And here is the temperature in Kenya...
I don't think we are in Kansas, anymore (near Lake Naivasha, just one hour outside of Nairobi)...
Definitely, not Kansas (John, click the pictures for close ups of one of Jim's two!!!)...
More like fishing the west coast of Kenya, in the Indian Ocean, after visiting the zebras, antelopes, gazelles, wilderbeasts and hippos (a couple of pictures above), near Lake Naivasha, where we sailed a lake in the crater of an extinct volcano...But, traveling is risky because your partner might try out new relationships...
This relationship is healthier than you might think. This and several more pictures to come were taken at the elephant orphanage just outside Nairobi. The picture above was taken at the giraffe orphanage.
While Kelly fell for those little orphans, she Kelly didn't like this next "cute" little fella. He is sitting about three feet from the open front door to our beach hut on the Indian Ocean, hoping we don't see him sneaking inside. He isn't so cute when he spends most of his time trying to steal stuff from us...
Our hosts in Kenya are Anna and Chris, our compatriots in crime, back in UB. Anna and Chris are on Kelly's right in this picture. Anna's mom, Ines, is on Kelly's left and next to Anna is her Dad, Tomasz. Anna's brother, Yanic, is next to his Dad and across from him is another teacher from UB who joined us, Maike (from the Netherlands) and Yanic's friend, Zach (visiting from the US). We owe many thanks to the Sudras for opening their home to us and making us a part of their family holidays.
After the coast, we went west to Lake Victoria and the Masai Mara National Reserve. The goal of many reserve visits, in Kenya, is the game drive and shooting animals with cameras instead of guns.
On a game drive, you don't get out of your car! What can you see from you car? How about hundreds of elephants. Here is part of a small group...
We saw this lioness sitting on a hilltop...
We were so busy taking pictures, that we did not see these two friends of hers, hiding under a bush behind us, only a few feet away! Did I mention the rule about NOT getting out of your car?
Being so close (thanks to Macie's excellent driving) is simply awe inspiring...
While you are driving around, you see lots of things hanging from the trees. This leads us to another rule of game drives...don't pull on things dangling from trees!
Trust us, you don't want to wake this guy up...especially when you are sitting under the tree with the sunroof wide open!
These pictures are the result of hours and hours of patience, being vigilant, combining many sources of information, and guts. Most of the people we met in the reserve did not get these kind of pictures. More from Lake Naivasha, Lake Victoria and the Masai Mara (rhinos, hippos, flamingos, and more), soon...
