Wednesday, 3 September 2025
Kenya - Nairobi
We arrived in Nairobi a day early to give ourselves a break before starting the second leg of our trip in Kenya. Of course we ended up going on another safari at Nairobi National Park - how could we resist! Nairobi National Park supposedly hosts 531 bird species. We spent a morning here on a birding tour and I already scored 26 lifers. What a record!
We had lunch at the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden which is the former home of Karen Blixen of Out of Africa fame. The garden is charming with its lush greenery and exquisite flowers - a reprieve from the dusty park. It was also interesting to get a glimpse of Nairobi streetscape along the way even though it was just from our vehicle. Some of the images below were taken on the way to Amboseli National Park, our next stop.
I try to curb my excitement over the number of birds I got in Nairobi and only show you a select few. I am still tallying, and will eventually publish the total number of lifers I scored while in Africa. For those unfamiliar with birding language - a lifer is a bird that a birder saw and identified for the first time in their life - nothing to do with jail time... 😅
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| African Sacred Ibis |
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| Bronze sunbird |
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| Northern Pied-babbler |
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| Black-winged kite |
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Hamerkop - believed to be the lightning bird Giraffe mom and young - the pattern and colour on these giraffes (I'm guessing Thornicroft's giraffes) are different from the ones we saw in Namibia (Angolan giraffes, lighter colour, uneven large spots).  The watering hole at the park with a vulture sitting on the tree top  Nairobi skyline viewed from the park |
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| Super Major Bridge |
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| Roadside fruit stand |
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| Roadside nursery |
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| Karen Blixen Coffee Garden |
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| Pretty powder puff plant (Stickpea) |
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| Atrium with stained glass doors |
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| Shopping mall in Nairobi |
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| Roadside stalls on the road to Amboseli |
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| Map showing our journey in Kenya starting in Nairobi. We are now travelling south to the Porini Conservancy in Amboseli National Park. There are over 200 conservancies in Kenya with private landowners generating revenue through wildlife conservation. The conservancies have abundant wildlife but much less traffic than the National Parks. |
Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Kenya - Amboseli Porini Conservancy
We spent three nights at the Amboseli Porini Camp in the vicinity of Amboseli National Park and spent a full day at the National Park. We went for game drives in the conservancy every day, even as we drove through it on the way to and from the National Park. There are lots of wildlife at the conservancy which provided a more intimate experience with wildlife. The guides had a good idea where the lions hang out and knew when the elephants would show up at the watering hole.
At the conservancy, we went on several drives to look for lions and cheetahs. While the family who left just as we were arriving told us they saw cheetahs on their morning drive, we missed seeing them. We found the lion and was able to get a good enough shot of it. We did find lots of birds though - I scored 31 lifers just at Amboseli alone.
One of the highlights of the stay was a visit to a Masai village on the conservancy. It was an interesting experience, walking through the cow dung covered front yard of the village and going inside one of the dimly lit homes to see how they live. The villagers entertained us with song and "adumu" - their jumping dance. Lots of fun for both the performers and the audience.
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| Close encounter - creepy! |
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| Much better! |
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| This is a Masai giraffe with a different pattern from the other ones we had seen so far in Namibia and Nairobi. Note that the patches have jagged edges. |
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| Grant's gazelle - distinguished by its white rump and lyre shaped horns |
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| Grant's gazelle with young |
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| Thomson's gazelles in front with the distinct black flank stripe - Grant's gazelle in the back |
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| White-bellied bustard - found exclusively in Africa |
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| Tawny eagle |
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Superb Starling - very common here
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Crimson tip butterfly Mongoose - despite their small size they are known to be intelligent and bold hunters  |
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| This one gave us the periscope salute |
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| Enjoying the splashing! |
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| Even foreplay! |
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| This is Umoja, the oldest elephant with the longest tusks |
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| Multi-tasking! |
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| Decked out in her finery |
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| Singing for the guests |
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| Kids having fun |
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| The guys having even more fun - "adumu" the jumping dance. The one who jumped the highest is the winner, and sometimes he wins his woman! |
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| One of our guides is from this village, he was proud to show us his home. |
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| Fire starting demonstration |
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| Say "Porini" - their way to make us smile... |
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| Morning light |
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| Golden hour |
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| Tree with weavers' nests |
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| Mt. Kilimanjaro chose to put an appearance late in the day |
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Thursday, 11 September 2025
Kenya - Amboseli National Park
We had a full day game drive at Amboseli National Park, a half hour drive from the Conservancy. The vast expanse of grassland meant we got to see large groups of various wildlife - it was on a different scale. But it also meant driving long distances to get to the herds.
