Crawfish, Crater Lake, and fun around Naivasha

Looks like I need to catch up on some posting--all fun and no internet means lots of pictures going unposted! So let's catch up on last weekend.

1) Friday: Crawfish Boil

Before: Live crawfish!
Man feet for scale

Friday was the last day in the hospital for a crew of us, so Jody (the chief resident in Naivasha all year) threw a party at his house down by the lake. We cooked up a bunch of sides, and Jody bought 75 crawfish off of the lake fishermen and cooked it up SPECTACULARLY! His girlfriend even found sweet corn after going to 4 stores in Nairobi (maize is the ubiquitous staple in Kenya which is just not the same), and it was an amazing feast!

After: delicious giant feast! 

2) Saturday: Emily arrives!

Gingers and our Ginger Beer

I spent most of the morning finishing up my many school assignments I'd been procrastinating on, and my friend Emily (in my med school class, who also expanded with me to get my MPH, and a fellow redhead) arrived early afternoon. We spent the day touring the town and the hospital, then eating out at our favorite super-delicious Kenyan restaurant.

3) Sunday AM: Crater Lake

We drove the furthest I've ever been around Lake Naivasha to go to a small side lake and animal sanctuary for a hike and some animal viewing.

Crater Lake

Just some giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, warthogs, and antelopes
hanging out on a lovely Sunday morning

It was a lovely hike around the rim of the crater (a bit challenging at times to srabble up the peaks), and we ended up eating lunch at a floating restaurant down on the lake. A gorgeous and super fun morning!

Floating restaurant

4) Sunday PM: Poolside

On the way back around the lake we decided to stop for some R&R at one of the fancy resorts who lets you pay a small fee to use the pool, bar, wifi, etc. Complete with pool monkeys!

5) Monday AM: Return to Hell's Gate

As the biking safari was one of my favorite, must-do activities in Naivasha I was easily convinced to repeat the ride with Emily. Don't worry, I loved it just as much the second time! I probably took 200 more pics, with the highlights below.

Nursing zebra!

Family of rock hyraxes!

Scary lone buffalo

Waterfall in the gorge!

6) Monday PM: Return to Boat Safari

Again, easily convinced to repeat the sunset boat safari with Emily. Plus there were 3 new residents by this time who were eager to get out on the lake, and we had a blast! Much better hippo action than the first trip, with lots of bellowing and yawning. Sadly my camera loses its powers when the sun goes down, but it was sure fun to watch all the hippo antics.

Hippoooooo

Tree top heron

Lovely Lake Navaisha

That was the weekend! I felt quite sad to be moving on from Naivasha, I truly loved living in and exploring the area.

We left early Tuesday for our safari to Masai Mara, which will definitely deserve its own post!

Safe in France now, enjoying Paul and Paris in the spring :)

M