Like so many people we had to cancel planned trips in 2020. One of those was a 10 day safari to Kenya that we had planned with Ken's high school friend Dave Flores and his wife Alex. We were able to finally go late in August 2021 and it was worth the wait. There were so many incredible moments on the trip we hope the pictures are able to do it all justice.
We have all heard it before. "Nothing like it", "Trip of a lifetime", "Will change your perspective on life", these are all true. We were so ready to get out and see the most beautiful animals in the world. We were blessed with great guides that found us all of the big 5 except the Rino.
We went to three completely different camps that we will go into details later along with all the planning and requirements that we had to navigate. But this post is to give you a taste of our adventure and the beauty and mystery of Africa.
Everyone loves elephants! Here are a few special moments we spent with the them. These beauties eat close to 300 lbs of grass, roots and weeds a day. They move to and from the water while they constantly are eating. They spray themselves with water and roll in the dirt to cover their skin to protect themselves from the sun. The one mother stood still in the sun to shade her baby while it slept. The mothers are also very protective. The only time the big ones got a little fired-up was when we got too close. The moms always put themselves between the baby elephant and any threat. When they start trumpeting and flapping their ears it means that they are annoyed or threatened. At our camp at Little Governors we woke up to a mother and baby elephant feeding about 20 feet from our tent. The last photo of the bird is on an elephants back.
One of our favorites were the giraffes. They are such an odd looking animal. They are very calm and move in small herds. They live for up to 20 years. Their strength is in their lower leg. There is no marrow in the bone so they are heavy and solid. That lower bone can weigh up to 50 lbs and can kill a lion with a kick if it gets too close. There are 3 different species of giraffes in Africa each with a slightly different arrangement and color of the spots on their hide.
There are so many big dramatic animals in Africa the little guys sometimes get forgotten. The very silly warthogs always put a smile on our face. The guides call them "lion sausage" because they are not very smart and often run away from a predator and then stop seemingly to have forgotten all about the threat. In some strange fluke of evolution they also kneel down when they graze which just adds to their weirdness.
We all decided that the jackals got a bad rap. They look like small dogs and run in packs of 5-10. We encountered one jogging down the road carrying a pup in it's mouth. An important part of the ecosystem they clean all the meat off a dead animal before the meat can rot and spread disease.
Hyenas on the other hand look as creepy and sneaky as they are portrayed in the Lion King. Their necks are long and hunched over so they always look like they ready to pounce on something. They live in dens they dig so they always look very dirty. They hunt in packs and are bold enough to go after bigger prey like baby lions or zebra.
Hippopotamus, African Buffalo
Then there are the big boys. The Hippos and the African buffalo. These two species are the deadliest to man. Though the hippos can weigh up to a ton they can still move pretty fast when they want to. You don't want to get too close, especially when a baby hippo is around. They sit in the water and eat grass and plants all day. The African buffalo is not the prettiest of beasts. They move in large herds and the families stay together. Sadly when an old buffalo is no longer needed for mating, they are chased out of the herd to live their final years alone on the plains.
Leopards, Black Panthers, Lions
The Big cats were our favorites. These beautiful Leopards and Lions were just spectacular. The young male leopard had lifted its pray high in a tree to keep it away from scavengers. Their strength is amazing. The Zebra meal would weigh about 125 lbs.
As we say so often we are very blessed and God has given us many special moments.
While in Loisaba Kenya we had the amazing privilege of seeing a Black Panther (Leopard).
A Black Panther had not been seen in the area for over 20 yrs. They are very rare and most of the people we spoke to had never seen one in the area after working there for decades. About a month before we arrived one was seen on some of the local fixed cameras but no one had seen it out in the wild. The first day we were there it was spotted and we were able to spend time following it around and watching this beautiful animal move through the area. Dark as night and as large as the biggest cats in the area. What an amazing animal. We found him again the next day and watched the cat move about with no fear of anything. After we left, our guide has not been able to find the cat since.
When we arrived at Little Governors camp, our first outing took us to a pack of lions.
There were 3 females, 1 Male, (3) 6 month old cubs and (3) 3 month old cubs. They didn't seem to care a bit about our jeep being next to them. They laid around and slept. The cubs played with each other and climbed all over the mothers. It was like a close up look into the family of lions in their home.
More about Kenya coming soon.
Comments