Lake Nakuru

Lake Nakuru & Lake Naivasha Safari

This page is basically dedicated to everything else I did in Kenya that was not at the Masai Mara. Throughout my journey in East Africa, I spent about three nights in Nairobi, though never more than one in succession. Nairobi's crime problem is so well documented that it has been branded "Nairobbery". With that said there are still many things to see and do in Nairobi, most notably its cuisine scene. The best restaurant in town is without a doubt, the aptly name Carnivore. In fact, carnivore has been voted one of the top 50 restaurants in the world and is a must not miss for any traveler in Kenya. Here waiters come by with skewers of all sorts of meat, including game meat. The menu changes daily with different animals on the grill every night. When I was there crocodile (tastes like a cross between fish and chicken), ostrich (very, very tasty rich meat), and camel (not quite so good) were the meats being served and they keep bringing more as long as you keep your little flag on a toothpick up. I was also sure to get some Ethiopian food in as well. Nairobi is a good escape from the rather banal cuisine found elsewhere in East Africa - which often consists of matoke - a sort of meat / rice and boiled vegetable stew. Matoke is an acquired taste and must be accompanied by several boxes of toothpicks. There are also many excellent places to eat and drink while seeing African music and dancing in Nairobi. The National Museum is another excellent, yet often overlooked destination in Nairobi. Basically be cautious in Nairobi, but not paranoid.

My first safari experience was at the birdwatchers favorite, Lake Nakuru National Park. The wildlife park surrounds Lake Nakuru, which makes a spectacular view from a distance due to the fact that over a million flamingos congregate all around the lake's perimeter. The flamingos form an outline that gives an appearance of a pink beach, or some sort of red tide. The other main treat here is the abundance of white rhino - which is all but extinct elsewhere in East Africa.

Next we visited Hell's Gate National Park near Lake Naivasha. While the wildlife isn't quite as spectacular as in Masai Mara or Nakuru, it does offer some fantastic walking tours through the Gorge and Fischer's Tower. Parts of Tomb Raider 2 were filmed here. Lastly, there are some photos of Mombassa, which I visited on my way back to Nairobi from Zanzibar. I didn't really do much there as I only had one night and a couple of hours in the morning but did get some photos of the fort. Once again, if you have any information on some of these animals, or if I've mislabeled anything, please let me know.