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Lake Baringo, Kenya

Pictures by Jo & David Spinney

March 11th 2018

We were up early to start our game drive in the reserve park but I just hoped I could make my journey today. We were on the look out for Rhinos again today but of course we saw so many other animals. The cutest is the Dik-dik they are a tiny deer, about he same size as our dog Coco. They are so adorable but very hard to photograph as they are very shy and run very fast. We did get to see some Rhinos today which was awesome. We saw White Rhinos and Black Rhinos, White Rhinos have a shorter horn and the Black Rhinos have a skinnier, long horn. They were resting and they had their babies with them. I love seeing the new life. On the Rhinos there are birds that pick off the ticks and bugs and these are called Ox Pickers. After our morning game drive, we started our drive to our next resort. To get there we have to cross the equator from the south to the north. We stopped here to have a quick bite but of course we had to pay the lady that explains what happens at the equator. It was interesting of course but as soon as the money comes out to pay her for her time so many others show up looking for money. The north side has a lot more poverty and interesting fact is Donkeys are not safe here. There is a huge Chinese run slaughterhouse which processes the donkey and sends the meat to China. Outside the slaughterhouse you see herds of Donkeys walking to the plant and they eat their last meal across the street. It was pretty disturbing and I just wanted to yell and scare them to run back towards the south side.

Lake Baringo resort was probably our least favourite. The rooms were not up to the same quality as the other resorts, we have been very spoiled. The staff are not as friendly or helpful so it didn’t feel quite like the others but we were still surrounded by ostriches, birds, and so many Nile crocodiles that we could not keep count. These animals can go anywhere. There are no fences to stop them walking up to the hotel and there were no nets to stop them going anywhere in the water. There were people on the beach, washing clothes, bathing in the waters and there were crocodiles in very close proximity to them. I was pretty nervous for them but on the same hand they are used to living this way. I haven’t eaten anything because I wanted to make sure I would make the day travelling so we went to the restaurant and I ordered some chips to get some calories in my stomach. David ordered a beer while I ate and we heard cheering, the staff were watching a football match on TV, the match was 2 English teams, Manchester United vs Liverpool! The chips helped me feel a little better but I did go back to our room and have a nap. That evening we had a BBQ around the pool which was very relaxing and fun watching the other guests jumping in the pool and having fun. We had an early night as we were leaving early to head back to the other side of the equator. The north side has a lot of sadness, the children must walk for hours to school (and back home), there is no fresh water here so they are bathing in croc waters and they use the same water for drinking water.

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