A Weekend with Hippos and Crocs

Within 17 hours of getting home from the UK, I was off again – this time with friends from church to Lake Baringo, the most northerly of the Rift Valley lakes, about 290km north of Nairobi. What a contrast the Kenyan scenery was to the stark winter scenes I’d left behind in the UK! And the temperature was somewhat different too!

After a lunch of chicken and chips at Delamere’s near Naivasha, we drove straight to Baringo, only stopping for the mandatory photographs at the Equator. Our home for the weekend was Heron House, a cottage at Roberts Camp, looking out onto the lake. An exploratory walk down to the lakeshore revealed the presence of hippo and crocodiles – we were to see many over the course of the weekend. Strange to be walking along, be aware of something moving in the mud a few metres away, and then see a crocodile launch itself into the water. The owners of Roberts have been feeding the hippos during the drought, and presumably will continue to do so until the grass has grown back sufficiently to support these huge herbivores. We had a prime view from our cottage, seeing the 16 or so hippo come ambling out of the water as the sun started to sink in the sky. Motorboats on the lake startled them one evening, and they all went dashing back into the water – hippos really can run!

On the Saturday, when I finally woke up (lack of sleep from the 47 hours in transit, despite the 2 brief hotel stays, had caught up with me), we went out in a low-lying boat on the hippo and crocodile-infested lake, and spent the afternoon on the island of Ol Kokwa. We were able to use the swimming pool at the lodge there, which was wonderful. Views over the lake were quite amazing, and the variety of birds was wonderful. Jules and I went for a walk around the island and were soon greeted by a young man called Alex. I’m generally very wary of people approaching me as whether it’s ‘helping’ to load a car with your luggage, guarding it, assisting in changing a tyre, or acting as guide, there’s generally a request for money sooner or later – and we had none on us. However, he was not at all put off, explaining that it was important to him and the chief of the island, that visitors felt welcome, and that money wasn’t his motive at all. How refreshing! And he was a very informative guide. The Njemps people live on this barren island. Looking around, it was hard to imagine being able to live there, as it didn’t appear that anything edible would grow. On asking about the diet, we were told,… fish. And more fish! The population has nearly doubled in the last 10 years from 400 to 750 in the census taken just a few months ago.

The variety of birdlife around Baringo is well known – 470 species of bird have apparently been recorded there in total, with over 300 having been sighted in a single day! We didn’t see anywhere near that many, but enjoyed the ones we saw. 6-year old Benjie and 4-year old Zebedee, 2 budding ornithologists, assisted me in the early evenings in identifying the ones I’d taken photographs of in the day.
People generally retired to bed very early in the evenings, leaving me (with a body clock a bit screwed up still) on the verandah. Bugs were aplenty, and you’d occasionally hear the grunting of hippos nearby. We’d actually had to sign a waiver on arrival releasing Roberts Camp from any liability relating to injury by wild animals! And it was advised that if we wanted to go to the nearby lodge for dinner, rather than walk (as you did without thinking during the day), we should take the car. The first night, we had a campfire. It was great sitting out there under the star-studded sky, telling stories.

On our last morning, I’d been vying to stay on until lunchtime. However, the others wanted to get an early start, and it turned out to be just as well that we did.... About 30 minutes into the journey, the vehicle overheated! We then limped another 30km, going slowly, and periodically filling up the radiator with water (some of which we bought from boreholes in villages along the way). When we finally reached a petrol station, it transpired that the radiator had 3 holes in it! Thankfully, there was also a welder in the vicinity who could close up said holes, and we were able to continue on our way. The journey took us 8.5 hours in total. So, that was two journeys in the space of a week that had been twice as long as they should have been – but for very different reasons!

Snowbound

“It’s a shame I won’t get to see the snow”, I said on seeing the weather forecast. I’d been home for just over 2 weeks for Christmas, and whilst we’d seen a smattering of snow (enough for snowball fights with my 4-year old nephew (and his parents) on the first and last days of my time home), it hadn’t been more than an inch at any one time. Lovely to see even so, but not quite the ‘Winter Wonderland’ scenes on Christmas cards – even those sold in Kenya! We wound up leaving very early for the airport, my dad anticipating getting stuck in snow drifts – or something like that anyway! Well, we saw some snow on the way from Nottingham to Birmingham Airport, but really only in the last few miles. Dad actually took a wrong turning at one point - I suspect that it was with the intent of showing us that there really was snow on the minor roads, thus justifying his earlier agitation! It meant arriving at the airport 4 hours before my flight departure time of 8:20pm (having checked in online, 60 minutes would have been sufficient!).

