The Nairobi area has experienced a significant drought, so the rain that pelted us at the airport on Tuesday evening was quite welcome, even to the animals that roam the lush savannah lands of southern Kenya. We saw hundreds of them during our safari, sleek, healthy, and beautiful. It was a breathtaking moment as we motored down a dirt trail, saw a spotted neck rise above the trees and a face thrust about, so that we could recognize this being as an elegant giraffe. They are huge animals, ranging from 15 to 19 feet tall.
The landscape itself was magnificent. The weather glorious. In certain places it was safe for us to leave our vehicles and walk about.
Indeed one of the rangers offered to guide us to a spot where a crocodile had recently hatched 15 babies.
Zebras seem impossible. They are so fine, so perfectly stripped. Sophistication with a mask on. We saw herd after herd of these beautiful creatures.
This fella fixed his eyes on me as we paused to consider his handsomeness.
What of these horns?
“There’s a lion down the way,” someone in another vehicle told us once as we stopped for something. “A recent kill.” The lion had killed a cape buffalo that lay beside the road. The lion was a few feet away in some bushes, but unfortunately we could not see him well. We did see his chest moving up and down, breathing hard as he digested his tasty meal.
A bit of a tourist trap threatened to snag us when after walking with a guide down a trail we were led to this little business venture by some ambitious Maasai. We smiled, fingered the trinkets, but I don’t believe any of us bought anything.
Adventure personified–the day of the safari in Nairobi, Kenya on the continent of Africa.
Shirley Buxton 