On Location: Out of Africa

The same day as we went to Hell's Canyon, we headed onwards to Lake Naivasha. Lake Naivasha is freshwater, and has hippos (you can just see the top of one and its ears in the third photo below)!!! This area is part of the Great Rift Valley in Africa, too.

 We drove to the lake, and took a boat across to Crescent Island. Crescent Island is where the film Out of Africa was shot. Originally, most of the animals you can see on the island did not live there. They were brought in for the filming, so that the film crew could be safe from the predatory/dangerous animals in the Great Rift Valley, yet still film shots of the gazelles, impala, water buck, water buffalo, antelopes, giraffes, zebra, warthog, and more.  As far as I understand it, the only cat that has been brought into this ecosystem is the spotted hyena. After filming, the animals were left there, and it has since become a flourishing reserve.

 As with the previous biking trip, this was walking--very rare in a safari experience, as it is usually too dangerous. It was amazing to wander around the island and be so close to the animals. One of my favourites were the giraffes. There was a baby giraffe that was just 10 days old (not that you'd know it), and I enjoyed watching the tower of giraffes (who knew a group of giraffes was called a "tower") amble around, eating from the beautiful yellow acacia trees.

A surprise find was a python. In fact, we saw three of them--baby Rock Pythons in a burrow. These snakes get to be 6 meters (20 feet) long. Our guide told us that they don't bother humans much, but wikipedia tells me that they are "opportunistic feeders, and will consume almost any animal that they come across and can overpower by constriction . . . adults are capable of taking very large prey, including young crocodiles, goats, gazelles, warthogs, and even humans, making them potentially very dangerous." I'm glad we didn't see the mother!

In addition to the animals, as the sun started to set, a beautiful combination of clouds, late afternoon sun and a view of rain that hadn't quite hit us, conspired to create a beautiful backdrop for the landscapes.

 The experience was just breathtaking, and my photographs don't do it justice. My camera is just a point and shoot, as I have been attempting to keep my pack weight down to less than 11 kg. If I were to go again to East Africa, or another wildlife-focused location, I think I might have to splurge on a camera with a decent zoom. However, the memories are more important, and it was a perfect day.