Amsterdam and Rotterdam

I've managed to wait too long to write this blog post, so it is going to be rather brief and somewhat lame. Hopefully, the pictures will make it worth it.

Our arrival in Amsterdam started off well; both our flights were on time. I arrived about an hour before Greg and had plenty of time to brush my teeth and get to his gate in time to meet him. We made our way to baggage claim, grabbed my bags, and went to go find a locker to store my suitcase in for the time we were there. While we found lockers, they were almost US$7.50 per day, so we decided they weren't worth it, especially since our hotel was fairly close to a metro station.

We headed off to the train station to head into Amsterdam, but were delayed by trying to buy our tickets. The machines only took credit cards with the little smart chips in them and it took us a bit to round up enough coins to feed into the machine. Despite this, we did somehow manage to make the next train leaving the airport for central Amsterdam.

Once we arrived at our hotel, we locked up our bags in their storage room and headed out to explore and find lunch while we waited for our room to be ready.

Our hotel

The view from what would become our room, not too shabby.

A church near our hotel that we passed regularly

After we were able to get into our room and get settled, we headed back out into the city, this time in search of the flower market. It turns out it was really close to our hotel.

Pictures from the flower market.

Not all of the flowers at the flower market were real. I'm actually guessing that the ones that were real were not grown in The Netherlands. It was quite flower season anymore there. They were probably grown, ironically, in Kenya.

Over the next few days, Greg and I spent a lot of time walking through the city. It is a really beautiful city. We visited a few museums along the way, including the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum, as well as a couple of less culturally stimulating places like the Torture Museum and the Sex Museum (not as good as the one in NYC). We also went to the Ann Frank House. It was hands down the most moving museum experience I've ever had. During the evenings, we went in search of good food. Our first night in the city was met with so, so food, but we were tired and didn't put a ton of effort into it. On our second night, we went on a canal sinner cruise. It was really nice. The food was pretty good too, although not as good as the meal I had in Mombasa on the Tamarind Dhow Cruise. It's hard to compete with lobster. On our third night, we went in search of Indonesian cuisine. We found a great place, but I'm totally blanking on the name of it. Greg's got the Lonely Planet and it is in there. It is the one listed as just as good as the "best" one. Our final night, I was craving Indian cuisine. It was okay, but not anywhere as good as the Indian food I had in Nairobi. We also made sure we had some Dutch pancakes for breakfast. They were tasty. All in all, the food in Amsterdam was pretty good. The coffee was great. We steered clear of the raw herring.

Views from out wanderings through Amsterdam

Me and Greg standing outside the palace. The palace itself was under renovation and nearly completed obscured by scaffolding and tarps.

Vondelpark

Parking deck for bikes

Since we had done a pretty good job of exploring Amsterdam, we decided to take our final full day in The Netherlands and head down to Rotterdam. Rotterdam was leveled during World War II, so it has a completely different look than Amsterdam. Architects apparently like to try to outdo each other with unique building designs.

A park we encountered after heading out of the train station in the wrong direction.

Correcting our path and officially heading out on the walking tour of the city provided in the Lonely Planet.

Statue in the town square: Santa with Butt Plug

The Haven Museum - you can't beat free entry!

We encountered a shipping container that was completely covered in graffiti art. I liked the close up pictures better then the whole thing.

I vote this building the most unique. From this angle, it is not entirely clear to me how to get from the bottom half to the top half. I'm sure there is a way though.

Rain clouds - boo!
As we were starting to think about stopping for lunch, the rain started falling. We were hoping that we could hang out at a restaurant for a while and the rain would let up. Unfortunately this was not the case. After a couple of hours, we decided to continue our walking tour.

After cutting off much of the route and getting decently wet, we decided it was time to take public transit back to the train station and head back to Amsterdam. Naturally, the rain stopped and the skies cleared up right as we arrived at the train station. We were tired and decided we were still interested in going back to Amsterdam. Despite the rain, I'm really glad we made the detour to Rotterdam. It is a cool city.

Samburu National Park

I've got to admit that I am bit delinquent on this post, but I didn't have time to get it up before I left Kenya. Throw in some time in Amsterdam (a post that will likely be even more tardy) and adjusting to being back in the States, and a post 3 weeks past due is what you get.

Anyways, I took advantage of my final weekend in Kenya - what luck that it corresponded with Columbus Day, giving me the luxury of 3 days to get out of Nairobi. After a lot of debate and asking around, I opted to go to Samburu National Reserve. The big debate was between Samburu and Amboseli National Park. Amboselli offered up views of Mount Kilimanjaro while Samburu offered animals that could be seen nowhere else in Kenya. Since clear weather was going to be necessary to get the full experience at Amboseli, I opted to take the more guaranteed option of seeing new animals in Samburu. Samburu was pretty awesome and I got see all five of the species that are there and not in any of the other parks and reserves in Kenya, so I'm really happy with my choice. I ended up going up to Samburu on my own. I tried my hardest to get someone to come with me, but the price or competing activities ultimately kept my friends away. I had a great time though and made a couple of new friends there (Jan and Ian), so I wasn't really alone.