When we first arrived at the park, we were thrilled to see a large herd of elephants travelling through the plains. There were many young elephants, some of them may be even days old. It was fun watching them interact, especially the young ones. The adults were very protective and kept the young ones in the middle as they travelled.
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| Nursing on the move |
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| Cattle egrets getting a free ride |
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| We had been warned not to expect to see the large flocks of flamingoes that typically hang out at Lake Nakuru, our last stop on this trip. We had to settle for these Great Flamingoes at Amboseli. |
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| Record bum shot |
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| Hippopotamus |
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| Cape Buffalo - one of the Big Five |
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| Marabou stork (Ugly Five) and Ruppell's Griffon on the ground |
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| Wildebeest nursing |
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| Dust Devils - we saw many of these while at the park |
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| A Goliath Heron, the largest heron, on its own island. We will see more of them later. |
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| Love these acacia trees on the plains - seldom seen in pairs. We had lunch under one almost every day at Amboseli and the Mara. |
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| Northern Red-billed hornbill |
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| Martial Eagle |
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| Secretary Bird - large bird of prey native to sub-saharan Africa |
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| African Jacana |
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| Gray-crowned crane - considered an endangered species |
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| We were lucky to catch these ostriches doing their mating dance |
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| An unusual sight - bare skin |
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| Nursing olive baboon |
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The Ol Tokai Lodge - unexpected elegance in the midst of all the wildlife |
Friday, 19 September 2025
Kenya - Mara Porini Lion Camp
We arrived at the Porini Lion Camp in the Mara after two flights on bush planes. The transfer was surprisingly smooth as we were escorted from one plane to another. On our way from the landing strip to the camp we had our first game drive in the Porini Conservancy. We had our first sighting of the Topi, a fast antelope found here in the savannah, a warthog among the topis and then our first cheetah! The cheetah was lazing under a tree and was unperturbed by the four safari vehicles that had gathered. We were later to find that if this had been in the Mara National Reserve, it would be a totally different environment.
The highlight of our visit to the Mara was for me the joyful young lion cubs running freely at the Lion Camp without being chased by a horde of safari vehicles as they would have been had this been in the National Reserve. The Conservancy, being private, only had a few vehicles, if any, gathering at a sighting at a respectful distance. The wildlife was relatively undisturbed, as far as we could see.
We saw a variety of wildlife, as you can see below. As in Amboseli, we were doing game drives even as we were driving to and from the National Reserve, which was almost an hour away. We spent one day in the National Reserve and two days in the Conservancy, which I enjoyed more.
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Giraffe and young crossing the savannah |
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| Topi - standing on the mount is a way of establishing territory |
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| Warthog in handsome light |
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| Cheetah - on the lookout for a prey |
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| First sighting of the Common Eland, the largest antelope, typically weighing 500-600 kg but could weigh over 900 kg |
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| A jackal, on the alert |
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| Handsome in blue - Southern Tree agama |
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Cape Buffalo - one of the Big Five, with young below. The young looks like an ordinary calf. |
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| Fish eagle ready to hunt at dawn |
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| Goliath Heron - the biggest heron on the continent |
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| A long-billed Pipit perching on a thorny acacia tree |
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| We didn't get to see a leopard, but the guides showed us this carcass that had been left on a tree by the leopard. |
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| Lion couple relaxing in the golden hour light |
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| All of a sudden, the female noticed something and went into hunting posture |
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| Lion cubs bounced out of nowhere |
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Lioness finally appeared - the cubs were completely carefree |
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What a joy to watch! |
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Sunset with the lions - finally everyone settled down, including the photographers... |
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Sunset with the lone tree - a typical scene on the savannah |
Monday, 22 September 2025
Kenya - Masai Mara National Reserve
We spent a day at the Masai Mara National Reserve and it was an eye-opener. I have been warned before to expect ruthless driver/guides cutting off each other in their jeeps to jockey for positions but I couldn't believe what I saw when scores of jeeps surrounded a leopard and chased after it, almost running it over. There were no rangers around to keep people in line. It was a horrendous situation for the pair of leopards, hounded by these metal monsters. I felt sorry we became unwittingly part of this circus. It was our only encounter with leopards on this trip.
