Cuteness (Pt1)

Here are some of our favourite cute images from this year's safari.  Some are cute because of what they are and some are cute because of what they are doing.  We hope you enjoy them...

The gorgeous little Dik Dik

Coke's Hartebeest Mum takes the kids for a drink

Lunch time for the Zebra foal

The pretty Jackal

Little and Large

Mum an Baby Vervet

Mummy Yellow Baboon brings sleepy baby up for a kiss

Baby Topi still getting used to those gangly legs

Playful young Elephant

More to come later but in our next post we will have an awe-inspiring photo-story of incredible strength, bravery and resilience...

In the meantime, if you have enjoyed this post, please consider making a donation to our chosen charity Save The Elephants through our Just Giving page.

Out-takes & Funnies (Pt1)

Here is a selection of some out-takes, mistakes and mildly amusing images from among the 30,000+ images we took between us on this safari.

Ever wanted to know how an elephant scratches an itchy bum?

The Tsavo East Vervet Tag Team in training for Kenya's WWF season

Sometimes you're just too tired to shut your mouth after you yawn!

Autofocus is not always your friend!

Junior gets a shove to help him out of the waterhole

Zebras have an amazing ability to show their best side when presented with a camera!

Meditation in Tsavo East

It's a hard life being a wildlife photographer Jason!

Fine Tsavo dust gets everywhere ~ even the camera's shutter!

This poor guy got himself stuck in our sink in Ngulia Bandas and had to be rescued by Karen

Ever seen a speeding Leopard Tortoise?  This guy is up on two wheels!

"Has that bloke with the camera gone yet?"

Banded Mongoose lovers get caught out ~ Oops!

Dave modelling his new hat

Even the Elephants find some shelter in the heat of the day!

Next stop ~ cuteness!...

In the meantime, if you have enjoyed this post, please consider making a donation to our chosen charity Save The Elephants through our Just Giving page.

Day Twenty Two: Back Home

We left the Backpackers at 5am yesterday for the Kenya Airways flight to Amsterdam.  The flight was delayed by almost 45 minutes, which we didn't mind, as it would shorten our stopover in Amsterdam.

We arrived in Amsterdam at around 4pm local time (5pm Kenyan time) and headed for the comfortable area.  The water-massage thingy was not operating but nearby, a young man was playing some popular tunes "elevator-music" style on the grand piano.  When he finished one medley, some people started to applaud so we politely added our own applause.  After the second, one woman applauded vigorously with a big smile and we realised that the lad's family were the group of people applauding his every effort.

After forty-five minutes of trying to watch Scrubs, playing silently with subtitles in Dutch, whilst being subjected to the monotony of the young man's piano-playing (interespersed with his mother's exuberant applause), we were starting to grow weary.  Thankfully the water-massage operator came back and somebody went on that.  The noise made it pointless to play piano, so the young lad stepped off for a break, much to our relief.

When the water-massage thingy stopped, another young lad went on to the piano and played a much better set of blues and jazz, played with real feeling and it created a great atmosphere for most people there.  The "elevator-music" lad and his family were furious, however, and shot the new pianist a gaggle of icy stares, before grabbing their belongings and storming off.  Everyone else in the lounge smiled at one another.
 

After five hours in Amsterdam we boarded our flight for Aberdeen and arrived just before 10pm Scottish time (midnight Kenyan time).  Lianne and Neil had turned up to meet us and gave us a lift home.  Not only have they looked after our house for us, cleaned, fed and entertained the animals and dealt with the death of poor old Bob for us whilst we were away but they brought us home to a fridge full of fresh food too.  We are so lucky!!!

Today we are washing clothes and starting to look through the images in more detail.  Tomorrow's post should be quite entertaining, as we plan to post a collection of out-takes and funnies.

Our safari is over but hopefully we have inspired some people to consider arranging their own safari in Kenya.

If you have enjoyed our blog, please consider making a donation to Save The Elephants through our Just Giving page.

Day Twenty - Preparing to Leave

Having a couple of days at the Backpackers has given us a chance to wind down, do some souvenir shopping and to catch up with Dave, who stayed in Nairobi for the last week whilst we were in the Mara. Dave visited Nairobi National Park whilst we were away and had a great time. He managed to photograph Black Rhino and Lion and decided to go back again this morning. When we returned from souvenir shopping he showed us the stunning Lion shots he had managed to take today in Nairobi National Park. He loved it so much he says he would happily come back for a week in the Backpackers and just go to the Nairobi National Park every day.

We spent the morning in Nairobi shopping for souvenirs and have now packed ready for our early departure at 8am. We should arrive back in Aberdeen at 10pm on Saturday night after a five-hour stopover in Amsterdam. We may have to try out the weird water-massage thingy again!

We would like to say a big asante sana to all of Kenya. Once again you have been spectacular, beautiful, friendly and welcoming. We would like to say a special thanks to Tiju Aziz for helping with the internet access and to Patrick at Roving Rovers, who got a replacement vehicle to us in Tsavo West all the way from Nakuru by 7.30am after we called him at 4pm the day before. We would also like to thank the staff at Milimani Backpackers, who have been great again and also the people of rural Kenya, who make the sacrifices that enable the wild animals we came here to see and photograph to continue to live their natural lives. Last but by no means least, we would like to thank the men and women of the Kenya Wildlife Service, who put their lives on the line daily to protect the wild animals of Kenya from poaching.

