Is that not the most fascinating creature you’ve ever seen? Its official name is “secretariat” but Frederick, one of our drivers, calls it “the waiter” because of its black pants and white jacket.
Despite its weight, I decided to bring my Panasonic LUMIX with its zoom lens and not rely solely on my iPhone 14. Good thing.
Fellow traveler Sue’s IPhone 15 Pro had some amazing zoom capabilities, as evidenced by her “unicorn” shot.
Clearly, there’s a big difference between the iPhones.
My Lumix is great for distance shots,
but it also allows me to eliminate distractions, like this jeep jamboree.
After being in Rwanda, where contact with animals was tightly controlled, we were horrified that the jeeps were allowed to get so close to this animal, but the lion didn’t seem to mind.
Although we would have liked to have had the animals to ourselves, as was the case in Rwanda, we also recognized how positive it is for their economy to have so many tourists visiting Kenya and Tanzania.
Sometimes the two legged creatures are every bit as fascinating as the four legged ones. Gotta have that Instagram shot for the friends back home.
I promised you animals in this post, so here goes— a tiny sample of what we have seen so far.
Our first hyena,
mom and baby baboon, (notice the red butt? It functions like a red light hung in a window.)
We’ve seen thousands of zebras. I like this photo because their stripes make it seem like an optical illusion.
This baby antelope was only minutes old. We just missed witnessing the birth.
Although it might not be apparent in the photo, WE could all see the afterbirth dangling from mom. She was cleaning off her newborn so predators couldn’t smell it.
Do you know the differences between a cheetah and a leopard?
The cheetah’s spots are all the same color; a leopard’s spots are rosettes with two colors. The cheetah has a black line from its eye to its mouth, and they are the fastest animals on this planet, but leopards are stronger, bulkier and great climbers. But the biggest difference? So far, we’ve seen a cheetah, but haven’t seen a leopard.
I never get tired of watching the big cats doing their grocery shopping.
Like the cheetah, these lionesses are on the hunt, but for them, it’s a group activity.
We didn’t witness the kill, but we DID see what happens after. Although HE had nothing to do with the meal prep, the dominant male eats first, then the lionesses, then the kiddies, then the oldest and weakest members of the pride.
We watched this young male chase his smaller brother away so he could fill up in peace. After he’s satiated, little brother is welcome to the leftovers.
See that horn sticking up? That identified the victim as a wildebeest. Theses guys were as numerous as the zebras, and we frequently saw them traveling together.
On this trip we have 5 full day game drives, (leaving between 6:30 and 7:30 AM, returning between 3:30 and 5PM), and 10 drives split between morning and afternoon. Believe it or not, I opted to sit out one full day and one afternoon drive, choosing instead to hang out by the pool, watching the black faced monkeys and the beautiful birds.
Here’s the thing. The roads are extremely dusty and incredibly bumpy. Sometimes you’re bumped and jostled for over an hour in search of elusive game. Because of the dust, the windows of the safari vehicle have to stay closed. And the afternoons are hot.
Hot, dusty, bumpy drive or an afternoon sitting by a pool in a beautiful hotel, reading a fascinating book about the Kibera slums (“Find Me Unafraid“ by Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner)? Knowing there would be abundant opportunities to see animals made my decision easy.
These starlings are iridescent.
Tomorrow we leave for four days in the Serengeti, where we will have NO connectivity, so here are a few quick photos before we go “off the grid”.
Crown cranes,
There’s more, but it will have to wait for Arusha, because of the wonky internet.
Destination NOW 