Sunday, September 04, 2022

Day 4 - Lake Naivasha, Crescent Island, and Lake Nakuru

I don't know what you've been told, but time is running out, no need to take it slow
I'm stepping to you toe-to-toe, I should be scared honey, maybe so
but I ain't worried 'bout it right now, keeping dreams alive, 1999, heroes
I Ain't Worried - OneRepublic

Heard that song in Top Gun: Maverick which was really really good, as good as all the reviews say. I love it a lot. As for the song, I still cannot figure out what 1999 heroes is. Anyways, on day 4, we were were going to Lake Nakuru, but first I was to explore Lake Naivasha and Crescent Island. So K handed me over to the boat guy, David, to take me around the lake. The lake is a freshwater lake and it looks big. I saw 1-2 people fishing in it and it was interesting because they were not in a boat, instead they were in this small floating platform. I guess someone will pick them up later.

There were a lot of hippos in the lake nearer to the shore. Again David was saying they're quite aggressive and may charge if they're unhappy, but not to worry because the boat is faster. I think it will be very interesting to see baby hippo but because they're inside the water, you can't really see their whole body. In fact, it's perhaps one of the frustrating thing about hippo, kinda hard to see their whole body when they're in water. I saw one of them blowing water and it reminded me of a whale.

Then David showed me eceng gondok, I needed to google what that is in English and it's common water hyacinth. He told me that it is also a problem there. Anyways, why he's pointing it is because he's going to stuff that into a little fish he had with him and it will cause the fish to float and we'll see if an eagle would eat it. He whistled before he threw the fish and at first it seemed no bird was interested, but after a while and eagle did swoop in. He told me to quickly get the picture, but I don't think I did very well :D It was still cool though seeing that.

There were many other birds in the lake, like there were cormorants, pelicans, and many otehrs which I have forgotten the names. Most surprising was there were flamingoes too and I feel sad that I forgot if it's the greater or lesser flamingo :( They were actually quite far off and I recall they're being more white from where I was seeing them, but then when I saw my pictures and zoom in, they do have some pink in them and they're very pretty. Look at those long thin legs, they look like sticks :D Anyways, for photos from Lake Naivasha, you can go here. Many of the pictures there were taken from the lodge I stayed in.

So the boat docked at Crescent Island and David handed me to the guide, Sam, who would take me walking around the island. I would say this activity is kinda nice because in a safari, you sit the whole time, and this chance to walk around is good. That being said I don't know how big the island is, we were talking and walking and we didn't go to every corner of the island. Animals seen are giraffes, zebras, impalas, gazelles, waterbucks, and perhaps some other that I forgot.

The conversation with Sam wasn't just about nature. It's wide-ranging to things like politics, things like Chinese investment, how the approach is different than America, how there are lands in Kenya being own by foreign entity (that was so shocking to me!). His knowledge of Indonesia was of a place that produces shirt, so that's funny. He seemed to be quite well-informed and it was quite an interesting change of conversation. I don't know how long we walked while talking about these things but then he received a call and it seemed it's been long enough and we should go back. Before we leave, he showed me these holes which were aardvark holes. He told me aardvark eat ants and the dumb me had no clue what aardvark looks like so I pictured a pangolin but now that I have googled it, they're so different :D He told me, hyenas might be using the holes now and there could be hyenas sleeping inside the hole. All of this is very interesting. For photos from the island, you can go here.

