Kenya & Tanzania
August 12-26, 2007
Tour Operator: G Adventures Serengeti & Masai Mara Experience
Transportation: Vans
Accommodations: Camping
Destinations:
Kenya – Samburu National Reserve, Lake Nakuru National Park, Masai Mara
Tanzania – Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater
East Africa 2007
My first full day in Africa, visiting the Elephant Sanctuary along the edge of Nairobi National Park - and my first giraffe sighting! Giraffes have always been my favourite animal so this was an incredible way to start my adventure.
A warthog on a mission.
The first of my Big Five (lion, rhino, elephant, buffalo & leopard) came just shortly into our first game drive of the trip in Samburu Reserve. Most people don't start with the leopard though!
A female ostrich strolling past
Mama & babies - It was an emotional experience seeing wild elephants for the first time. I've seen them many times since and they never fail to awe me.
Giraffes in silhouette
African buffalo - you don't want to be on the receiving end of those horns!
A beisa oryx on the move
Stretching for a drink
Sleepy lioness
Mom & baby baboon. The baboons were in our campsite and quite troublesome. They don't fear tourists, and were always on the lookout for food or just the chance to cause mischief.
Our guide hushed the group as these white rhinos looked towards us. While there was a fence in between, they could have gone through it like paper had we upset them.
A waterfall, the name of which sadly I no longer know!
We next headed to Lake Nakuru where we ran in to this hungry and mischievous baboon. He stole a loaf of bread from right off our table - coming right in between us as we made sandwiches!
Marabou stork - the undertaker of the savannah.
The main attraction of Lake Nakuru - thousands of lesser flamingos!
Flamingo in flight
PINK!
A waterbuck - our guide believed he might be injured or ill, as he didn't move when our vehicle drove past him.
The sentinel - a baboon watches Lake Nakuru from high above. The pink is all flamingos.
The unsuccessful hunter - this hyena tried repeatedly for a flamingo for dinner...despite the huge numbers, they always saw him coming and took off before he got there.
Young male lion
Floating over a hippo pond
Wildebeest migration from the air. It was incredible to see the huge herds.
Coming in to land!
A baby cheetah!
Mother & Child
A Ruppell's griffon vulture coming down for a meal.
The great migration from ground level.
We left Kenya and headed in to Tanzania and Lake Manyara National Park. This is a dik-dik. East Africa's smallest antelopes, dik-diks mate for life.
A grey-headed kingfisher amongst the thorns
A well-coiffed baboon
A male ostrich
A cheetah welcomes us to the Serengeti.
Two hyenas fighting over their next meal
A hard-won dinner!
The Lonely Acacia
Serengeti!
Big yawn!
A crocodile goes in for a bite of a hippo carcass. The smell at this waterhole was incredible.
Marabous settling in at sunset
Lions on a kill - we just missed the takedown of this large buffalo. The lions fed on it for the next two days.
Intense stare
The huntress
A pair of female ostriches.
Why did the giraffe cross the road?
A flat-headed rock agama
A secretary bird showing the quill pens and pantaloons that gave him his name
A young gazelle
The Three Amigos!
Follow the leader!
Ngorongoro Crater from above