valandian-in Africa: Treetops

July 7

After a wonderful breakfast, we packed up and left. Abraham, our guide, packed up our luggage in the Toyota which is to be our transport for the next 3 weeks. After negotiating the morning traffic of Nairobi we left the city and headed north to Nyeri. Along the way we see huge pineapple plantations and, of course, coffee. Another big business is plantation timber. We pass huge eucalyptus plantations. The timber is used for power poles and also exported to other African countries. As well as pineapples, melons, watermelon, mangoes and bananas are also grown.

In Kenya there are 44 tribes but everyone speaks English and Swahili. In Tanzania there are 120 tribes, with the same languages spoken.

After a 3 hour drive we arrived at Treetops in the Aberdares. The name became clear. It was a Baden-Powell centre and the place where he spent his last years. His grave is in the nearby town of Nyeri. I remember being in guides and hearing about this place.

We had a lovely lunch overlooking the slopes of Mt Kenya then wandered the gardens and visited the museum. Then it was off to the other Treetops, also familiar as the place where Princess Elizabeth learned of the death of her father back in 1952. The original building was burned during the Mau Mau uprising, but a new larger building was built and this is where we stayed, overlooking the same watering hole.

This is where we have had our first wildlife experience. Buffalo and warthogs (think Pumba and Hakuna Matata), baboons, bush bucks and water buck greeted us. Then later in the afternoon a small herd of elephant arrived and remained for a good couple of hours. Some bulls arrived, separately, and from a talk given at the lodge by Steven, we learned about family life elephant style.

Our room overlooked the water hole and around the lodge are other areas for viewing game up close. What a start!