But there were wonderful moments when we saw the cheetah at a distance and the massive movement of the wildebeest migration - from the top of a hill, then beside us and then crossing in front of us. It gave me goose-pimples seeing this impressive gathering and moving in unison of these animals. We did not see the river crossing but these are hard to time and it was not the sole purpose of our trip. After seeing the frantic jockeying for positions at the river bank, I was almost relieved that there was no crossing and everyone left. LIfe returned to normal and we went on to see other interesting things in the park.
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| Hyena cub seen on the way to the park |
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| Hyena and cub |
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| The entrance to the Mara National Reserve is right beside the river. |
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| Line up to enter the park |
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The leopard hunt |
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| The leopard came out in between the vehicles towards us |
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| Cheetah in hunting mode with flattened ears, just like a big cat |
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This marks the border between Kenya and Tanzania Hippos and crocodiles in the river |
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| Closer up |
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| This was where we had hoped they would cross |
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Wildebeests closerup |
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| The Marabou storks hang out with the wildebeests - here's one in close up mid flight |
On our way to the National Reserve we pass by the town of Narok. Some interesting shops there, including a Hard Rock Café!
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| Locals going to work |
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| Going to school |
Some of the pleasurable and memorable moments: picnic under a lone acacia tree
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 Watercolours in the making... Golden hour and gorgeous sunsets! |
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Friday, 26 September 2025
Kenya - Lake Naivasha
From the Masai Mara, we headed back north to Lake Naivasha, our final stop in Kenya before heading home. It was a long drive from Narok to Naivasha but there were interesting things to see along the way, providing us glimpses of how Kenyans live. Especially interesting are market day scenes, herds of cattle on the way to market, huge sacks of farm produce on a small motorcycle, etc.
Our home for the next two days was at Elsamere, the former home of Joy Adamson of "Born Free" fame. It is a beautiful lakeside property which included a conservancy, a small museum, and even a projection room where we watched an interesting documentary on her life one evening. While the majority of Joy Adamson's work is being displayed at the National Museum of Kenya, there are a few originals displayed here in the dining room. Her portraits of various indigenous tribes in Kenya are treasured collections.
The property was not fenced in so animals roam the ground freely. One evening just before dark, as we were walking back to our cabin, a giraffe darted in our way! Not sure who was more startled - we or the giraffe. That was before the hippopotamus, which stalled our exit from the dining room later that same evening. Another member of our group could not get out of her cabin at breakfast because two zebras were standing in front of her door. It was quite hilarious at times.
When we arrived at Naivasha, we did a boat tour of the lake in the afternoon and encountered a surprising number of birds and wildlife, especially after we landed on Crescent Island, a wildlife sanctuary on the lake. There were many submerged trees on the lake, providing an almost apocalyptic scene. Apparently, flooding is a big issue due to rising lake waters, thousands of people were displaced.
