Capturing the Moment

     Located six hours of hair-raising drive southeast of Nairobi, Tsavo East National Park is where we begin our Kenyan safari. The park is massive, and famous for its dust-red elephants and its history of man-eating lions. Another incredible feature of the park is that over 500 species of birds have been recorded here.      Our group stayed at the intimate Sentrim Tsavo camp. Individual tents and a main dining area both overlooked a very active water hole. During our two nights we saw tons of elephants, waterbuck, zebra, impala, hyena, and giraffe at the waterhole. That was when we weren't out on game drive which we would do in the mornings and afternoons. We covered a lot of ground on our animal searches, but with constant stops for wildlife viewing we were only able to scratch the surface of the massive park.     Cheetah watching us as we watch it Wild dogs in Tsavo East!  Some of the animal highlights included a group of three cheet...

  Samburu Reserve: Day 2   In Samburu we stayed inside the park at a lodge called Sentrim Samburu Lodge. As is the custom here in Africa we were met with a hot, wet towel to and a cool fruit juice as we arrive to refresh ourselves after the long ride. My sister and I stayed here once before and as I remembered it was rustic and quiet. The generator came on in the morning and in the evenings so you could charge up you devices, but during the night it was just the noises of the surrounding wildlife and nature. Everyone had standalone bungalows with ensuite bathrooms, mosquito nets draped over the beds, and a hammock on the front porch. Our first night here we had the entire place to ourselves, which meant very attentive service at dinner. For example as I brought the last morsel of food to my mouth my plate would be swept away by our waiter out from under me. The staff was incredibly nice, as they have been at all of our lodges. Richard was our go-to guy here this time and ...

  Enter the land of the man-eaters.   Tsavo National Park is one of the oldest, and biggest parks in Kenya. It is located between Nairobi and the coastal city of Mombasa, and is as close to the coast as we will get on this safari. The park was split in two by the construction of the Kenya-Uganda railroad. One of the most famous stories from this area was during the construction of a bridge over the Tsavo River, two maneless male Tsavo lions stalked and killed many of the workers.     The project was led by Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson . During the next nine months of construction, the two lions stalked the campsite, dragging Indian workers from their tents at night and devouring them. Crews tried to scare off the lions and built campfires and bomas , or thorn fences made of whistling thorn trees around their camp for protection to keep the man-eaters out, all to no avail; the lions leaped over or crawled through the thorn fences. After repea...

Samburu Sentrim Camp Sizing up the prey: Leopard   In the past week our whirlwind tour of Kenya's best National Parks and game reserves has taken us to Acacia Camp, Tsavo West, Tsavo East, Amboseli, Solio Ranch, Aberdare, and now across the equator to Samburu National Park. Samburu is again a huge change in environment. We left the lush moorlands of the Aberdares behind us and entered a dry, dusty shrubland with a mostly dry riverbed running through it. I remember 10 years ago this place being the spot where I first saw lions in the wild, so I was very eager to get back.   Most of the group stayed at the uber fancy Larson's Tent Camp, while Lea and I 'made do' with a place 30km down the way called Sentrim Camp. Before we even got into the park we saw a new species, the Grevy Zebra, which I grew up with on St. Catherines Island. This island was the off-site breeding program for some of the Bronx Zoo's most endangered, yet prolific animals. Imagine a Jura...