I woke up this morning before the sun had even begun to rise. The rain from last night was just coming to an end and I watched as the small droplets slid down my window. In the dark I got dressed, made breakfast, and packed a lunch for the day. Seven of us met down by the front gate at 6:30 to venture up to lake Nukuru to see the wildlife that live around the lake. The whole way up Evans, our amazing guide and driver, was eager to tell us all about the animals we might see. As we drove down the highway, passing cars on the one lane road and nearly running into other cars head-on, I tried to shut my eyes to get some sleep. Once I had managed to drift off I was jolted awake as the van came to a halt. We had been pulled over by the police. As Evans spoke with the police behind our van we all wondered what was going on. It turned out Evans had passed another car illegally (although it all seems the same to me) and had been pulled over. He ran back to the car and explained he had to get something small to give to the officer. Essentially, he had to bribe the officer to let him off. After having a lesson on corruption in Kenya less than a week ago in Institutional Strengthening a lot of us were excited to get our first glimpse into some of the corruption that exists on an everyday basis for many people. After this quick exchange we were back on the road to Nukuru.
After several hours we pulled into the Nukuru wildlife park. As we were trying to pay to enter the park we encountered our second hiccup of the day. The officials were refusing to accept our pupils passes as documentation of residency and as such they wanted us to pay the tourist price of $80. Well not only were we surprised our passes weren’t accepted (they’ve been accepted everywhere else) $80 was way more than all of us could afford. We were able to speak to the manager, who just confirmed what the other officers said – she would not let us in on principle of following the rules. We got into a very heated discussion with her trying to explain we are in fact residents and every other Kenyan Wildlife Service unit had accepted our passes. Finally, she decided she’d be nice and give us the “student rate” of $40 (even though she refused to give us the residents price on principle of following the rules, yet here she was willing to “bend” the rules to give us a discount). Since $40 was still way too expensive for most of us we decided we had no option but to leave. On our way out Evans was able to contact a higher warden and they agreed we should receive residents price so right before climbing back into the van the customer service woman ran back out informing us she had changed her mind and she would accept our documents if we could provide receipts from other parks (luckily some of us had the receipts from Longonot). Eventually, after almost an hour later, we were able to pay the kSh 1200 (about $13) and enter the park. This was a good reminder to all of us that things are not always easy and to be grateful we’ve had relatively uneventful experiences so far. It also made us that much more excited to get to go into the park.
Right away we spotted herds of impala and zebra right by the side of the road and some buffalo off in the distance. As we drove along we spotted many kinds of animals from the van, some of them extremely close others far off in the distance. We also saw animal carcasses from lion kills and while sad, it was really neat to see the circle of life in action – super cliché, I know. We climbed to the top of a hill where we had the most breathtaking view of the lake below and baboons climbing all around us. We got out of the van to take pictures and watch the monkeys. Down in the lake we could see the outline of hundreds of flamingos. Nukuru is one of Kenya’s salt-water lakes so it is home to flamingos and other species that rely on the salt water. Evans then took us down to the lake so we could get a close up view. He even threw a rock at them (sooo illegal) so that we could see the beautiful colors of their wings as they flew away. Back in the van we came upon the most majestic giraffes off in the distance. The giraffe surrounded by acacia trees and the savannah was one of the most iconic Kenyan images I have seen so far – it was absolutely stunning. Shortly after we spotted a giraffe right by the side of the road that stopped to pose for our pictures. Later, we drove by a beautiful waterfall before it began to rain and we decided to start heading back to Nairobi. In the rain all the impalas stand completely still all facing the same angle. It is one of the most interesting things I have ever seen. Today (like I say almost everyday) was one of the most incredible days. To be so close to some of the world’s most amazing creatures and to experience some of the most diverse and beautiful landscapes was just absolutely breathtaking. Definitively not a casual Saturday activity we could have back home in DC.
After several hours we pulled into the Nukuru wildlife park. As we were trying to pay to enter the park we encountered our second hiccup of the day. The officials were refusing to accept our pupils passes as documentation of residency and as such they wanted us to pay the tourist price of $80. Well not only were we surprised our passes weren’t accepted (they’ve been accepted everywhere else) $80 was way more than all of us could afford. We were able to speak to the manager, who just confirmed what the other officers said – she would not let us in on principle of following the rules. We got into a very heated discussion with her trying to explain we are in fact residents and every other Kenyan Wildlife Service unit had accepted our passes. Finally, she decided she’d be nice and give us the “student rate” of $40 (even though she refused to give us the residents price on principle of following the rules, yet here she was willing to “bend” the rules to give us a discount). Since $40 was still way too expensive for most of us we decided we had no option but to leave. On our way out Evans was able to contact a higher warden and they agreed we should receive residents price so right before climbing back into the van the customer service woman ran back out informing us she had changed her mind and she would accept our documents if we could provide receipts from other parks (luckily some of us had the receipts from Longonot). Eventually, after almost an hour later, we were able to pay the kSh 1200 (about $13) and enter the park. This was a good reminder to all of us that things are not always easy and to be grateful we’ve had relatively uneventful experiences so far. It also made us that much more excited to get to go into the park.
Right away we spotted herds of impala and zebra right by the side of the road and some buffalo off in the distance. As we drove along we spotted many kinds of animals from the van, some of them extremely close others far off in the distance. We also saw animal carcasses from lion kills and while sad, it was really neat to see the circle of life in action – super cliché, I know. We climbed to the top of a hill where we had the most breathtaking view of the lake below and baboons climbing all around us. We got out of the van to take pictures and watch the monkeys. Down in the lake we could see the outline of hundreds of flamingos. Nukuru is one of Kenya’s salt-water lakes so it is home to flamingos and other species that rely on the salt water. Evans then took us down to the lake so we could get a close up view. He even threw a rock at them (sooo illegal) so that we could see the beautiful colors of their wings as they flew away. Back in the van we came upon the most majestic giraffes off in the distance. The giraffe surrounded by acacia trees and the savannah was one of the most iconic Kenyan images I have seen so far – it was absolutely stunning. Shortly after we spotted a giraffe right by the side of the road that stopped to pose for our pictures. Later, we drove by a beautiful waterfall before it began to rain and we decided to start heading back to Nairobi. In the rain all the impalas stand completely still all facing the same angle. It is one of the most interesting things I have ever seen. Today (like I say almost everyday) was one of the most incredible days. To be so close to some of the world’s most amazing creatures and to experience some of the most diverse and beautiful landscapes was just absolutely breathtaking. Definitively not a casual Saturday activity we could have back home in DC.