Most of my travels are in Central America; if that's the blog you're looking for, here it is: Hopefulist in Latin America.

This is the blog for photos and reflections of my visits to other places, beginning in 2013. Previous blogs are linked on the main pages of my photo collections on flickr.
HAPPY TRAILS!

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

KENYA - June/July 2019

Mike and I passed 3 thrilling weeks on our first trip to Africa this summer, 2 in Kenya and 1 in Uganda. We loved everywhere we stayed, every guide, all of our tour choices, and were inordinately lucky with animal sightings, beyond our expectations and even our hopes.


We started with 3 nights in an Airbnb in the Lang'ata neighborhood of Nairobi with an early morning safari in the Nairobi Nat'l Park and visits to the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, Giraffe Centre, Kazuri Bead Factory, Karen Blixen (‘Out of Africa‘ author) Museum, and our son's Africa Regional Medic Mobile office. 










Then we stopped at the Maasai Market and headed out on a 4 day adventure loop toward Nyeri - west of Mt. Kenya - where we stayed at another Airbnb, Sandai Farm. Highlights there were riding horses and an early morning birding hike. 






We headed to the gate of Aberdare National Park where we picked up a guide and practically had the whole park to ourselves. Highlights were forest elephants, lots of Cape Buffalo, changing landscapes, and hikes to gorgeous waterfalls.






leopard track




Heading to lake Naivasha - calf on a moto taxi


sheep with sticks on their necks to keep them from getting through fences


Our Lake Naivasha Airbnb was at Sanctuary Farm which is contiguous with the Crescent Island Sanctuary. No big predators means you can wonder among the wildlife as long as you watch for hippos which come up around the buildings at night. Our banda had splats of hippo poop on it from a big guy marking his territory.










Boat trip on Lake Naivasha






fishermen chasing fish into nets


Biking and hiking in Hell's Gate National Park






We climbed Mt. Longonot on our way back to Nairobi






Great Rift Valley


Big shout out to Robert Muhuhu of Sojourn Safaris and our wonderful driver David for making the Nairobi Nat'l Park tour and this adventure loop a smooth, happy, and adventurous off-the-beaten-track joy.

A week into the trip we flew from Nairobi to the Naboisho Conservancy next to the Maasai Mara Reserve. The wildlife viewing was gobsmacking starting less than 5 minutes away from the airport.





We stayed our first night at Basecamp Explorer's Wilderness Camp.


After a morning game drive we did a walking safari from Wilderness Camp to Basecamp Eagle View where we stayed the next 3 nights. We really loved our Basecamp experiences, from planning through the last selfie - they are well organized and well-staffed and the environments are amazing.





We followed this lactating lioness (and her very pregnant niece) back to the den where the week old cubs were hidden. Amazing!


The smallest sort of antelope: a dikdik.



Walking safari with our Maasai guide and armed (with spears) guards




Our welcome and the view at Eagle View





We were thrilled to keep the same guides all 5 days - Steve as the head guide/driver, and Edward who road on every game drive and led the walking safaris.



Cory Bustard - at 40+ pounds it's the largest bird capable of flight


Bee eater


A highlight was sitting - often for an hour or more - watching the family interactions.






We spent several evenings in a row with lions, not far from Eagle View; we heard them roaring at night.



We enjoyed a Maasai community visit.




On our last full day we completed a 12 hour game drive in the Maasai Mara Reserve


The Mara River











wildebeest crossing a creek en masse


lion tracks



The icing on the cake: a leopard! We saw her first sitting by this draw, then she climbed up in the bushes to wait for wildebeest to cross.



I can see her spots in the photo below because I know where to look. :-)


Our last morning we did our 2nd walking safari, then headed to the little air strip and said goodbye to Steve and Edward.




We flew from the Naboisho Conservancy back to Nairobi and on to Uganda for the rest of our Africa adventure. If you'd like to see more photos from our trip, check out my FLICKR PAGE. Happy trails!

3 comments:

  1. another fantastic blog
    thinking about this after Uganda as we still have two weeks

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great blog and fantastic pictures. We are looking at 2 nights in base camp masai Mara and 1 in Eagle View conservancy. Drive in and out so that gives us 2 full days and 2 half days. I hope this is enough

    ReplyDelete

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