An exciting experience.Lasted 3 days and 2 nights.We had the chance to see all the animals from Kenya : elephant, cheetah,leopard, coyote,lion,zebra,giraffe,hippo, crocodiles,african buffalo,gnu,dick-dick,impalas, tortoise and many more.The best thing we could do is choose a speciaized compay for this trip. It is advisable to choose an experienced company with experienced drivers so that you ca see the animals as long as most of them especialy in Tsavo West are almost hidden in the bushes. One of the companies from DIANI BEACH I was talking to you about is JT Safaris with a very friendly staff, and with the most kind and professional manager Juius Nzumbi. You can easily find them in Neptune hotels area 200 meters from The Neptune Village Paradise 2nd exit ,on the left side of the road you enter the yard and look for THE ORANGE HUT . To make this easier here are the contacts : JULIUS NZUMBI - Phone : +254721769771 / +254734030614 / +254403300299 - email : jtsafaris@yahoo.com and of course : www.julius-safaris.com
On our first day we woke up at 5 a.m. and after coffees and cigarettes ( several of us :) we reached the Van at 6 a.m. because we had a long way to drive to our first accomodation in Ngulia Lodge. After crossing with the ferry to Mombasa here we are on our way down to VOI and then to the entrance of Tsawo West Park. A break and a picture with "National Geographic Shocking Team".
You can see in the picture above that we had a welcome crew on the left side of Mombasa-Nairobi highway right before the park entrance
And here begins our adventure....the first interesting things we saw : the ant hills
and the magnificent baobab....this time a young one .Baobab is the common name of a genus (Adansonia) containing eight species of trees, native to Madagascar (having six species), mainland Africa and Australia (one species in each). The mainland African species also occurs on Madagascar, but it is not a native of that country.
And here we go further with a very experienced driver who does his best... ( told you in the begining to go along with Julius in SAFARI ) and here are the first animals : The 1st animal from the big five : THE ELEPHANT resting a little in the shadow....The elephant (family: Elephantidae) is a large land mammal in the order Proboscidea. There are three living species: the African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant and the Asian Elephant (also known as the Indian Elephant). Other species have become extinct since the last ice age, the Mammoths being the best-known of these. They were once classified along with other thick skinned animals in a now invalid order, Pachydermata.
Elephants are the largest land animals.[1] The elephant's gestation period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal. At birth it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 120 kilograms (260 lb). An elephant may live as long as 70 years, sometimes longer. The largest elephant ever recorded was shot in Angola in 1956. This male weighed about 12,000 kilograms (26,000 lb),[2] with a shoulder height of 4.2 metres (14 ft), a metre (yard) taller than the average male African elephant.[3] The smallest elephants, about the size of a calf or a large pig, were a prehistoric species that lived on the island of Crete during the Pleistocene epoch.[4]
The elephant has appeared in cultures across the world. They are a symbol of wisdom in Asian cultures and are famed for their memory and intelligence, where they are thought to be on par with cetaceans[5] and hominids.[6] Aristotle once said the elephant was "the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind"[7]. The word "elephant" has its origins in the Greek ἐλέφας, meaning "ivory" or "elephant".[8]
Healthy adult elephants have no natural predators[9], although lions may take calves or weak individuals.[10][11] They are, however, increasingly threatened by human intrusion and poaching. Once numbering in the millions, the African elephant population has dwindled to between 470,000 and 690,000 individuals.[12] The elephant is now a protected species worldwide, with restrictions in place on capture, domestic use, and trade in products such as ivory.
It was our first revelation by seeing animals in their own habitat...animals that are not bothered at all by anyone
In our first days we missed the hippo thus the driver did his best by driving us on impossible roads...but the trip only started. After one hour of drive we saw the gracious giraffes relaxing ...The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant. Males can be 4.8 to 5.5 metres (16 to 18 feet) tall and weigh up to 1,700 kilograms (3,800 pounds). The record-sized bull, shot in Kenya in 1934, was 5.87 m (19.2 ft) tall and weighed approximately 2,000 kg (4,400 lb).[2] Females are generally slightly shorter, and weigh less than the males do.
The giraffe is related to deer and cattle, but is placed in a separate family, the Giraffidae, consisting only of the giraffe and its closest relative, the okapi. Its range extends from Chad to South Africa.
Giraffes can inhabit savannas, grasslands, or open woodlands. They prefer areas enriched with acacia growth. They drink large quantities of water and, as a result, they can spend long periods of time in dry, arid areas. When searching for more food they will venture into areas with denser foliage.
and we even managed to comunicate with a curious one :)
And then the impalas .... gracious animals that can be found everywhere . A little description : Impala are among the dominant species in many savannas. They can adapt to different environment by being grazers in some areas and browsers in others. They graze when the grass is green and growing and browse at other times. They will browse on shoots, seedpods and foliage.
Herds will use specific areas for their excrement. Impala are active during both day and night and are dependent on water. A herd is normally an indicator of water close by. Impala can thrive in areas where pure grazers can not survive. When frightened or startled the whole impala herd starts leaping about in order to confuse their predator. They can jump distances more than 9 meters (30 ft) and 2.5 meters (8 ft) high.
