Camping with Hippos

Back in July (I know, I know) we had a three week break in between camp sessions. Almost every one I know was out of town. Thankfully, two of my favorite people stayed here, and the three of us set of on my first, glorious camping trip in Kenya.

We drove the two-ish hours to Lake Naivasha, and decided to pull onto a random dirt road for a better view of the lake. Not only did we walk way too close to some hippos for my comfort, we promptly saw giraffe, zebra, gazelles and a ton of flamingos and other exotic birds.

Playing up the green with color shot. 

This video is certainly not award winning, but I wanted to show you the vastness of it all, and let you hear the sounds of Lake Naivasha. Sorry if you get seasick from my camera skills. In the beginning, it looked like Andrew was imitating a snorkel. He was trying to tell me he could see giraffes. 

We camped at Carnelleys, which was just the right amount of camping and the right amount of hippo fencing, you know? 

Krystle and I shared this blue gem, while Andrew was an man-venturer and slept in a hammock. 

This hippo fence was bit less than I was hoping for on first look. About knee high, the flimsy electric fence is turned on at night, and is hedged by a hoppable little ditch. What?! When Andrew assured me this place had hippo protection, I was imagining 10 foot high walls of concrete, topped with electric barbed wire (yeah I don't think that exists) and fortified by 20 armed men with rifles. I may or may not be TERRIFIED of hippos. I promise you, the noise they make is haunting. Happily, this camping trip helped me mellow out about it. First I learned that hippos can't jump over even the smallest of ditches, since they have such tiny legs supporting their massive bodies. That night we actually crept right up to the fence and watched one Harmon the Hippo munch on grass for at least 30 minutes. It's crazy how loud they are pulling up the grass from the ground, but they can move their humongous bodies stealthily and silently! Definitely one of my favorite Kenya adventures so far. 

The campsite was just off the lake, and if you were brave enough to hop the hippo fence you could walk out to the shore. 

Campsite

Hippo print!

Tomorrow I'll post about the next day when we took a lovely boat ride on the lake.