The road to Naivasha:
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Our last view of the savanna at sunrise       Market day       Looking beyond the roadside  I like the shop names!  As we got closer to Nairobi, the buildings became taller |
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A supermarket - quite a contrast to the little shops on the way |
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| Cabins on the grounds |
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These two in the dining room are originals by Joy Adamson |
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| A family of Colobus Monkeys live at the lodge |
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| Recycled plastic bottles used for propagation at the Conservation Centre |
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| Leopard Turtles at the Conservation Centre - the staff showed us how to tell their age from the lines on the shell |
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| Large areas of submerged trees |
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Pied Kingfisher
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| Yellow-billed stork |
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Perched in the right place for fish! |
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| Giant Kingfisher with big fish |
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| White Pelican - such a treat to see them so close |
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| Hippos big and small |
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| Giraffes big and small on Crescent Island |
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| Gray-crowned crane of varying sizes |
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| Taking off |
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| For once it's not sleeping or in the water |
We got up early the following morning to go on our last game drive at Lake Nakuru, a two hour drive north from Naivasha.
Thursday, 2 October 2025
Kenya - Nakuru National Park
Nakuru, our last game stop on this trip, is a long two-hour drive from Naivasha. With traffic jams on the highway, the driver took a short cut which turned out to be another bumpy ride on gravel roads. We were happy we finally got to the National Park and greeted right at the entrance by a mountain gray woodpecker, with an insect in its beak nonetheless. It was also interesting to see several school buses with children in school uniforms, some of them even waving cell phones at us. It seems that these children are out on end of school year field trips - it was nice to see that happening.
Since we were still missing one of the Big Fives - the rhinoceros, we were counting on Nakuru to cough up that last sighting. And we were not disappointed. After the driver pointed out a white and a black rhinoceros at an impossible distance, we drove around and finally found one sleeping under a tree. We came back to the same spot after lunch, and to our excitement, it got up on its feet for us to photograph! Five minutes later, it's back in its sleeping position again. This whole episode highlighted how a lot of what we saw on safaris depend on luck, perseverance and of course driver/guide knowledge of the area. We have been lucky to have good guides who worked hard at their jobs.
There were lots of bird life around the lake, but as expected, the huge flocks of flamingos are no longer around. We saw just a few flamingos and a small group in the distance. So I was glad we got some nice shots in Amboseli. But it was the first time I saw a Waterbuck and with a young calf to boot. I also chanced upon a surprise lifer - a Pink-backed Pelican that I had initially thought was a juvenile white pelican at a distance.
We had a picnic lunch at the waterfall at the same time as the students. It was heartening to see the teacher taking individual photos of the students in their uniforms at the waterfall - I am guessing it would be for their year book if their school traditions are like ours.
The drive back to Naivasha was uneventful. By the time we got to Naivasha it was late on Friday afternoon and there were lots of Kenyans on the street on their way home from school/work, some obviously heading out to a Friday evening on the town.
We enjoyed a last sunset then sunrise on the lake and after a morning tour of the property, left for Nairobi after lunch. We headed straight for the airport for our flights home. This wrapped up an amazing 3 weeks on the continent.
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| Lake Nakuru is huge - this is just a small part of the lake in the distance |
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| Cattle crossing on the way to the park |
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| Watering hole in the park |
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| Giraffe conference - note these giraffes are different from the ones in the Mara. They have smooth outlines on their patches. |
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White Pelicans on the lake.  |
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| A Little Egret -very similar to the Snowy egrets I saw in California, in fact slightly bigger in spite of its name. |
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| Cormorant with big fish! |
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| Waterbuck and calf |
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| Mountain Gray Woodpecker |
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| Gray-headed kingfisher |
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| White-fronted bee-eater |
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| Long-crested eagle |
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| Northern ant-eater chat |
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| One last shot of the beautiful Lilac-breasted roller, here with all its colours clearly seen on a cloudy day |
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| First time we saw higher ground on this trip |
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| Bus load of school children on field trip |
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| Students at the waterfall, some in school uniforms for their school photo |
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| Cape Buffalo - one of the Big Five |
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| Black rhinoceros on the left and white rhinoceros on the right - both very far away |
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White rhinoceros at rest - got up briefly (five minutes!) for our cameras |
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Baboon and young |
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| Such maternal concentration was testing the patience of the young one |
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| Pair of Tawny Eagles |
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| African fish eagle out on a hunt |
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| Students in unitorms walking home after school |
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Friday afternoon on the town - curious to know where everyone is headed! |
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| One last sunset |
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| One last sunrise |
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