Amboselli and Watamu holllleeeeday!

Two of Benedikt's friends from Germany, Michael and Ronald, just came to visit us for 8 days. So we took them to Amboseli National Park for 3 days of Safari first. The drive there was quite entertaining of course, with the usual crazy overtaking maneuvers, many crashed trucks, a national highway that is a joke and typical kenyan traffic jams. It was also Benedikt's and my first time venturing out on the Mombassa highway... it didn't exactly blow us away with its superb quality and safety.
Amboseli is an interesting place. Kilimanjaro's ever present huge figure next to it adds great value to the setting...it really is a magnificent mountain. We had clear views of the top of it while we were there which apparently is quite rare, and it even acquired a snow cap during one of the nights which made it look even more impressive.
Amboseli as a park has REALLY REALLY suffered in the last couple of years with drought. We saw many many many dead animals. Zebra, wildebeest, buck, and even elephant carcasses litter the place. It really was quite sad and depressing. The animals that have survived are forced to gather at the few swamps that remain and share each others space. So its great for safari makers as you get a full on show at every swamp. So we saw lots of live (!) stuff too...plenty of elephants (the park is renowned for them), zebra, wildebeest, impala, kudus, thompsons gazelles, reedbuck, eland, giraffes, hyenas, lions, warthogs and buffalo.
I even made a list of birds that we identified! Alot I recognized from SA parks, but there were some interesting new east african birds too. Like the African spoonbill, the grey crowned crane and the african green ibis. There... dont I sound like a birder!
The place we stayed at was really lovely. All made with trees and natural objects, it was not all at kitch and yet so special and african. I really liked it. We went on some great game drives with rangers from the lodge. And had sundowners on our last evening at a beautiful setting in the bush with Kili on our left, looming over us. It was a full moon and the weather was just perfect. Add some cocktails and champagne into the mix and we all agreed what a special night that was.
Next we headed to the coast, to a place north of Mombassa, Mida Creek, which is next to Watamu. We stayed at a place called ManFridays and it was a little piece of paradise! I just LOVED LOVED LOVED the warm ocean... I hardly ever swim in the sea in SA cos its usually so cold and rough... but there it was super warm and really gentle. I must have swum for like 3-4 hours every day. It was so SUPER hot the whole time. I didnt stop sweating for a minute.
So for the 4 days we slept, ate and drank alot, obviously. But also did alot: we water skied, snorkeled, swam, kayaked, walked, went for runs, did beach yoga, played an epic game of coinage, played 30 seconds, chess, we rock climbed :-), went sailing on a hobie, and we wind surfed (Ronald and I are now professionals). I even cycled a teeny bit - I'd taken my rollers with me like a wierdo :-)





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