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 Mt Kenya at Dawn |
 Lions mating |
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 White Rhino Nakuru |
 flamingos |
Mount Kenya is the second largest mountain in Africa at 5200 meters. It is surrounded by protected forest – although there have been recent problems with locals cutting down the trees recently. It serves as a watershed for various lakes including Lake Naguru, which some say has lost water. Lake Naguru is famous for its pink flamingos which feed on the green algae/ Again there have nbeen environmantal problems reducing the numbers of Pink Flamingos from there height of millions of birds. Also the town of Naguru is growing and must have run-off to the lake. Despite this it is still a wonderful site to see the flamingos and wildlife in their thousands ! We were told that the pink colour originateds from the food of algae. Either way it is a very nice spot.
Our first stop was at Mountain Lodge with its own water hole. We went for a guided walk in the forest protected by an armed guard. It seems that Buffaloos are the most deadly animal in Africa claiming more lives than any other. The males spend their time fighting for access to the 20 females under the super stud. Consequently they can attack at random. We saw lots of fresh tracks, some monkeys, antelopes etc. but luckily no elephants or Buffaloo. The advice is that when charged by an elephant to run down the steepest hill – because they cannot follow you. They are so large that they can only take gradual sideways inclines – a useful tip I am sure !
Mount Kenya itself is very beautiful with a peaked caldera covered in ice despite being roughly on the equator. It is cold at mountain lodge in the evening so if you want to wait up all night watching animals – wrap up. One amazing thing about the equator that I still can’ quite accept :
The earth rotates around the equator and coriolis forces are the effect of this rotation on gravity. In the northern hemisphere if you pull the plug in a sink the water spins anti-clockwise. One way to understand this is to remember that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west – so looking north the earth rotates anti-clockwise. This spins water anti-clockwise in the Northern and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. Right – so we get taken to a tourist place on the equator with a sign sowing the so-called exact equator. Then the guide takes a bowl with a single hole in the middle and to let it flow out. We walk 10 meters north and – lo and behold a matchstick laying in it prives that the water flows anti-clockwise. Then we move 10 meters south of the line and the matcstik moves exactly the oposite – clockwise. The piece de resitance is now to stand exactly on the equator and – I still cannot beleive this – the matchstick stays perfectly straight with o corriolis force. Is this possible ? Can the equator be really be so exactly postitioned? My only regret was not to bring Foucout’s pendulum with me !
After Mount Kenya we moved to the Serena Lodge in Lake Naguru. A very beautiful spot with giraffes elephants, lions, Rhinos graing on emense grasslands around the liake itself. We were lucky to see some Hippos in the lake alomg with thousands of Pleicans and Flamingos. The only encroachment is the town of Naguru itself as the waters of the lake need to be kept pristine clean.
There is apparently a lot for me to learn outside of my books. Thanks for the fantastic read,