Juliet's Kenya Days blog

Juliet’s diary entry 27 Feb 1975 –

We went out with Catherine Stevenson’s family to Nairobi Game Park for a picnic. At the gate we asked the Warden if it would be alright to picnic at a place called Caltex Point. He said yes, we could, and we could get out of the car too. On the way to the Point Mrs Stevenson was telling us about when they had a picnic and a troop of monkeys came and took some of their food. She was joking that she would rather have a few lions than monkeys. Then we arrived at Caltex Point. There was a notice saying You May Leave Your Car. We were about to get out of the car when we spotted two lionesses. We all sat there shocked beyond words ! The silence was broken by Fiona who started crying. When we had all got over the shock we drove behind the lionesses up the road. We saw them scent some buck. They both went a different way round the buck. We saw one of them pounce but she didn’t catch anything. It was very exciting.

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 3 Mar 1975 –

We had an exciting visit to Nairobi National Park with a family called Stevenson – they have a girl of 11, Catherine, a boy of Helen’s age Alastair and a 5 year old, Jane, so are good company for our girls – they play a lot together. They have a big old Peugeot estate car so we all managed to pack in. We planned to eat our lunch at one of the picnic sites in the Park and were just about to leave the car when two lionesses came walking up. They were hunting and must have been very hungry to be out at that time of day. We were able to follow them and it was most interesting to watch them hunting a herd of buck. Fiona was rather frightened of having such large animals within touching distance but of course they had no interest in the car. Tom & Myrtle Stevenson were quite upset at the possible danger had we been out of the car – however as I am of a much more placid disposition I was able to enjoy the unusual encounter to the full ! We again saw many animals and the children fed a Rock Hyrax (like an overgrown rat or guineapig) with bread and cheese. On the way home we visited Nairobi Airport to see the Concorde which is there for a fortnight – it had attracted an enormous crowd of visitors.

Letter from Judy to Grandma & Grandad 16 June 1975 –

The last two Sunday mornings Graham has taken some of the 1st year school boys to Nairobi Game Park – it is surprising how little most of them know about their own wild animals and they were very thrilled when given the opportunity. Graham had to promise he would take every one of them before the end of the school year ! They have been lucky so far – the first lot of boys saw 10 lions and 5 rhino and his last lot surpassed this by seeing a leopard and 4 cheetah, neither of which are commonly seen. I went with Graham on this occasion and we were excited when only about 500 yards inside the main gate we saw a leopard sitting under a tree about 15 yards away. He (or she) stared at us very suspiciously with his head hunched between his shoulders, then finally stood up still fixing us with his eyes and slouched off. He looked most unpleasant and certainly more dangerous than lions. We were lucky as there are few leopard in the Park and, as they are nocturnal animals, very rarely seen. It made us feel getting up at 6am was worthwhile. Later out on the plains we saw the cheetah eating an impala they had just caught right by the road. There was a mother and 3 well-grown cubs – they each ate in turn while the other 3 watched for danger, very well-mannered and elegant. They have small cat-like heads and very long legs. The mother was still panting after the hunt – apparently they reach up to 60 mph while hunting. It must be hard work with 3 cubs to feed and look after.

Letter from Graham to David 26 June 1975 –

There are Maasai people herding cattle in Nairobi Game Park – living in the old way and facing the hazards of wild animals as they always have. They are semi-nomadic, wandering about in search of fresh pastures so I don’t suppose they are permanently inside the park.

Diary entry by Juliet 6 July 1975 –

This morning quite early Daddy & Martin Trent took 7 school boys and I to Nairobi Game Park. Just inside the park we saw a leopard (maybe the same one we saw a few weeks ago?) being chased by a dikdik (sic). The leopard was obviously not hungry and the dikdik is a tiny deer only about 18″ high so it was amazing to see. We saw a hippo and its baby and some baboons.

Letter from Judy to Jo 13 July 1975 –

Graham took his last lot of 1st form boys to the game park today and they had their usual luck in seeing a good variety of animals! A large male baboon came and sat on the bonnet of the minibus and then tried to get in the back door. Luckily Graham knew how clever these baboons can be and had told the boys to hang on tight to the back door handle. I can imagine the excited squeals from the boys – they are not used to being at close quarters to animals in the way our children are, what with the zoo and Longleat and places like that. Anyway the baboon had a good old climb over the van but failed to get in anywhere. Graham will deserve a lie-in next Sunday having spent the last 6 weeks getting up at 6:30am to take the boys out. As there are lessons on a Saturday morning it’s his only chance for a lie-in.

Letter from Graham to Malcolm & Frances 9 Aug 1975 –

After sunbathing and gardening until 3:30pm today we went to Nairobi National Park for a picnic tea. It takes about half an hour to get there. This time we saw very few animals but we were able to get a good look at a rhino eating grass as fast as it could. We have to be out of the park by 7pm because it is almost dark by then. Last week we saw some hyenas at dusk. They are funny looking things and are not easy to find because they mainly come out at night time. Obviously they thought we looked funny too – after staring in amazement they retreated to the woods and watched us from a safe distance.

Letter from Helen to Grandma & Grandad Aug 1975 –

Yesterday when we came back from town we went to the game park (at Nairobi). We went to the museum there. There was all different kinds of dung and there was boxs that you had to put your hand in and feel what was inside it, one was a baboon skull another was a hedgehog (dead) next one was a wildebeeste tail another was some elephants hair making a braclet. I would hate to have hair like that it’s like wire ! There was lots of other things and there was some baby animals in jars, in one jar there was a lion in another a baby lioness a monater lizard and three baby, umm, umm, I can’t remember, never mind, when we went into the game park we went through a woody part and we saw a pack of hyaenas (about 3 or 4) we came round a corner and they were just walking along the road, they stood staring at us and then they ran away.