Part 1 – In which Mom arrives and some animals are viewed.

Its been an eventful past month here in Kenya, so I’ve got a lot to get caught up with on the blog. Here goes.

Early last month, Mom came to visit for a couple weeks! It was great to see her, and we had a great trip traveling around this little corner of Afria. The day she arrived, we headed down from Nairobi to Tsavo East NP for a few days of safari. Kim Rodgers, the father of my friend Jarlath, came along as well and we spent Sunday and Monday morning (Feb. 13th and 14th) in Tsavo East NP and Tsavo West NP. We had a few typical problems getting everyone down to Voi in a timely manner on Saturday night (Kim definitely got the worst of it, arriving around 3am), but by the next morning things were back on track. We got to stay in another tented camp (I am a huge fan of those), and saw lots of fantastic animals. Our camp, Ndololo, was in the park but not fenced in, which meant the animals could come right up to the watering hole near the tents.

Elephants at the camp watering hole

We had a great time photographing these elephants, until one of them roared at us. At that point, we rapidly realized we were only a few feet from a very large, seemingly angry animal, that we had enough pictures, and that wasn’t it really time for us to have lunch?
The animals in Tsavo were much the same as the ones I saw in October when we went to Amboselli, but no less enjoyable for that, although sometimes we had to look a little harder. My favorite spot was Mzima Springs, which is in Tsavo West NP. Water from Kilimanjaro runs underground from the mountain to Mwzima, and there rises to the surface through some volcanic rock. Because of that rock, its incredibly clear, and you can easily see everything that happens underwater. This just adds to what is already a strikingly beautiful jungle oasis – with fever trees, crocodiles, and hippos everywhere.

Water from Kilimanjaro rising to the surface

Me and Mom by the lower pool

A slightly out-of-focus crocodile

Some fish as seen from the underwater viewing area - the water was startlingly clear

After Tsavo West we headed to Moshi, only a few hours away in Tanzania, for our next adventure.

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