Ol Pajeta

A few weeks ago we took the Huckabee's luggage to the airport in Nairobi to see them off and awaited the arrival of our new family, the Erhardt's. Since the wait in between was several days, it wasn't long enough to go back home and then come back, but it was too long to be in Nairobi (at least for us). Nairobi is expensive, well just as much as any westernized city. So off we were on another adventure. This time we went to a private nature reserve called Ol Pajeto. It is at the base of Mt. Kenya. It was about a two and a half hour drive from Nairobi. The best roads I have been on in Kenya! Four lane highway with a median in the middle with trees and landscape planted in it. On the way we saw this...

I've been drooling at the thought of a pumpkin spice latte so when I saw this, I started imagining that I saw that green and white lady with the star. Too bad we almost hit a goat and I snapped out of that vision!

Ol Pajeto. We highly recommend the place. I mean, with the Mattaw safari company starting up and all, someone needs to visit these places before we recommend them right?! This is where Jane Goodall brought some of her rescued chimpanzee's from Congo and other places in Africa. There were over 30 of them here. They had every other wildlife animal that you'd find in Kenya. They also have the remaining 4 of 8 northern white rhino. They are soon to be extinct. We could have paid ten bucks to see them but we saw where they're kept and that was good enough. We did get to pet and fee a blind rhino though and didn't have to pay.

First we went on this little nature walk and saw the chimpanzee's.

We didn't get close to any of them except this one. He is the oldest and was hanging out by the fence taking a nap.

Then we drove around some of the reserve. It was a beautiful place with a river, bridges to cross, and Mt. Kenya in the background.

Some giraffe's...

At another point we got out to go feed the blind rhino. The kids were totally uncertain about him at first.

But they warmed up and helped us feed him.

Ostriches and Rhino's remind me so much of a what a dinosaur would be like. Especially feeding this big thing. His mouth was just awkward. His horn was taken off. I guess so he doesn't harm anyone? Apparently poachers are worse now because the rhino horn is worth more than smuggling drugs.

Caught this pretty thing on one of our walks...

And this pictures just made me laugh. Everything seemed out of place... a mountain, a giraffe, and a cow.

Claire and I chased this bird around for awhile...

We then came to another point where you can walk down a trail to see hippos. The guide said it was too hot in the day and they've gone to hide but offered to still go with us and look. Noooo thank you! Number one animal to kill humans and it's possibly hiding on a trail we'd go down? No thanks! We've had plenty of adventure for our day. It was a great park though. Great roads and actual signs to tell you where things are at every junction. The place we camped wasn't the greatest. It was loud at night from the nearby town. Next time, we'll know we can sleep in the park where all you hear is possible animal sounds. Every place we go, we learn so much more about this country. The town we were in, there's a British military training camp. And I'm very grateful for work permits to make these trips super cheap. Most of all though, I'm thankful for an adventurous husband that is patient enough to take us all with him on his camping ventures. Looking forward to many more....

The End!