Sweetwaters

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Woke up and ran down to watch the sky brighten over the watering hole.  The elephant party was already there.  We heard lots of noises in the night and Paula is convinced it was an elephant giving birth.  Maybe, maybe not. Look at the pictures and decide for yourself.  There is one baby that does look like it just arrived.  We headed down to the "bunker" to get some closer shots.  Very cool place. Ate breakfast, took some last minute photos and met Juma. 

The Ark gets an A for wildlife viewing and the staff were extremely friendly and accommodating but on the negative, the food was not very good at all and the rooms were more like a hostel.  There was also no introduction to the place.  We stumbled on things as we went.  Since we were only there for a night it would have been nice to know a little more about how to navigate the facility.

Back in the jeep and on the road to Sweetwaters.  Juma made a stop so that I could finally get the SIM card.  Got to the park at about 10:30 and right out of the gate (and I mean that literally) we saw about five white rhinos, lots of zebra, impala, and various other wildlife.  No cats, however.  We did take the stupid tourist pics at the Equator line. Plus we visited the grave sites of all the white rhinos who had been poached and killed which came from the original two rhinos.We hoped to find some on the afternoon drive.

Got to our tent site inside the reserve.  This place is absolutely fantastic!  The tents are fully equipped, there is a very nice watering hole right outside.  In fact a white rhino came out to greet us as we were schlepping out luggage across the path.  There is a pool - which I immediately inhabited directly after lunch.  Which brings us to the food -- simply outrageous.  

Geoff and I hung out at the pool for a bit.  The water was absolutely freezing.  G dove in but I only made it about half way up.  The wind picked after a while and slowly made our way back to our tent.  We sat on our "porch" and watched the view.  Went to meet Juma at 4pm for our afternoon drive.   We paid a visit to the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, established with the help of Jane Goodall.  After which, we paid a visit to the black rhino sactuary, where they were housing one black rhino rescued in 2008 who is blind.  He is very gentle and lets you caress him.  It was back on the hunt for cats.  No luck there - we see a very cool secretary bird taking an evening walk. Caught a good shot of sunset before returing to the lodge.

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Got back to lodge to enjoy the sax player, a warm fire, and a nice cup of tea before heading to the dining room.  Ahhhhh - life is good.  didn't disappoint.  After which, we talked with Juma about tomorrows excursion.  We are all sorry we have to leave here so soon.  By the way, this was the upgrade that Alex had mentioned on day one.  Boy was it ever!  Tomorrow is up early, breakfast and on the road at 7am for a 5 hour drive to Lake Nakuru.  All in all -- best day so far!!  

Oh, another hot water in bed tonight.  Wonderful!

Next time... Lake Nakuru