Ups and Downs at Aberdares

Africa is much like college in that the good days are great and the bad ones are much worse (or in this case, parts of days). This past weekend decided to stick to me in both ways. The Nairobi Expat Social Facebook group organized a trip to the Aberdares and wanting dearly to depart (temporarily) from Nairobbery, I leapt at the chance. About three hours north of Nairobi, Aberdares National Park is a forest reserve nestled in the mountains and across the valley from Mount Kenya, the highest peak in the country. Staying at the Rhino Watch Lodge, it was my first time sleeping in a tent in Africa, complete with a full bathroom and electricity and views of Mount Kenya.

View from the hotel

While the group left early in the morning to avoid traffic, we did not arrive at the park until 2:30p after a late lunch, thanks to slow hotel staff. Our first stop was actually the Solio Game Reserve which was a disappointment because I wanted to visit an actual national park. Unfortunately, their rules did not allow multiple visits within 24 hours, what our group planned to do, and instead, we drove to the Aberdares headquarters to do just that. Unfortunately, each national park can set its own rules and Aberdares changed its rules to allow for single entry, full day visits and not 24 hours, and failed to make this clear anywhere. We had hoped to visit that afternoon and return the next morning.

In almost any other country in the world, visiting a national park is a simple process of paying a small fee and entering. The Kenya Wildlife Service created a different system of milking the tourists like underweight cows and for a non-resident (white Westerner), it is $50 to enter Aberdares. I thought I would pay student rate ($25) but because I did not arrange it two weeks beforehand, I could not take advantage of that. I understand Kenya is a developing country and requires its parks to fund themselves for the most part while coping with challenges such as poaching, drunk Western tourists and animals that can kill them. But at the same time, western companies and donors such as the EU and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service gave more than 1m killings to Aberdares alone. I get that they want to milk the people who are spending thousands of dollars on a Kenyan vacation but I am a student, $50 is a lot for two hours, single entry and roads that are too muddy for the van.

The fees themselves are not even the worst part. They can only be paid on a smartchip enabled Safaricard. It uses the same technology as Washington Metro’s Smartrip card without providing any training to its employees to handle the occasions (many) when it does not work. First, we had to sort out the fees yesterday at the headquarters which was confusing and took two hours in order to return early the next morning to try to see some animals. Gone went my $50, thanks to rules which made no sense, and the fact that they took Visa. Anyhow, we back to the hotel, relaxed some more in the chilly evening and went to bed early because breakfast was at 6:30a (which was 7a Kenya time).

By 8a Sunday, we hit the road for Aberdares, not unreasonably expecting to breeze through the gate and see some animals going about their morning. Unfortunately, the Kenya Wildlife Service’s gate woman was not fully awake (or maybe hung-over or high?) and could not let us proceed because the money on the Safaricards did not add up. It took 45 minutes to determine that we had actually overpaid, someone who qualified for a resident rate paid the non-resident $50. We saw a couple of buffalo in the distance but it was tremendously frustrating to spend three hours trying to enter a national park.

Once we were finally on our way, the scenery was a dramatic change from anywhere I have been. There was lush, thick forest but not tropical, with only red dirt roads and the occasional clearing or meadow area to break it up. How could we possibly see any animals here? Quiet, concentrated scanning was the only way and fortunately, 16 eye balls did the job. The van had a neat popup top and we all stood vigilant for the slightest movement. More buffalo appeared right next to the road, complete with full, curved horns. While rounding a corner, another animal was spotted in the distance, something deer like with horns.  I saw my first troop of baboons and then little else other the gorgeous scenery and more trees. The road we were one was fairly busy and most animals learned to avoid it. After two hours, one van was ready for lunch (at 11a!) and my van wanted to see animals.

We split up and my van went back to Solio Game Reserve. Shortly after entering the park, my camera’s auto-focus stopped working and many of my pictures are quite blurry. Such is Africa but fortunately Mica took some gorgeous shots! I was a little worried when I just saw miles of fence but we quickly passed through and drove along a creek. Within minutes, we began to see gazelles and more buffaloes, and then zebras! My photos came out okay but I mostly have video.

On a ridge, we saw three humps on another ridge in the distance and with binoculars, we could barely make out some horns. But on the drive towards that general direction and a amid some zebras and gazelles, we saw a rhino and her baby! It was a cute little guy but the van made her nervous and we did not see the pair very long. We then saw a black rhino walking across a dry creek, only 150’ away! Not too much further up the creek bed, we saw a nervous, lone gazelle and immediately drove towards tall grass in search of lions. That was a bust but just as we reentered the creek bed, Mica saw a lion and lioness less than 100’ away! We immediately drove right up to them because it was the daytime when they sleep and are not generally aggressive. We came with 10’ of the pair, close enough for Mica to identify the female as blind in one eye, which was possibly why she moved away as we drove close. Then as we turned around, we saw another pair of lions, a little younger than the first couple, and lying in the grass just like Ginny. It was incredible to get so close to the king of Africa and not fear for my life!

Eventually, we moved on towards another ridge. In the distance, we saw five rhinos, white rhinos in a herd, two off to one side and three in a defense formation. Behind them, Mount Kenya obscured by clouds. It was a perfect end to the safari but luckily, safaris end at the gate! We saw giraffes up close and more buffaloes on our way out. It was an awesome first safari and I cannot wait to go on another.