STG in the KSA: March 2015

Jambo! (Hello!) We went to Kenya where we saw some giraffes, hippos, elephants, and of course, simba (lions). We had hakuna matata (no worries) except for when our campsite flooded. We met some new rafiki (friends) and didn't act too pumbaa (foolish) in the bush. Asante sana (thank you) for reading my blog! Now that I've exhausted all of the words I know in Swahili, I hope you enjoy the pictures from our safari!

We flew from Dammam, KSA to Nairobi, Kenya and then took small (VERY SMALL) planes to and from two conservancies and the beach.

A four-seater!

Peter, the pilot, and his co-pilot Brian

We didn't know it when we booked this company, but Gamewatchers Safaris are among the top eco-friendly tourism companies in Kenya. They run the Porini Camps, which are located inside private conservancies. These conservancies help protect the land and wildlife and give the local Maasai people money and jobs. In these camps, the maximum number of guests is 18-20, so the animals aren't bombarded by vehicles all the time, unlike in the national parks. Want to learn more about the conservancy concept and Porini's responsible tourism? Click here.

The first place we stayed was called the Selenkay Conservancy, near Amboseli National Park. Our guide was Wilson, and he had possibly the best eyesight of anyone I've ever met. He could spot a tiny bird from 50 yards away and tell us exactly what kind of bird it was. Meanwhile, we're struggling to see it even with binoculars. One of our favorite moments with Wilson was on a night drive--he saw a pair of eyes shining from the headlights and announced that this creature was a white-tailed mongoose. When the spotlight hit the animal... yep, a mongoose... and yep, definitely had a white tail.

Wilson, our Maasai guide at Selenkay

We had three nights in the Selenkay Conservancy, and we chose to do the "Adventure Camp" which meant sleeping in a tent. The wildlife, the food, the drives, everything was the same as the nicer camps, just the lodging was different. I agreed to it because there was a shower and a flushable toilet, but adventure camping was not my favorite.

Our home in Selenkay Adventure Camp

The shower...

The only electricity in the camp


View of Kilimanjaro from our tent

The "fence" at the camp to keep out wildlife (with a giraffe looking in)

Fortunately for me (not so much for the Maasai people working at the Adventure camp), it rained very heavily the first two nights we were there, and we were awoken on the third day by Wilson telling us to pack up our stuff. We had to evacuate to the nicer camp because our camp was flooding. Dang! :)

This road was the only one to the camp, and the water was rising faster than they expected

Wilson and our driver, Melita, checking the depth of the river

Our new tent for one night! ELECTRICITY!!!

The animals at the Selenkay Conservancy and Amboseli National Park were awesome. They had LOTS of elephants and giraffes, tons of birds, and even a few lions.

A pack of pachyderms

Awwwww

This guy wanted to eat our lunch

Love the colors on this one!

A crazy looking bird!

The largest elephant I've ever seen in my life

The guy at the airport laughed hysterically when I told him I was afraid I wouldn't see a giraffe... they were everywhere.


Hornbill!

Brian checking out a dead zebra... gross, but it made it easy to find the lions that night!


First sighting of lions! Mom and three cubs at night

Then we took another small plane to the Maasai Mara area, to a conservancy called Ol Kinyei for 3 nights. We had learned a few weeks before that we would be upgraded to the nicer camp there, so no more Coleman tents for me! What started out as 6 nights in a tent ended up being only 2... Hooray!!!


This tent was a little bit nicer than the Coleman one

Jeffery, our guide, and Stanley, our driver

This area of Kenya was so incredibly beautiful. It was exactly what I pictured Africa looking like in my mind. In addition to all the giraffes, zebra, antelope, etc., this region is known for having a lot of the big cats of Africa--cheetah, leopards, and lions.

Ol Kinyei Conservancy at sundown

That time it hailed... in Kenya... in the middle of summer. Bizarre.

Black-Backed Jackal

Cheetah!

Another beautiful bird

We missed our "sundowner" one night because we were hanging with the lions, so we just had our evening drinks in the car.

Just having a little glass/bottle of wine with the lions

Hello, boys!

A yawn or a roar? You decide.

Wildebeest family

Some sort of eagle/falcon/hawk... can't remember

A cheetah getting ganged up on by wildebeest. I thought this cheetah was pregnant... no in fact that's just a male cheetah with a food baby. The wildebeest didn't need to worry, the cheetah had no room left for dessert.

We thought this leopard in a tree was really cool...

Until it decided to come down...

THEN IT WAS AWESOME

In the Maasai Mara National Reserve

This was on the last day of safari... we had seen lots of lions at this point, but had yet to see a lion with a big mane. Check!

He got pretty close

Then struck a pose like Simba

We spent our last few days on the coast of Kenya, at a beach on the Indian Ocean. We relaxed, snorkeled, sailed, tried windsurfing (Brian) and water aerobics (me), and enjoyed the sunshine! Watamu Beach is located only 4 degrees south of the equator, and that equatorial sun got us a few times!

Nice looking coral

Cool looking fish

Where we sat for most of the time at the beach

Beautiful Watamu Beach!

Weird stingray with blue spots!

Brian trying to entice a moray eel to come out of it's hiding spot

Success!

Fake looking starfish

Snorkeling in the Indian Ocean!

Sailing

Brian headed out to go sailing

On our way to the best snorkeling spot

Did you make it all the way to the end of the blog? I have a treat for you. Kenya's tourism has really suffered in the last year due to ebola (which is all the way across the CONTINENT) and being next to Somalia, which is a shame because Kenya was great! Here was the very best thing about Kenya: BABY ANIMALS ARE EVERYWHERE.