Kenya - Day 3

(This post is by Kat Harding.)

Day 2:
We started our day at 5:30 am with coffee to wake us up for our sunrise game drive. The sun rose with vibrant pinks and oranges, which only dotted the background of the wildlife right before our eyes. As the sun shone through the trees a rhino crossed our path and then we continued our journey up a bumpy road to the top of a hill. With the sun shining bright, we got out of the car and walked around to see more giraffes, Cape buffalo, zebras, and a variety of birds. From there our drivers skillfully navigated our cars down the steep and rocky hillside back to camp. Upon arrival Fridah had prepared a delicious breakfast with fresh mango bananas, along with scrambled eggs, sausage and toast. During breakfast a blue balled monkey snuck in and stole two bananas. The monkey then proceeded to run through one of our tents. By 12 we had left camp again and set off towards Park Ngare Nadre. We drove through several communities in between the conservancy and as our car drove past we were greeted with waves from small children on their way to church or herding their goats, sheep, and cows. Once we reached the forest a guide hopped in our vehicle and directed us towards the waterfalls. As we hiked down the hillside we could hear the rushing water and once we finally reached the bottom we were excited to see a pool of fresh water falling from one of the three water falls we saw today. There we jumped into the freezing cold water to cool down after scaling down the hillside. After several minutes of swimming a numbness started to spread to most of our bodies so we climbed out and continued to hike , but this time we climbed upwards. Our trek up hill was shortly rewarded with the sight of another pool created by a small waterfall. Here many of us experienced our first time rock jumping as we all leapt from the top of the water fall into the pool. After more swimming we climbed out and up to the last and most breathtaking scene, the water source for Ngare Ndare. After our final swim we continued to eat lunch at the platform of a tree canopy. We left the tree canopy and went on our night time game drive before returning to camp for a delicious dinner.

⁃ Kat Harding