After we got out of the city I was watching the goings on along the roadside and said hello to many goats, cattle and the occasional group of chickens and children walking down the street (along the "highway"). Just imagine this scenario:
Me, "hi goat....."
"Hi cow!....."
"Hi...wait....a GIRAFFE!!!!!! Hunny, there's a freakin giraffe on the side of the road!"
E: "welcome to Africa baby!"
There was a giraffe.... On the side of the road, just casually having a munch on some leaves. I was so excited, I actually shed a tear haha! What a crybaby.
Anyway I was super chuffed at seeing my first giraffe in Africa, it made up for the tiresome truck overtaking and dusty roads we passed.
I can't remember how much longer we drove before we passed a herd of zebra and some more giraffes. So cool, like I didn't even have to pay an entrance fee, they were just there!
Back to the roads...FIVE HOURS, yes... 5 hours it took us to go 200km! Holy hakuna matata Batman, that was a long drive!
Unfortunately the excitement of seeing these animals in their natural environments was dampened a little when we got to the national park gate. Word to the wise...if you want to see the Big 5, save up your money..,then save some more! Far out, that's a costly lesson learned. With E being Kenyan, he only has to pay 1200 Kenya shillings per day to be inside the park (in order to stay and do drives) which is about AU$16...me however, being a non-resident got slugged 8400ksh ($114) PER DAY just to stay in this park (after we had already spent over $500 just for accomodation this weekend) so $342 later, I'm allowed to stay here and see their animals until Monday. Good grief. Talk about making money from tourists!! We were quite shocked at this cost as it pretty much took all the cash we had left, and really put a dent in our budget, we rented a 4wd for the weekend too which was another $300 or so...
So, that part wasn't fun, and it got us both a little upset, but we talked it through and realised that this is part of life, it's not always going to be fair. Once I've been here, I don't really need to come again for a long time, we resigned to just enjoying our weekend and will worry about finances later. God has provided us with what we need so far, and our friends and family were so generous in their giving for our wedding that we were able to use our gift money for both the apartment rental for a month, and our travel insurance... That was a real blessing :)
So finally, we arrived at Serena Lodge and are shown to our little "hut" where we settled in and went to have some dinner (most packages out here are full board so at least we don't go hungry!) we both crashed out after tea, I don't remember seeing 9.30pm and E was already sound asleep before that!
Woke up around 6.30 to the sound of monkeys, and birds. Bliss! Best night sleep all week and by 7.15 we are ready to go for a morning drive to spot the animals who are up and about for their own breakfast. It wasn't long before we spotted elephants in the distance, plus ostriches, gazelles, wildebeest, a lone hyena and finally a few giraffes and zebras. On our way back to the lodge around 9am we were so fortunate to just witness a herd of elephants crossing the road and a few really close range which made for great photos!
Hopefully when we do an afternoon drive we may spot some lions, but this park is mostly known for its elephants and that was pretty amazing to see :)
All in all, the lodge we are staying at is beautiful. It's so African, (and so cliche) but stunning. Our room is so colourful and well decorated and we had a monkey visit us outside our patio door! As the MasterCard ad would say, that sort of experience: Priceless.
My Kenyan has decided to try the swimming pool out, and I think I might take my iPad out and read one of the many ebooks I've got with me. It's a warm, humid day and the lunch buffet will be available soon, so I'm gonna soak up this wonderful place and enjoy my honeymoon weekend in the serenity of the African wildlife!
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