunday met up with some friends for lunch at Baia on the Waterfront. One evening, I met up with Kerry, daughter of my friend/guide who died last year, and we had a glass at the Cape Grace. But mostly it was days by the pool and evenings quietly in my apartment – it was just so wonderful to sit on your balcony in the evening with a glass and just watch Cape Town by night! A fantastic holiday! Sadly back home on 26 March but thankfully just ahead of the BA strike!