One of the things I always love about visits back to the UK, is walks in the countryside. Living in a city where the crime rate is high, the options for that here in Nairobi are somewhat limited. Plus often when you do, say up the Ngong Hills, you’re recommended to take an armed guard with you in case of bandits! Last weekend, I went away with a couple of friends to a cottage near Lake Naivasha, and two of us seized the opportunity to go for a lovely walk on Saturday morning. Mind you, you never know what you might meet! In the course of the 3 hours that we were out, we passed through herds of plains animals (zebra, Thomson gazelle, hartebeest, warthog, impala..); stu
mbled (almost literally) on a python, which was at least 2m in length; came across (and released) 3 snares set by poachers; and passed by 7 buffalo. The latter caused most concern as buffalo are notoriously bad-tempered, and are to be kept at a distance. We also kept a healthy distance each time we wandered down to the lake, from the hippo wallowing in the water and mud there, and even more so when they were out of the water. It’s hard to imagine when you see how ponderous and large they appear most of the time, but they can apparently run at 18mph if threatened, and it’s said that they cause more human deaths than buffaloes, elephants or rhinos.
One of the things I always love about visits back to the UK, is walks in the countryside. Living in a city where the crime rate is high, the options for that here in Nairobi are somewhat limited. Plus often when you do, say up the Ngong Hills, you’re recommended to take an armed guard with you in case of bandits! Last weekend, I went away with a couple of friends to a cottage near Lake Naivasha, and two of us seized the opportunity to go for a lovely walk on Saturday morning. Mind you, you never know what you might meet! In the course of the 3 hours that we were out, we passed through herds of plains animals (zebra, Thomson gazelle, hartebeest, warthog, impala..); stu
mbled (almost literally) on a python, which was at least 2m in length; came across (and released) 3 snares set by poachers; and passed by 7 buffalo. The latter caused most concern as buffalo are notoriously bad-tempered, and are to be kept at a distance. We also kept a healthy distance each time we wandered down to the lake, from the hippo wallowing in the water and mud there, and even more so when they were out of the water. It’s hard to imagine when you see how ponderous and large they appear most of the time, but they can apparently run at 18mph if threatened, and it’s said that they cause more human deaths than buffaloes, elephants or rhinos.
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