After our adventure in Tanzania we flew to Nairobi and spent a day and a half at this Fairmont hotel.

 

 

We left Nairobi and headed into the Aberdare Forest. We stopped at the Aberdare Golf and Country Club for lunch and a transfer to another bus .

All these guys were roaming around the grounds of the club. I got to about 15 feet from this guy. You can see the petals from the Jacaranda tree scattered on the grass.

 

I’ll be honest, not sure what this was, maybe a Bush Buck.

 

 

 

 

Some of the landscape surrounding the club.

 

 

 

After lunch several groups boarded a bus to go to The Ark.

 

Saw this gal by the side of the road. Very lucky to spot a leopard. Pun intended.

 

Here she is on the move. Checking out some possible prey in the valley.

 

 

Here’s the ark from a distance. You can see the 4 levels of viewing which over looked a watering hole and salt lick. They had an alarm system for when animals showed up. One ring for elephants, two for lions, three for a kill, etc. If you wanted, you could have it on through the night or turn it off.

 

 

Here are a few photos of the salt lick. It started raining, so the animals were sparse.

 

 

 

The next morning we headed off to the next hotel. On the way we passed the equator.

 

 

We stopped at the Mount Kenya Fairmont Hotel. It was the former hunting lodge of William Holden.

 

 

Nice rooms.

 

 

A view of Mount Kenya, second tallest mountain in Africa, but more technical to climb than Kili.

 

In the afternoon we visited an animal orphanage on the hotel grounds. They take in rescued or injured animals and rehabilitate them. Some are released back into the wild, while others are too injured, and stay on the orphanage preserve.

 

This is a Bongo. There were only around 30 left in Kenya and this sanctuary started a breeding program and reintroduction into the wild. There are now around 300 Bongos in Kenya.

 

 

 

 

Here they put us to work feeding one of the antelopes.

 

Check out the baby ostriches watching.

 

There are three ostriches here, two larger, and a runt of the clutch.

 

This poor fellow got run over by a car, busted up beak, shattered foot and broken leg. He still wanders around the compound following us.

 

This is a Pygmy Hippo.

 

Giant Tortoise.

 

 

Just cant get this monkey off my back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The monkey’s paws were so soft. I thought they would be rough from climbing on the trees. These are Vervet Monkeys.

 

 

 

 

 

Colobus monkey.

 

 

 

We had the opportunity to see this Cheetah, Dianna, and her two sibling brothers. They were part of a litter of ten cubs which is unusually large. The mother was overwhelmed and took 5 of them and left 5. The sanctuary was called and by the time they arrived one of the cubs was dead. They nurtured the rest on site for a day or two and brought them back. A few days after they came back to the sanctuary a second one passed away. The remaining three stay at the sanctuary.

 

Dianna

 

And her brothers. 5 years old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning we headed off for a half day in the Sweetwater Preserve. Here is a Reticulated Giraffe. Their spots are more basic and not as irregular as the Masai Giraffe below it.

 

 

 

This fellow is snoozing after a big feed. The kill is about 100 feet away.

 

This lioness is guarding the kill.

 

***WARNING! GRAPHIC PICTURE***

 

 

 

This is the kill. They have eaten all the organs first, and will work on the meat the next day.

 

 

 

 

Mom and a young one.

 

Checking us out.

 

We went to the Ol Pejeta Sanctuary, a Jane Goodall initiative. There were lots of chimps in the preserve.This one is across a river, waiting for us to throw some bamboo stalks to it.

 

 

This guy’s name is Oscar. He used to be an alpha male in the troop, but got beat out in a huge scrap. He lost an eye during the fight. He hangs out by himself most of the time.

 

 

The next three are all waiting across the river for some sugar cane stalks.

 

 

 

 

 

A male Impala.

 

And his harem.

 

We spotted some Rhinos from a distance.

 

It’s a bummer they weren’t closer.

 

 

 

We visited a Rhinoceros sanctuary. where this fellow was housed in a 3 acre enclosure. His name is Baraka, which means “blessing” in Swahili. He lost an eye during a fight and developed a cataract in the other eye, so he is completely blind. He is a black rhino. You can tell by the more predominantly sloped back, shorter head and horns. Black rhinos are browsers, meaning they eat leaves.

 

We had a chance to feed and pet him. Very rough skin. You bang the sugar cane on the wood and he wanders over.

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can see his eye missing.

 

 

Back at the Mount Kenya hotel for the afternoon. They had a maze that we just had to go through.

 

 

 

The next morning we took a flight the Masai Mara, where we stayed for 3 days. A view from the plane.

 

At the Masai Mara, we stayed at the Fairmont Masai Mara. It was glamping along the Mara River. The Mara River takes a huge curve here and all of the “tents” were along the shore. There was a 30 foot cliff down to the river. These are some of the critters out our tent flap.