We hope you have enjoyed the blog and will continue to enjoy the updates we will be posting in future.

If you haven't already, please do consider making a donation to Save The Elephants through our Just Giving page. They do a tremendous amount of work to ensure that these magnificent creatures (and everything else in the ecosystems they are part of) can continue to live in an ever-changing human-controlled World, by thinking “out of the box” to find new ways of managing Human-Elephant conflict that benefit, rather than penalise the communities which have to live with them.

Kwaherini

Karen and Howard

Day Nineteen - Chill Time

We spent the day relaxing in the Backpackers, got some washing done and emptied everything out of the Landrover ready for it being collected today. We got chatting to Amy, an American girl who is planning to head down to Mombasa in stages via matatu. We showed her the Rough Guide and she was very impressed, saying it seemed much more comprehensive than the Lonely Planet Guide. She spent some time making lots of notes from it and Karen suggested we just give it to her, as we are about to head home anyway and will be buying the newest version before our next trip anyway. We also gave her the 5 gallons of drinking water we had left and handed all the spare tinned food to the chef in the Backpackers.

Jason demonstrated his Trangia cooker to Amy, the chef and anyone else who showed interest (we think he has a secret second job as a Trangia salesman).

We also met Klaus, a Danish student, studying African Politics in South Africa. He was surprised to see a Trangia in Africa.

Scooby the dog has grown quite a bit since we were here in 2008 but he is still the same people-friendly character' we have been feeding him scraps of bacon fat, so he is very friendly with us.

In the afternoon we were joined by Kevyn-Kato, a student in Environmental Studies at Kenyatta University and later Henry, a charity worker looking to set up a local NGO project. We spent the afternoon and evening discussing environmental issues and Henry picked Jason's brains on soil science for his planned agro-project. Kevin is going with Henry on Saturday to look at some potential land for the project.

It has been a very relaxing day, after the stress of last night. Tomorrow we shall be doing some souvenir shopping and probably visit the National Museum of Kenya, then we fly home in the early hours of Saturday.

Keep an eye on the blog – our safari may be over but there are loads more anecdotes to share and we have many more photos to share once we have time to have a proper look at them. We will also keep you up-to-date on future events we are planning to assist our fund-raising on behalf of Save The Elephants.

If you have enjoyed reading our blog, please consider making a donation to our chosen charity, Save The Elephants through our Just Giving page.

Day Eighteen (Pt2) - It started so well - then the Highway to Hell

OK, so you're probably wondering why we have managed to post an update today after all – we reached Sekenani by 11am so we just decided to carry on to Nairobi.

When we left the campsite this morning we were still elated and talking about yesterday's events. As if the Mara wanted to tell us to stay, she gave us a very special treat as we left; just as we turned out of the campsite, we came face-to-face with an African Painted Dog (or Wild Dog)! There was shock, excitement and much fumbling with cameras as we desperately tried to get some photos before it scarpered. The Dog eventually wandered up the track and left the reserve via the Oloololo Gate! We did wonder if the Wardens checked its ticket.

Our gorgeous morning surprise

Can I see your ticket Sir?

About ten minutes later, we came across a heavily pregnant female Spotted Hyena. Things just seemed to keep happening.

One very pregnant Hyena!

We made good time and near the Mara Bridge we found a pride of Lions resting up after their night-time exertions, then completed our Mara experience with a group of Vultures squabbling over a carcass.

Sleeping like a baby

Argy-bargy at the carcass

We reached Sekenani by 11am and decided just to keep going all the way to Nairobi. Things seemed to be going very well and we were looking forward to a meal in the Backpackers as we approached the Muthaiga area of Nairobi by 3pm. We had survived the horrendously bumpy road to Narok but we were not prepared for the horrors that were about to descend upon us. Just when we thought we were on the home straight, we hit the mass of roadworks that indicate the new Thika Road bypass. With no adequate signage (in fact virtually no signage at all) and heaving city traffic swerving from lane to lane and traffic jam after traffic jam we were soon completely confused and ended up spending five hours trying to find our way into the centre of Nairobi, via Thika! Tempers frayed and by the time we got to the Backpackers it was 8pm and we were very hungry and exhausted. Message to Nairobi Roads Department: your shiny new bypass is useless unless you put adequate signs up so that people know where they are going.

We are now showered, fed and chilling in the Backpackers. The Mara was as magic as always and we now have a couple of days to relax and do some souvenir shopping in Nairobi before we head home.

If you have enjoyed reading our blog, please consider making a donation to our chosen charity, Save The Elephants through our Just Giving page.

Day Eighteen (pt1) - Sounds in the night

We went to sleep last night to the sound of lions either side of camp roaring their challenges. This morning we awoke in the early hours to even more drama. About 500 metres away from camp, in the darkness at 5am, we could hear the snarling of Lions on a kill. Shortly afterwards we heard another Lion snarling about 200 metres the other side of camp. The snarling continued for about 45 minutes, with the Zebra around our tents becoming very agitated. We are waiting until it is fully light before emerging!

We have a long drive through the Mara to Sekenani today, and we will have no signal there to post our second update for today, so watch out for that on Thursday.