March whizzed by in a routine. Weekdays Esther would come to tutor Leah whilst I would work at home (either the balcony or the bedroom) or occasionally go out for meetings, and frequently got for a walk to get a coffee; weekends we'd go to Karura for Leah and the neighbor's kids to cycle whilst I would job, and then other fun activities such as go karting or swimming or a fun fair.
Then Andrea and Hannah returned to Kenya from Germany in time for a 3-day weekend away. We took the train that was funded/built by China a few years ago (known as the SGR, or Standard Guage Railway) with everything very similar to Chinese trains and stations, from the security machines to chairs in the waiting rooms and the bridge over the platform. I'd booked economy class as that enables groups to be around a table facing each other, in theory. In practice we were unfortunately mixed up with other people, which when eating and drinking and taking masks down is good for neither them nor us. On the way back we took first class, which is more like an airplane, with more spacious seats, all facing the same way, and right next to the dining car.
The train has had various forms of criticism over the years, mostly around the cost and design including issues around high land costs (possibly due to corruption), and the high cost overall for what has been delivered, which is a single line track (with passing places every 50km), with a top speed of around 100 km/h. It was decided to build a brand new track (rather than upgrading the old track the British built over 100 years prior, which had still been working until recently, though slowly and with frequent problems, and of which another stretch going to Western Kenya and Up to Central Kenya is being restored). The ticketing systems work well, the service was excellent from the fully Kenyan staff, and the train ran on time (there are only a couple of passenger trains a day).
Our ride was 4 hours, which is 2/3rds of the way going South-East from Nairobi towards the Coast, where we alighted at Voi, for a 45 minute road transfer to Salt Lick Lodge in the Taita Hills, close to the Tanzania border. There is a sister hotel called the Taita Hills Hotel which has the swimming pool and is where lunch is served, so we took lunch there and stayed by the pool for a few hours before taking a game drive in the late afternoon. We saw a few lions and most other game animals and the kids generally enjoyed it. Then we finished up at Salt Lick Lodge, a truly unique experience as the entire structure is built on stilts above a watering hole (that has two man-made boreholes providing it with water year-round). We were very lucky as we were coming at the end of the dry season and it had not rained for a while, so all the animals came there for water. As we drove up, we could see hundreds and hundreds of animals surrounding the lodge, even from a distance.
Once we arrived we were excited to walk to the balcony where you could almost touch the elephants drinking (there were at least 20, alongside the hundreds of buffalo, zebra, antelopes and other animals) and also go into a tunnel that went underground and came out in a small viewing building that was at ground level (mostly sunken underground actually) on the other side. Unfortunately we saw a zebra drown in the watering hole, as it had been injured by a lion previously and though it managed to get to the water, once in, it couldn't get up. Later that night rangers took the zebra away.
As it was Andrea's birthday we had a candlelit dinner outside overlooking the animals (there were a few floodlights on so we could see them) which was wonderful (especially the wine), and the Lodge provided a wonderful cake delivered with a whole team of singing staff that was quite memorable (they had also provided flowers too). It was a memorable evening, even if the night was quite restless as the elephants were quite noisy as they were wondering underneath our room and drinking. We could look out of our window and watch as different animals would turn up in a long line, drink then wonder off in another direction as other animals would come; though frequently there was various species mingling together, and throughout there were lots of birds and other smaller animals like Meerkats.
The next morning we took another game drive, this time seeing more lions closer-up as they roamed around but still didn't see any cheetahs or leopards unfortunately. Then it was back for breakfast, a few hours resting in the hotel and off to the Taita Hills for lunch and swimming. Later that afternoon we took a nature walk with some rangers down the hill past a few more elephants and to another lake that was more like a wetland or marsh. The rangers did a great job telling the kids about everything and looking at different footprints and poo!
After that we were taken for what is known as a "sundowner", which is usually having some drinks/snacks outdoors and watching the sun go down. Though at Salt Lick they took us on a long drive up a hill to an area with a fire and a few huts. Alongside the drinks and snacks there was around 15 locals doing a performance, just for us four, which was delightful, and we joined it with some dancing, and even some banging on the drums. It was wonderful experience and delightfully well done with incredible views (though not so much of the sunset that was mostly behind clouds, still it didn't rain whilst we were up there).
Whilst on the hill we could see heavy rain falling in other parts of the conservancy, and once we came down the hill we could see there was rain in various parts. It was almost surreal getting back to Salt Lick that night and not seeing a single animal at the watering hole, compared to the hundreds the night before. We had another wonderful dinner, slept better without the animals, had breakfast the next morning and then took the train back to Nairobi.
It was a fantastic few days and highly recommended. The service was excellent and the kids are already begging to go back, which is unusual as they have seen so many animals before in our other visits to national parks that normally it doesn't get them so excited.
Unfortunately, whilst we were away, due to the rising cases of COVID-19, including increase in hospital cases, the President announced that restaurants would go take-away only, most entertainment and tourism facilities would have to close, schools would close (it is Easter holidays anyway, but it looks like there will be online learning after the holidays for a few weeks for the private schools, whilst public schools have extra time off during exams, and then hopefully in May schools will re-open), and there would be a virtual boundary in the region around Nairobi to stop people coming in or out and thus spreading the latest South African variant that is causing havoc in Nairobi more widely.
By most country's standards, this third wave is not so serious, with deaths rising to a maximum of 20 a day, and numbers in hospital being a couple thousand, but that is still a cause for concern. So we hope that this wave will pass in a few weeks, as has been predicted (this South African variant is reinfecting people a second time, and since Schools went back in January the cases have spread quite rapidly). Meanwhile we can still play with the neighbors, go for walks and picnics in the forests, go to shops, and even play mini-golf, so it could be worse.
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