Day 6 - Samburu

6:00 ⏰ We want to leave at 7:00 and wake up a little earlier - not as early as at home when working 😅 Shower is only lukewarm...🙁 Probably not enough sun yesterday. It is still foggy and drizzling lightly. But today we are driving to the lowland and hope for a few more degrees 🌡 Ollie washed the Land Cruiser 😆 We are sitting comfortably in the back for the almost 3.5-hour drive. The closer we get to Mount Kenya, the better the weather gets 😊☀️ Suddenly there is a bright blue sky here. In Timau we see a large umbrella tree ☂️🌴 On the outskirts, there are huge greenhouses - we guess, but can't figure it out... Roses are grown here. 🌹 Albright says that about 50% of the world's rose production comes from Kenya!

We pass an 'elephant corridor' - a tunnel crossing under the road so that elephants can move between different parks 🐘🐘🐘

The landscape here reminds us a bit of the Teletubbies land - with almost perfect hills 😅 Infobia (cacti trees 🌵) are standing everywhere

We pass by Isiolo, one of the most important northern cities in Kenya. Most of the people here are of Islamic faith.

It's getting noticeably warmer 😊 We reach the Samburu National Park (156km²) around 10:30. The Samburu people are related to the Maasai.

Dry and warm climate, sandy soil, the brown river flows here (it comes from the mountains near Ol Pejeta), from which almost all the animals in the park drink.

Right at the start, a Grevy's zebra (protected species) 🦓 and a gerenuk, we see Somali ostriches (male: black and white, female: gray), Grant's gazelles, lighter warthogs, yellow-billed hornbills, vulturine guineafowl, village weavers (large hanging community nests on the trees).

Albright tells us about the Samburu 5: Somali ostrich, Grevy's zebras, gerenuks, reticulated giraffes, and oryx antelopes.

We hear baboon cries (an indication of a predator nearby?) and find elephants by the river🐘, as well as vulturine guineafowl and baboons, bristle squirrels, hornbills, see a large eagle🦅 and oryx antelopes.

A few reticulated giraffes are galloping🦒. We see dik-diks (smallest antelope species), white-headed buffalo weavers, and fork-tailed drongos🐦.

5 large marabou storks (similar to storks) fly over us. A gray falcon sits on top of a tree, then we come across a martial eagle circling above the river.🦅

We have a lunch break in a restaurant by the brown river. Amazing scenery. Oryx antelopes, hornbills, and mongoose🦦 are all around us. Green monkeys also live here. We eat (Greek) salad 😅, kingfish, and passion fruit dessert. Ollie and Albright are not sitting with us (guide table? We are not sure). Ollie knows almost everyone here 😅 He was even a witness at one of the rangers' weddings.

While we are eating, a mother and baby hornbill come to visit our table (they look similar to Zazu from The Lion King😉). Just like us, they don't like olives 😅😅😅 We protect our bread, but they steal our butter 🤣

Similar to sparrows in Germany, there are many eyebrowed weavers here.

On the way back to the entrance, the big moment comes. We find a leopard 🐆☺ It is shy and difficult to photograph between the bushes, but we manage to take a picture 😇 Lucky shot!!!

After that, we see a few Somali ostriches (male/female). There is a vulture sitting on a tree. Benny asks if there is carrion here? Shortly after, we see about 20 vultures above an oryx antelope. A cheetah nearby? Instead, we find a family of giraffes with 2 calves 🦒🥰

Today we have completed the Samburu 5 and with the leopard, we have also completed the Big 5 💪💪💪 🦁🐃🐘🦏🐆

Definitely the right decision to squeeze in this extra trip.🙂

We start the return journey at 4:30 PM. The local Samburu children wave goodbye to us.

In Isiolo, amusingly, we see many dromedaries🐪🐪🐪. They live here like goats and cows 😅

From all the searching, Melly and Benny have to take a little power nap in the car 😴😅 Mount Kenya is still covered in clouds☁️☁️☁️. It gets dark quickly at 7 PM - and also gets colder quickly.

After an almost 13-hour tour, we arrive back at the lodge and look forward to a shower 🚿 😊 Still no hot water though... 🥴🥴🥴

Last dinner at the lodge. We are the only ones in the dining room because we are so late 😅

Tomorrow we will leave for Nairobi at 10:00 and then head to the coast.🛫🏖