Mum and dad stayed for an hour at the airport oblivious to the weather outside. Apparently when they left, there was a further covering of snow, - and for anyone wondering, they did make it home okay (unlike the dad of someone I met later in the day). So, it was through passport control and security. I have to say that Birmingham Airport staff seemed much friendlier than other airports I’ve been through. Jokes about a group of people in front of me all wearing purple, and generally just chatty. As were passengers, even at this point. I wandered around the shops (more to kill time than to buy anything), bought my duty free and sat where I could see the Departures board. Announcements started to be made about European flights being cancelled. It seemed that the runway was closed – not very encouraging. As each one came up, they were told to resell their Duty Free and proceed to gate 58. For the Emirates EK038 flight to Dubai, there was no notice given. However when the ‘Gate to open in 5 minutes’ notice had been up for 1.5 hours, it started to seem a little dubious that we’d be leaving. And sure enough, around 10pm an announcement was made that all passengers destined for Dubai (we were the only ones left at that stage) should resell their Duty Free and proceed to the dreaded Gate 58. We went through to retrieve our baggage, and then after a while of standing around while Emirates staff sorted out what was happening, we went to the Arrivals hall. Unfortunately, people chose to stand right by the automatic doors, which of course were then open, allowing the freezing air and snow to blow in. I’d left my winter coat, scarf and gloves with my parents thinking I wouldn’t need them for another couple of years, so was absolutely freezing. Not quite as bad as a fellow passenger though who thinking that she was on holiday on her way to Australia, just had flipflops on her feet! I soon got to know Mandy and Anna (Anna was going home to New Zealand having surprised her mum in the UK for Christmas), and really that made a huge difference to the whole experience. It was one of those things that just happens. What’s the point of complaining and moaning (as some were doing)? We actually just had a good laugh (our taxi driver commented that we were the first happy passengers he’d transported that night!), and enjoyed what we could, Mandy and Anna taking the opportunity the following morning to make a snowman, and get photos of Tigger (the mascot from Mandy’s ward at the Derby Children’s Hospital) with it. Emirates staff were great, as were the Arden Hotel staff, where we were gradually taken. My only criticism would be that families with small children should really have been given priority, as some of those kids were really tired, though there was hardly any crying. Amazing really! It was around 11:15pm by the time that we got to the hotel. And a meal of soup, sandwiches and cheese straws was put on for us. What it must have been for them to suddenly have 300 extra people descending on them!

Noone knew quite what would happen the next day. An Emirates representative was available from 7am. After a good breakfast, we were bussed back to the hotel. Initially, it was though that we might be leaving at 2:30pm, but then it was pushed back to 4pm. Our plane hadn’t been able to land because of the snow at Birmingham, so had been diverted to Gatwick – and then got snowed in there! Looking at Sky News, it seemed that Gatwick stayed closed all that day. Yet somehow, our plane got through, and suddenly it was there, Duty Free was rebought, and we were on our way!

Flying with Emirates generally means that most passengers will be transitting to somewhere once they get to Dubai. Sorting out all the new connections must have been a logistical nightmare for someone. Again, hotel reservations had been made (our connecting flights had long since gone!). However, nothing was ever said officially to let us know that this was the case. We were operating on the basis of unofficial information, and I’m glad that we did. It took a while to find the right desk (Dubai is a huge airport), but eventually, we were on a bus on the way to the Capitol Hotel. Only there for about 4 hours but it was better than nothing – certainly better than spending that time in the airport! And that was the last I saw of Anna and Mandy. They left for the airport an hour before me – and of course, had a lot further still to travel. Strange how lives can come together at such a time, and then that’s it, I made it home 24 hours later than scheduled – and 47 hours after having left mum and dad’s! But I did get to see (and walk in) the snow after all!