Leopards, cheetah, Nile crocodiles, lions, spotted hyenas and wild dogs prey on impala.
And this time she's calme....with no enemies around
After almost 10 hours of drive we arrived at the lounge. Julius thought about the best accomodation also . We were welcomed by kind and pole pole people ( n.t. chill-out ) and in the night we were driven to dinner by jacob a massai from the hood . An extremely nice lodge where you could have lunch and see all the animals and an extrodinary landscape
Being lucky we had an astonishing view from our room
After lunch a game drive with the 2nf five : The African Buffalo .
The African buffalo is one of the most successful grazers in Africa. It lives in swamps, floodplains as well as mopane grasslands and forests of the major mountains of Africa. Buffalo can be found from the highest mountains to sea level areas, and prefer habitat with dense cover such as reeds and thickets. Herds have also been found in open woodland and grassland.
Like the Plains zebra, the Buffalo can subsist on tall, coarse grasses. Herds of buffalo will reduce grass level to the height that is preferred by selective grazers. When feeding, the buffalo makes use of its tongue and wide incisor row to eat grass more quickly than most other African herbivores. Buffalo do not stay on trampled or depleted areas for long.
and the 2nd all-known tree of the savana Acaccea with lots of bird nests
After one day the beautiful Colours of Africa came in front of us with all their beauty and lights :
The next morning brekfast, goodbye to the staff and especially to Jacob The Massai who guarded us durring the night
And soon we met anothe "FIVE " : The lion
After 3 hours of drive and lots of animals we entered AMBOSELI national park, who welcomed us with an interesting landscape of a volcano which errupted 500 years ago. So the usual orange road turned into a pure black one
And suddenly all of the landscaped turned plain. We were getting closer to Kilimanjaro THE ROOF OF AFRICA.
Closer and closer to Kilimanjaro again lots of animal appeared in front of us :
The Ostrich ( female ) , The african buffalo
And then a one hour stop to Nzuli Park to see how the hippos are getting along with the crocodiles. And we saw it that's for sure
And the most interesting phenomenon in Amboseli are the tornados . Just imagine walking in the park and seeing dozens of tornados around which are lasting for only several seconds
And finally Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa.
The highest point on Kilimanjaro is Uhuru Peak, on the volcano Kibo 5,895 metres (19,341 ft). The top of Kibo is a 1.5 mile wide crater. As the highest point in Africa, Uhuru Peak is one of the Seven Summits.Due to Kilimanjaro's equatorial location and high elevation, almost every climate type on earth is represented, including a year-round snow-topped summit.
And some GNUs in our way to a Massai village.
And one of the most interesting part of our trip The Massai Village . The Maasai are an indigenous African ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania. Due to their distinctive customs and dress and residence near the many game parks of East Africa, they are among the most well-known African ethnic groups internationally.[3] They speak Maa,[3] a member of the Nilo-Saharan language family that is related to Dinka and Nuer, and are also educated in the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania: Swahili and English. The Maasai population has been variously estimated as 377,089 from the 1989 Census[1] or as 453,000 language speakers in Kenya in 1994[2] and 430,000 in Tanzania in 1993[2] with a total estimated as "approaching 900,000"[3] Estimates of the respective Maasai populations in both countries are complicated by the remote locations of many villages, and their semi-nomadic nature.
And...some pictures from their village
After this trip anothe game drive with again lots of things to see. The most beautiful landscape from my point of view was again KILIMANJARO seen from the Massi's village
The drive again showed us Baboons,Fagocer ( African Wild Boar )
and the leopard resting after a day of hunting under a tree
And then the evening, resting after a hard day in Amboseli Serena Lodge, excellent accomodation with a beautiful landscape right in the back of our tent . I must say that the staff was very professional . we have very good memories with Douglas a man who told us so many things about Kenya, Africa and the Massai Culture
and of course I colud not miss the view of Kilimanjaro :)
And the last day with 600 kilometers to drive home to Mombasa an maybe the most prolific day regarding the animals we saw . Further on I will give a short explanation to every picture we had .
First Julius The Driver told us that again we were lucky about seeing the Big MIgration.The dry season is characterized by its low humidity, and some watering holes and rivers drying up. Because of the lack of these watering holes, many grazing animals are forced to migrate due to the lack of water and feed to more fertile spots. Examples of such animals are zebras, elephants, and wildebeest. Because of the lack of water in the plants, bushfires are common.There we had the opporunity to see thousands of animals in search of fresh grass all united.
And then The Sleeping Lion
The elephants
The coyote
And 2 African Sunsets that we will never forget
So that was our trip. I must say in the end also that it was a very good choice of buying this trip trough JT SAFARIS and I advie all the readers to pick a profesional company in a safari . JT is the right company with professional crew. If you want to be well advised, well treated and have the best memories possible then choose JT Safaris
Wish all the tourists to have the best safari possible
"The Crew"