The flight up fairly uneventful. We were in another 11-seater like the one I had returned from Lamu in and the runways we encountered along the way could have used a repave, but all in all it was good. I did make the mistake of waiting a bit too long to decide to get off the plane to go to the bathroom during our stop in Nanyuki along the way and almost got left behind. Luckily, when your plane is only supposed to have four passengers, it is really easy to notice that someone is missing. When we landed at the airstrip in Samburu, our transport to the lodge was there to meet us. Our lodge was only about 5km from the airstrip, but the bridge between the airstrip and the lodge had been washed out during heavy rains the previous February, so we had to take a different route that would take 1.5 hours. It ended up being a bit of an extra game drive, so I was pretty happy for the detour.

It is pretty hot in Samburu, so the safari there was set up quite differently than my safari in the Masai Mara. In addition to our airstrip transport "game drive," we had evening game drives and morning game drives. During the day, when all of the animals were hanging out in the shade, we were to do the same at the lodge. I hadn't really come prepared for hanging out at the lodge most of the day, but at least I had a puzzle book. Jan and Ian kept me company as well, so my down time on my one full day in Samburu was pleasant and relaxing (despite how hot it was).

Scenes from Samburu National Reserve:

The view from Samburu Game Lodge

Occasionally there were animals hanging out across the river.

Impala

Crocodile and a waterbuck

There were a lot of weavers in Samburu and their nests made the trees look as though they were decorated for Christmas.

There are also a lot of termite mounds in Samburu

Samburu was surrounded by mountains, many of which are/were volcanoes.

Sunset in Samburu

Sunrise in Samburu

It rained a bit during our game ride on the second evening, but we were rewarded with a rainbow when it stopped.

My goals for this safari were to see the five species of animals only found in Samburu (in Kenya anyways) and to see a cheetah, the one big cat I hadn't seen yet. Apparently the five animals only in Samburu are called the "Super 5," or so our guide told us. I can't say I've seen them called that anywhere else - I'm guessing it is really just an effort to liken them to the "Big 5," which have gained a bit more notoriety. Anyways, the "Super 5" include two antelope, the Beisa oryx and the gerenuk, the blue-legged Somali ostrich, Grevy's zebra, and the reticulated giraffe. I'm happy to report that I had success on all counts.

Beisa oryx

Gerenuk

Gerenuk are interesting creatures, they have really long necks and stand up to reach the leaves in the trees.

Blue-legged Somali ostrich

Grevy's zebra - they are super stripy compared to the Masai zebra I've seen elsewhere.

Reticulated giraffe

Cheetah! I got to see one! It was dusk when we encountered it, so my photos aren't that great. This is the only one I have that is reasonably clear, so this is what you get. You can, at least, tell it is a cheetah and see that it is eating a Gray's gazelle, so it isn't too bad.

In addition to the "Super 5" and the cheetah, I saw lots of other animals as well.

We encountered two young male lions lounging around.

The second one was a bit harder to see.

We also saw three leopards on three separate occasions. This one is pretty young and was practicing hunting. It was stalking an elephant at first, and then a few giraffes. We watched him for about an hour. I think we would have watched longer, but he disappeared behind a large rock and we weren't able to find him again.

We came across this one later in the morning. It was out hunting as well, although I think a bit more seriously than the cub from earlier.

We came across this one on our evening game ride. The lighting was bad for photos again, but I have now learned that videos work well.

As usual, there were a lot of antelope.

This one is called a dik dik and is the smallest antelope. They are super cute.

Impala

The photo itself is not that great, but I caught this one mid-jump, so I had to share.

Waterbuck

Once again, I encountered a lot of birds - several of them I hadn't seen before.

Buff-crested bustard

Common bulbul bathing in a puddle

Eastern chanting goshawk

Northern double-collared sunbird

Red-billed hornbill - this one was out on my balcony. He alerted me to his presence by repeatedly flying into the window of my room. If my experience with him is any indication, this appears to be a daily ritual.

Southern white-faced owl

Steppe eagle

Vulterine guineafowl

White-backed vulture

White-browed sparrow weaver

Superb starling - this one's nest must have been nearby because she started acting like she had a broken wing when I approached.

They look pretty funny when they get all puffed up to bathe.

I encountered a lot of wildlife just wandering around at the lodge.

Dragon flies

Lizard - this wasn't the only one I saw. There were several this size, some itty-bitty ones, and I even caught a glimpse of a giant lizard. I'm glad it was just runny quickly across the sidewalk and not at me.

There were vervet monkeys running around all over the place at the lodge. They were such a problem in the dining room, that they had to hire people who's sole job was to guard the dining room, which was completely open to the outside, from the monkeys. They weren't always successful. One stole Jan's role right off of her plate and another was able to infiltrate far enough to steal bread off of a table way in the back. It ran up and hid in the eaves to consume it.

Despite them being a nuisance, they were still pretty cute.

There were also baboons on the property

These guys weren't at the lodge. We encountered them throwing fruit down to others waiting on the ground during one of our game drives.

As on my other safaris, we came across some warthogs. We found these ones right as the rain was starting.

I also got to see some camels. We came across them on the way back to the airstrip.

While the "Super 5" and the big cats were cool, I think the elephants were my favorite part of Samburu, which is why I've saved them for last. We saw so many of them and got so close to them. I could have watched them for hours.

I couldn't help taking some super close-ups. We really were so incredibly close to them.

Mom and baby fresh from a mud bath

Another momma and baby. Our guide said this one was only 1.5 months old. It was sooo cute. It was still really clumsy, so watching it totter around provided great entertainment.

At sunset the first night, we saw a group of 14 crossing the river. It was pretty amazing.