Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 9 Feb 1975 –
Yesterday we went out to lunch with our neighbours Caroline & Martin Trent and then were taken to Nairobi National Park. It was very much more impressive than I anticipated and the colours were magnificent – nothing like anything in England – all greys, dull greens and golds – because it’s nearly the end of the dry season. We saw a lot of animals; giraffes, gnus, zebras, wart hogs, ostriches, hippos and many kinds of deer. Also some very interesting birds including Marabou Storks who stand right on top of trees – they are taller than Fiona – and look most strange, vultures, hawks and cranes. Although it is very small as these parks go we didn’t feel shut in and in fact never saw the boundary fences. When we turned around to come home it took us 45 minutes solid driving to get to the exit. The tracks are only earth but quite well maintained and there are plenty of them so you rarely meet another car. Apparently it’s the best time of year to see lion as the drought drives them into the park but we weren’t lucky this time – however we saw so many other animals that we did very well.
Entry in Juliet’s dairy 8 Feb 1975 –
We went to the Nairobi Game Park orphanage first, which is for animals that cannot fend for themselves old or young. In the orphanage there was an old lioness and some cheetahs, a leopard, a rhino, a mother hippo and her baby. The baby hippo was only about a foot long.
Juliet's Kenya Days blog 