Jambo (hello in Swahili) from Africa!

We flew in to Nairobi, Kenya around 3pm local time after a long transit via Dubai. Feeling exhausted but excited for what the next 46 days would bring, we crawled in to bed around 10pm and enjoyed the last sleep in a bed we would have for a while...

Day 1 on our overland safari with Acacia Africa delivered more animal entertainment that we could have imagined in our Malarone-addled dreams. Leaving early, we made a beeline toward Lake Nakuru National Park, stopping only to take in the views from atop a lookout over the Great Rift Valley (a huge crevasse in the Earth's face that runs from Jordan in the north all the way down to Mozambique in southern Africa). Here we spotted some entertaining little critters called tree or rock hyrax, or rock rabbits - chubby guinea-pig looking things with brown fur. They were munching happily on some discarded lettuce leaves at the side of the road and occasionally starting vicious 15 second brawls with aggression levels you'd expect from a wolverine. The vanquished hyrax would scamper off into the undergrowth and the rest would go back to their squeaking and merry feasting.

Arrival at the gates of the national park revealed our next source of entertainment: baboons! Notorious worldwide for their daring and cheek; I had a feeling our truckside lunch would at some point entice some animal antics (which of course it did). Also at the gates were 4 busloads of local school students - them watching us, us watching them... it was all very awkward. All at once, their attention was on us unanimously. Their faces moved to interest, quickly into smiles and excited giggles before exploding in laughter, pointing and clapping. A baboon had snuck into our truck looking for food. It hadn't counted on surprising one of us - Carissa the Kiwi - and she was now trapped in a confined space with a hungry alpha-male. Screaming and banging ensued, and in moments our driver Culi-Culi had rescued her like a regular Prince Charming. The baboon scampered and - after plenty of laughs - we finally settled down for some lunch.

Once actually in the national park in our safari vehicle, the variety of fauna we saw was staggering. Zebra, giraffe, ostrich, water buffalo, white rhino, Pumba (a.k.a. warthog) and the baboon we were already familiar with. The ubiquitous marabou stork looks like a massive vulture and can be seen perching on any ungainly tree branch in sight. We also learnt about two types of antelope: the dainty empala with its delicately curved horns and striped bum, and the Water Bok - a much larger member of the family who apparently like to submerge themselves in water when being chased by predators and leave their eyes and nose breaching. The result? A very confused lion who was chasing an antelope and is now staring down a crocodile in the water. Great stuff. Sjane even got to see a flock of flamingoes! Prettly little things looking like a frilly fringe at the water's edge from a distance.

The real highlight came not 500m from the gates we were about to depart from. The driver called back to us "... lions." Emerging slowly from the long undergrowth was an alpha-male with his lioness. It was an impressive sight. They are huge! Somehow watching The Lion King as a child didn't really convey the size and stature of one of these animals in their habitat. It was all very David Attenborough.Then all of a sudden it became more Discovery Channel... this pair was a mating couple! Spanning three days (with copulation occuring for fifteen seconds every fifteen minutes); we had arrived in time to see the full process unfold. With our tour guide Bombastic giving a whispered commetary, the only other noises to be heard were the lion's roars and the exclamations: "I can't believe we're watching live lion porn!".

A truly memorable end to an amazing day of animal encounters.