 

 

 

 

 

Out on a safari trip. In Kenya we went out early on a morning safari from 06:00 to around 08:30 and then had the midday to relax. Then we went out again from 3:30 to 6:00 in the afternoon for another drive. Here are some blue jean Topis.

 

An Eland, one of the largest antelopes.

 

Some of the landscape.

 

A lioness relaxing.

 

 

Cape Buffalo. Our guide told us there was a special name for animals laying down like this. They are called “Ground Beef”. His joke, not mine.

 

A Secretary Bird. Gets their name from the plumage on their head, it looks like a secretary with the pens sticking in their hair. Also, when they kill small animals they claw them by stamping, and it looks like a secretary typing.

 

 

 

These next few pictures are lioness and cubs.

 

 

The story is, this lioness got injured defending her cubs. The alpha male wanted to kill the two male cubs she had, to eliminate them as competition. There is another picture of her further down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunset on the Masai Mara. The Masai Mara is an open plain on the northern extension of the Serengeti.

 

 

The next day. Here is everyone’s friend, the Hyena.

 

 

A vulture checking out a kill.

 

A Family of Warthogs.

 

A menacing croc.

 

A Hippo heading back to the watering hole. They graze at night and wallow in the mud and water during the day.

 

Vultures moving in on the kill.

 

Ostriches mating. The head and neck you see is actually the females.

 

Below are two videos. First is the male doing the mating dance to impress the female. Doesn’t look like see’s too interested. Then he chases her down.

Second video is the deed.

 

 

 

 

Jackals checking out a burrow.

 

 

Another cute baby elephant.

****WARNING! CONTAINS GRAPHIC PICTURES FOR SOME.****

 

The following four pictures show a Cheetah and her cubs feasting on an antelope. One of the cubs is actually feeding on the fetus, which was almost full term.

 

About one hundred feet away were around 50 Vultures and Marabou Storks in a perfect semicircle waiting their turn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These two were attempting to increase the pride.

 

 

 

 

 

Cigarette, please.

 

Here the babies are, already.

 

These are some of my favorite pictures of the lions.

 

 

 

 

Nursing Cubs.

 

 

Some curious Zebras.

 

This was one of the largest giraffes we saw. You can see it’s a Masai Giraffe by the puzzle piece spots. 

 

A Hyena feeding on the remains of a kill.

 

Vultures and Marabou Storks waiting patiently.

 

The Jackals have moved in too.

 

 

As they move in closer, the Hyena snares and they back off.

 

Eventually the Hyena has his fill and moves on. The Vultures move in and pick it clean. The Marabou Stork has to wait.

 

 

 

 

 

During one of our afternoons not in the jeep, we went for a stroll along the Mara river (staying within the confines of the resort, of course.) We saw this little guy trying to coax his mother into the water. He was 5 days old. He would go into the water, splash around a bit and then come back out, nudging his mom. Hippos nurse under water so he wanted mom to go into the water so he could get some food. The guy that was explaining this to us was freaking out because ……….

 

…….This fellow was about 50 ft away, ready to move in.

 

On our last day, our guide, John, asked us if there was anything in particular we’d like to see. We wanted to see some rhinos up close in the wild. not just in a pen. So off we went in search of rhinos. We went to a different area in the park and needed some paperwork to go there. Along the way we got stopped by game wardens with the big guns and all the kit. They talked briefly to John and then asked us to get out of the jeep. Number one rule is: NEVER GET OUT OF THE JEEP, so we were very reluctant. We were eventually convinced and told we were going for a short walk in the bush. We both thought “this isn’t going to end well”. Anyways we went along and shortly rounded a corner and saw this. It was truly amazing!. It was about 30 ft away from us. An 8 year old male White Rhino.

 

A close up of him.

 

The warden took our picture. Notice Teresa smiling.

 

We could hear the munching as our friend moved closer. Notice Teresa is not smiling as much.

 

As our friend moves closer we try and put on a brave face.

 

Okay, you can get us out of here now. The warden was having fun taking way to many pictures, as our friend moved closer and closer. Then he wanted to take a few more with the ipad. He, the rhino, ended up about 15 feet from us.

 

This was the other rhinos mother, around 16 years old. She was close by. You can tell she’s a white rhino because of the larger head, longer tusks and straighter back. Also she is grazing, as opposed to the black rhino, who browses- eats leaves.

 

And this was the “end” of the rhino encounter.

 

Some curious giraffes. They’ve spotted something.

 

A mother and her three year old.

 

He’s trying to nurse. The mother is having none of it.

 

This guy is just laying on the road. Go around me.

 

Nearing the end of our last day. We are sad.

 

 

This is John, our guide. We say goodbye as we head to the airport and back to Nairobi and back home. It has been an amazing journey.

 

The local airport terminal.

 

Here is the check in.

 

 

And the waiting room.

 

We flew back to Nairobi and then off to Amsterdam.

We hope you enjoyed our pictures. It was an amazing trip and we got to see some wonderful things.

Please feel free to comment.

Bob and Teresa