Tsavo

What better way to celebrate being done with a big chunk of work (the capacity assessment) than with a safari?  This weekend, I journeyed with a few new friends to Tsavo, home of the legendary man eating lions.  It’s my opinion that safaris are best described in pictures, not words, so I’ll let the photos do most of the talking.  However, it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t provide SOME commentary.

Tsavo is a HUGE park - much larger than the Mara.  This is only important because it means that the game has a LOT of room to spread out, which makes finding it difficult.  Tsavo was my first safari since going to the Mara back in December, and I quickly realized that the Mara is basically the king of all safaris.  You can hardly move without tripping over something incredible (like a pack of lions) in that park.  Tsavo was different - lots of scrub (which makes spotting things difficult) and just so much land area!  We joked that over the course of the weekend, we saw the “Little Many” rather than the “Big Five” - lots of giraffes, antelopes, gazelles, zebras, etc but none of the “exciting” things like elephants, lions and the like.  It was still incredible though - the dirt in Tsavo is a bright red color, which adds to the beauty of the place.  Also, the park is in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro, which adds another special element.  Every morning we were treated to amazing views of the mountain (in the afternoons the peak is usually covered in clouds).  Pretty lucky to be sitting at your breakfast table, enjoying coffee with a full view of the tallest mountain in Africa.  Also, there’s something really special about seeing game with the mountain in the background - it just adds a whole different element to the experience.

In terms of lodging, we stayed in a tented camp - so much fun!  I have decided that this is my favorite form of camping - running water and nice beds in the tent makes Hilary a happy girl.  There was wildlife all around - the hotel was perched on the edge of a hippo and croc filled pond and of course, there were monkeys everywhere - can’t ever seem to get away from those little troublemakers. 

There were a couple of other unique things about this trip - we went on a walking safari, which got us very close to hippos, crocs, and zebras (all in the safe company of a guide, of course) and also taught us about several of the plants that grow in Tsavo.  We also went on a night safari, spotlighting nocturnal animals.  It was a very cool (and kind of spooky) experience - the animals all have glowing eyes - our driver could tell what type of animal it was just by seeing the reflection of eyes in the beam.  Last, but certainly not least, we got to climb on an ancient lava mountain - there are several volcanos that shaped Tsavo.  The lava mounds were HUGE and unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

We headed home on Sunday, tired (it’s amazing how driving can wear you out), yet excited that we had seen another part of Kenya.

Our tent - this is my kind of camping!

Our walking safari - interesting to note that this is also the landing strip for the park!

Found a croc on the walking safari - good thing i was armed and ready!

Nighttime safari - hippos, birds, wildebeast, buffalos - very neat!  This hippo saw us coming and ran back into the water!  Managed to get a picture just in time!

Morning views of Kili - amazing.  I think I took about 50 pictures of the mountain over the course of the weekend

We went to a croc and hippo filled lookout point - there was even an underwater viewing tank with a sign highlighted some of the hilarious ways things are said about Africa - take care, cause crocodiles 'abound!'

Overlook where we had our picnic lunch

This is the lava mountain - a huge mound made entirely of cooled volcanic rock.  Pretty awesome.

And now for the stars of the show...the animals!

Giraffes with Kili in the background - pretty darn awesome