Amboseli National Park – Part I

*channeling my inner Eminem* Guess who’s back, back again 😂😂.

Hey fam! *waves frantically*

So a fortnight ago I managed to tick off yet another place off my bucketlist, courtesy of the OneTouch  team. First, let me just say that I was ecstatic when I found out that I’d be joining them on their trip to Amboseli National Park. It was not easy convincing them to let an outsider tag along but HEY.. I am that girl *dusts shoulder*. Anything for photography 😄.

At about noon on Sunday 14th September, I got a call from Mutua, who informed me that he would be picking me up. I did a mini celebratory dance in the midst of our phone call. Hahaha. The reason was that just that week, we had spoken about me getting to ride in the famous Luanda (Mutua’s Landrover) and as fate has it, Sunday was the day. An hour later, he and  Steve were at our house helping me load my stuff into the landy. This is really happening is all I could think at the time 😱😱. My dreams were being validated yoh!

We were meeting up with the rest of the crew, Joe Were,  Joe Makeni,  Paul Obuna and Sebastian Wanzalla  at a Shell Petrol Station along Mombasa road. After making sure that both Lisa (Joe Makeni’s Pajero) and Luanda were ready for the 4 day trip, we set out for Amboseli at about 2:30 pm.

There was a bit of traffic in Athi River caused by a truck that was moving at snail speed. Perfect opportunity to put Luanda’s new shoes to the test. Or as Mutua likes to call it, product testing 😂. Nobody got time for traffic when you have an off-road vehicle. WOOOOOOOOOSH!!!! You should have seen me at the back all excited screaming like a little girl as we flew past the traffic. In seconds we were at the very front and back on the boring tarmacked road *BOOHOO*.

I was still taking it all in. As in I, Nimu, was in Mutua’s car, Luanda, on my way to Amboseli, with the OneTouch crew. My birthday came early this year clearly, thank you Jesus.

We came across some more traffic in Sultan Hamud, still caused by a number of trucks from both directions. There were a couple of rumble strips and because of the size of the trucks, they had to move a bit slower than usual, hence the traffic. Can you believe we were there for almost one hour. This time we couldn’t go off road because there were trucks on the sides of the road *bummer*.

By this time we could see the sun making its way back home. No sooner had we made it past the traffic than we got a call from the guys in the other car asking us to turn back because they were having car trouble. When we got there, we found them in the process of trying to fix the problem. Turns out oil was leaking. Luckily there was a petrol station nearby. A few of the guys dashed to get some oil to replace that which had poured. There was a local who was helping out as well (typical Kenyan behavior). After the refill had been made, the engine was cleaned with some paraffin (I feel so smart right now speaking car language), to get rid of any oil spills.

It didn’t take long before we were back on the road again. We’d not had lunch (well Joe Were and Sebastian were smart enough to eat before we left) so we opted to make our first stop at a supermarket in Emali known as Peter Mulley. We grabbed a few snacks and soft drinks to sustain us, just until we got to the camping site in Amboseli. Unfortunately, Lisa had her second mechanical failure, this time at Kimana town. Since there was no mechanic at the petrol station we’d gone to, we were directed by a local to some mechanics in the vicinity. By this time it was dark.

Those mechanics were ninjas. They managed to fix the car in darkness. I am convinced those guys have cat eyes, you know, those glow-in-the-dark eyes that can see sooo well in the dark. Okay, our torches contributed in their seeing but still, it’s not easy to fix a car at night. Or at least that’s what I think.

I honestly thought that the road to Amboseli would be no different from that of the Maasai Mara. Shock on me! Smooooooooth tarmacked roads… Mostly. The murram road was doable. Lisa pulled a fast one on us AGAIN, and this time for good 😖. We had to tow her using Luanda until the camp site. Luckily, we were close-by. The rope we had kept cutting, especially when we were taking corners but by God’s grace… WE MADE IT!!

10 pm found us at one of the campsites located within the national park. We gathered some firewood and in no time, a fire was lit. Thanks to Paul Obuna, I can now say I know how to light a fire *pats self on the back*.

We all sat around the fire and relived our journey to the place, as we waited for dinner to be prepared. Chief Chef Mutua decided that we’d be having grilled chicken that night *sluuurp*. Let me tell you, that chicken was not marinated but it was sooooo juicy… You guys have no idea. That’s the power of salt, black pepper and Mutua’s cooking skills.

When the chicken was finally ready for devourment, everyone’s attention shifted to the grill (by the way it was a diy grill, not those fancy ones you’re thinking). Can you believe those guys were saying that the neck and the wings were what I was going to eat? Smh! If you know me and my relationship with food, then you know that those were just rumours 😂😂. I left my ladylike tendencies in Nairobi. I became one of the boys during that trip; and I am not ashamed to say that😌. In other words, I am not the one who slept hungry. HAHAHAHAHAHA

Monday morning 6 am found us at the gates of the national park paying for our game drive. Since Lisa had died on us the previous night, we all squeezed ourselves in Luanda (well except for Obuna, who opted to stay behind and shoot some birds, lol) and off we went for our first game drive.

Our first sighting of the day, a herd of elephants. There were so many calves as well 🙂

Did I mention that ellies are my favorite wild animals? So this was heaven for me ^^,

My second favorite wild animals. And just as luck had it, I FINALLY managed to get a shot of a pair *siiigh*

A family making its way to the other side. Look at that cute little one in the middle 🙂

Hello there 🙂

A wildebeest grooming itself 🙂

A Grey Crowned Crane fishing for some insects from the ground.

*singing* Buffalo soldier 😀

We were clearly not alone. The park was also hosting other guests, some in hotels such as Serena.

An ellie feeding at the marsh

I had a stared down encounter with Marty 😂

Hahaha I have to make a meme out of this one. This facial expression was priceless 😂😂😭

That reflection… Mother nature’s doing 🙂

An Egyptian goose with its head under water

Another fantastic reflection

Golden hour 🙂

Hometime 🙂

That sunset… Breathtaking :”)

Mount Kilimanjaro 🙂

We were on game drives all day, lol. We only took a lunch break and after that we were back at it again. Day 1 of our stay there was all sorts of epic.

Stay tuned for day 2 😊…