When I was back reunited with K for our drive to Lake Nakuru, I reported back to him that Sam was disappointed with the election result and he had a good laugh about it. Context: the week I left for Kenya, Kenya was having a presidential election. I found out about it from a CNN article and it was projected to be close and being the Indonesian that I am, it was a source of concern if things were going to be okay, if there's going to be a riot. Mom said maybe it'd be fine, but even in America riot happened too. Luckily all seemed peaceful despite of the result being contested and claims of cheating happening. The thing with the CNN article where it tries to be impartial, I do not know which one is the better candidate. So talking with an actual Kenyan like Sam who felt strongly the wrong person won and how disappointed he was, was very refreshing and running it back with K and hearing him told me the latest news was also really good. In fact I think this conversation might be like the start of us talking just about everything :D Two jobs that K disdains are polticians and policeman. He doesn't have high regard for them in Kenya which many Indonesians can nod in agreement too though perhaps our cops are getting better? I don't know :D There were many laughters talking about this, but the point is it's encouraging that there's no violent riot and that is the most important thing. We all can agree it's not worth dying or get hurt for politicians who tend to forget their promises and not care for us at all when they're in power. Side note: I think in an election where the votes are counted on the spot at the polling stations and ordinary citizens can watch them being verified and counted, then there should be a system like the Indonesian Kawal Pemilu where ordinary citizens can upload the result in their own polling station and these can be checked and confirmed by others. So if you are a bit suspicious of the officials and the government, this impartial non-profit system can be an extra step to make sure the results are as what you see in your own polling stations, an extra guard as the name suggests. Seriously, it's a massive undertaking to have an election in Indonesia, but I am pretty proud at how the whole thing is conducted and I appreciate how hard all the people who work in it. I think it's kinda the best process I have seen so far, it's very transparent, it feels festive and also our voting day discount is pretty much institutionalized by now, so what's not to like :D

Anyways, back to the trip. The drive to Lake Nakuru is not very far. On the way to the lodge, we saw some lions. Unlike in Amboseli where I saw one, this was a group so that was quite something, but what's more amazing was what happened later in the day.

Arrived in the lodge for lunch, then a bit of a break which I used to call mom then later in the afternoon we set out to explore the park. There are more trees in this park. Saw the Rothschild's giraffes (its leg is white from the knee down), impalas, another lions, warthog, zebras, but the main draw is perhaps the flamingoes and that's the reason I was quite excited about visiting this place. There was quite a number of them and it looked so cool, but K said it's only a handful :D They used to have more. Kinda a shame that there's no way we could get closer and that my camera couldn't zoom even more that I don't have details of individual flamingo :( Other birds by the lake include ducks and pelicans.

Then on our way back to the lodge, the lions from earlier in the day were actually getting nearer to the road and one of them started walking down towards us. It was quite a sight. It was also interesting to see the rest of the lions were watching this lion making its way down.

When the lion was crossing the road in front of us and came really close to us, I asked K if he's scared. He said no and maybe he thought if I was so he asked me back. No, it was fine really. Thinking about it later, I would be scared if he's scared :D Side note: the first people I told about this trip was my BFFs when I finally made it home last May, in that dinner where I had the really good red velvet cake. It was rather uncharacteristic of me to tell them when my cousin asked me about my travel plan, because though I had the idea but nothing was firmed out and I usually don't like to tell people when nothing is firmed out because I believe it will jinx it and it has happened before, but somehow that dinner I just told them. They were like, what?!? NO! It's funny that their main concern was this exact thing that I would get too close to the animals and it would be dangerous. That was the main concern, not about me going to a country so unknown alone. They were like, you can go to the safari park outside Jakarta to see the animals. I had to tell them it's gonna be fine and it was fine really. After crossing the road, the lion settled not so far from me, it was so cool. There were zebras at a far distance. I'm not sure if it was stalking it, but it's pretty much not a good time, there were so many humans watching them and sometime things like this do make me think, perhaps they would rather be left alone with peace and quiet. The other lions started making their way down as well. When they were reunited, it's nice seeing them snuggling and acknowledging each other.

We left when they finally made their way back up to the trees. I think the too many humans made it uncomfortable for them. Seeing them made the whole day really. I came to Lake Nakuru feeling so excited about seeing flamingoes but seeing those lions that up close was really something. Sometime you get lucky in a safari I guess and somehow with me, it seems most of the interesting things I got to see was closer to when we're about to leave. The last thing we saw that day was a group of baboons. Many of them have baby baboons and baby baboons really have a good grip, they could really hang on to their mothers.

:) eKa @ 3:03:00 PM •