WEDNESDAY 6TH JUNE

Our stay at Keekorok ended with breakfast on wednesday, and we bid farewell to Masai Mara and proceeded to Aberdare country club.



It was a long, strenuous day, travelling from dawan to dusk. We stopped at Naivasha ( a town about 2 hours from Nairobi) for lunch. The 'sopa hotel' at Naivasha was breathtaking. All the hotels we've been to so far have been so luxurious, yet not the floors made of marble and granite type that we find in Chennai. All made from indegenous materials, wood and carpet, have been tastefully decorated and so pleasing to the eye. After a bumpy ride on the roads, are so cozy and inviting.



Not much to comment about this day... but lots to comment about the night!



We reached Aberdare country club by tea time, took one look at their hotel and fell in love. Lush green lawns, tiled roof that look almost a little chettinad and gazelle roaming about freely. I could get so close to one, to almost touch it! When I get a bit of time, will upload that video for sure!



From the country club, 'The Ark' is about an hour away, for which one has to travel only by their transport ( A bus that leaves at 5 pm everyday.) We took our overnight suitcases( no huge suitcases allowed) and travelled on a small path towards the wooden house at the ark. The scenery in this area is so much different from that of Mara... it has much more trees and green, easier for any animal to hide from tour watchful eyes. But we did spot a few topis and deer along the way, and an odd giraffe or too. The Ark has 60 rooms in total, in three levels labelled "A","B" and "C" decks, similar to ship. Each floor has a viewing gallery ( open to air/ closed by glass) to overlook a small water hole. The speciality of this area is the rock salt that is sprinkled along the banks of the lake by the hotel management. All animals come to lick this salt and the area is called the "salt lick". We saw 2 elephants and a herd of buffalos as we walk in. The system at night is an alert souned in all rooms when an animal is spotted.

1- elephant, 2- rhino, 3- lepoard, 4- any unusual sighting.

Its pretty unsafe to leave the lodge after dark as its not fenced off so we had amazing dinner ( thanks to a chef of Indian origin, it had good uppu kaaram ( hot and salt) ) and headed to bed.
We were rudely woken up at abour 2:45 am by the sound of two bells. A rhino! I had to get up 'cuz I hadn't seen one at Masai Mara, and went to the viewing gallery. Shivering in my tracks n sweater I watch the rhino basking under the spotlight. It was such a wonderful sight to see it from such a close distance.