If you are just want to see furry and feathered creatures, look here:
Or if you really want to see ALL our photos from Kenya (500+ photos from the 12 days), here they are!:
In this post, I'll try to focus on some of the other aspects of our visit to Kenya, though I couldn't resist adding a few critters too. I'll tell this story mostly through pictures, so have a look below and enjoy!
This was our tank-like safari vehicle. The rock hard suspension made for a bone-jarring ride, and we experienced no fewer than three flat tires and two leaky fuel lines, but with the top popped up it provided an excellent vantage for animal viewing.
A sunset in Tsavo East over Ashnil Aruba Lodge, where we were staying. The flat plains made for amazing sunrises and sunsets throughout the trip. Dawn and dusk are also the best time for game drives since a lot of animals don't like to move around in the midday sun. The lodge compound you see here is typical for the places we stayed: walled gardens with individual cabanas and usually great animal viewing.
Gare Gare, our guide, who has more than ten years of experience on safaris. He had a keen eye and an encyclopedic knowledge of the flora, fauna, and landmarks we encountered. Emily and I generally prefer to go it alone most places, but it is very important to have a guide on an African safari, not least because they communicate with each other over the radio (in Swahili) to share the best animal viewing locations.
A pride of lionesses drinking from a water hole in Tsavo East. Some animals like zebras and giraffes were ubiquitous, but lions are not as easy to find. There are fewer of them, and they mostly only come out at dawn and dusk. We happened to come across this group at midday as they were resting in the shade and having a drink.
In Tsavo West, Ngulia Safari Lodge puts out meat each night around sunset to attract leopards and other critters. They had lights trained on the area but it was still quite dark. This leopard was kind enough to stand still long enough for me to capture this image. My Nikkor f/2.8 70-200mm lens also helped. I'm pretty sure it was looking hungrily at Emily.
This was taken from a viewpoint in Tsavo West called Roaring Rocks. Getting up there required parking the car and walking. It was an easy ten minutes on a paved pathway, but Gare Gare picked up a couple of rocks and implored me to do the same. "We don't know what's up there," he proclaimed ominously. Nothing, as it happened, but it still made for a hair raising walk.
The name "Amboseli" refers to the dust twisters that show up all over the area. Unlike the other parks we visited, the land in Amboseli is extremely flat, except for one prominent viewpoint and the foothills that lead up to Kilimanjaro. The seemingly endless plains made for very good wildlife viewing, even from within the lodge compound as in this photo.
We were lucky to get a close look at a pair of cheetahs around dusk. They were attempting to cross the road, but once word went out over the radio, every safari car in the area came for a look. The cheetahs trotted around for awhile right in front looking for a good place to cross.
Amboseli is known for its sunsets. We were concerned about the clouds to the west, but fortunately it cleared up on the horizon as the sun was setting and the golden lining on the clouds enhanced the sunset. The colors in the sky were gorgeous.
This elephant carcass was on the side of the road leading to our lodge. We often saw vultures pecking away at it, but when we drove past after sunset we found this pack of hyenas. The smell of rotting meat was overpowering even from more than 100 feet away. The hyenas didn't seem to mind.
Our only encounters with rhinos were in Lake Nakuru where they are quite common. Sadly, their numbers have been decimated by poaching in many other parks.
I managed to spot this leopard hanging out on a tree limb. It was pretty far off, but the light was excellent and we got some great shots.
Taken from Baboon Cliff Viewpoint looking over Lake Nakuru in the background.
We had an outstanding view of a group of flamingos on the drive out of Lake Nakuru. From time to time, they would stretch their wings with a brief flapping motion. I managed to catch this one at full extension.
In Hell's Gate National Park, near Lake Naivasha, you can get out and walk among the animals. There are no large predators (so they say), but we did have to pass a herd of buffalo.
Taken from Hell's Gate Gorge with the Central Tower rising behind us.
At Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge they have an expansive lawn right on the lake. They get animals wandering into the compound all the time, including some larger creatures like waterbucks, giraffes, and even hippos at night. Emily and I had a blast following these giraffes around the compound as they loped awkwardly from place to place.
Emily hugging a pygmy giraffe.
We took a short boat tour of Lake Naivasha where we saw hippos and many different types of water birds in their element. The water level of the lake has been rising lately, so we also saw partially submerged acacia trees and power poles.
With all the game drives and travelling from park to park, we were eager for any opportunity to get out of the car for a few hours. So we were especially happy to have a chance to climb Mount Longonot (2,776 meters) and peer down into the enormous volcanic crater from the rim. I joking asked our hiking guide if he had seen any dinosaurs down there. He seemed quite concerned for a moment and told me in a serious tone that "no, there aren't any dinosaurs that he knew of down there."
An adorable Bush Baby munching on some fruit that our lodge left out to lure them onto a viewing platform in the common room.
At the Masai Mara Sopa Lodge, we were treated to performance by some of the local Masai tribe. The major portion of the dance involved impressive feats of jumping in place.
On our approach to the Mara River, we saw thousands of grazing wildebeests. This photo only shows one location, but it was pretty much the same for miles. The sheer numbers were amazing to see.
We staked out a location at the Mara River and waited in our vehicle for a chance to see a crossing. We would see large groups of wildebeests walking to and form the river, but they were amazingly indecisive about whether they would cross. Most of the time they would lose their nerve and turn back. They had good reasons to be concerned, as there are enormous crocodiles waiting patiently in the waters. Although we never saw a mass crossing, we did see one small group make it across safely.
Here am I am full of smiles at the end of our safari as we enjoyed an enormous lunch at Carnivore restaurant where you can have all the meat you can eat as carvers make their rotations around the restaurant. They don't serve game meat (anymore), but we did try farm raised crocodile and ostrich. I would give this place a glowing review, except several hours later I came down with a ghastly case of food poising that put me out of commision for about two days.
Lounging on the rooftop pool deck of the Best Western in Nairobi after having mostly recovered from the food poising.
