More pictures from our jaunt around Kenya, Christmas 2015
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| The road out of Nairobi goes along the rim of the eastern escarpment of the rift valley before dropping down into the valley. Great views across the valley on a clear day on the way out. |
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| Waterbuck, one of the boys' favorite animals here, sort of a "fuzzy reindeer" |
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| Lots of impala. Herds are all female except one male (with horns, not shown in this picture) |
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| Lots of zebras, we never tire of watching them. |
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| Olive baboons were very common |
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| We saw lots of baby animals on this trip, it's the time of year when young are being born. |
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| Looking down on forest of white-barked acacia. The acacia forest at Lake Nakuru was fabulous. |
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| Another favorite animal, the rock hyrax. Still hard to believe its closest relative is the elephant and dugong. |
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| Looking out over Lake Nakuru. Nakuru town is in the distance, the national park is right next to this good-sized Kenyan town. It's somewhat bittersweet to see all the animals in Kenya now, as there are continued pressures on the large groups of animals that exist in the country. Around most of the national park are farmers and herders, a fence keeps the animals in to reduce conflict. We still see wildlife outside of parks and reserves while driving, such as zebras and antelope on the drive to Nakuru, but it's hard not to conclude that in the near future the classic African animals will be restricted to protected areas. |
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| View from the porch of our guesthouse. It was the warden's resident originally, now an isolated house in the south of the national park, in the midst of all the animals! |
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| Long-exposure night shot from our porch. In a park like this with predators, you don't go on hikes or wander too far from the house. |
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| Buffalo after a roll in the mud. |
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| Gazelle |
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| Black and white colobus monkey, first sighting of this species. |
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| After a bumpy hot drive to the entrance of Lake Bogoria, we relax with a drink at the "Desert Rose". |
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| Lake Bogoria, home of flamingos |
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| Bogoria is an alkaline lake, so high in salts and high pH. No fish live in the lake, but lots of algae grows, accounting for the prevalence of flamingos. |
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| A bit of shade under an acacia tree for lunch. |
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| Groups of flamingos were along the shore, here in the distant right. |
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| The road to the hot springs was a long bumpy ride, nice to have a high-clearance vehcile for that. |
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| The water was green with all the algae |
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| Hot springs, destination for the day at Bogoria. |
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| Wandered along the shore to enjoy the bubbling hot springs at various places. |
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| More interesting geology, here some beautiful pink crystals |
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| Termite mounds were common in the area, they made tall skinny structures presumably providing good ventilation in the hot arid environment. |
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| More animal babies - warthogs |
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| Scanning the lake outside our cottage for birds, hippos and crocs, the boys enjoyed exploring the area. The lake level rose a number of years ago dramatically, which flooded structures and the trees along the edge. It's not clear what caused the rise, it has been variously blamed on tectonic plate movement, climate change, deforestation, etc. |
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| Nile monitor lizards were in the area |
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| In the night sky we enjoyed the familiar sight of orion (center left) |
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| Fish eagle eating the fish it snatched out of the water. |
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| Fisherman and their balsawood boats. |
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| We had a nice boat ride around Lake Baringo |
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| Buffalo weaver nest, a large multi-story structure with "decoy" rooms designed to throw off predators |
Weaver finches are always interesting to watch. Here a noisy group of male black-headed weaver finches make nests, hoping the females will find theirs acceptable.
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| Shepard's tree, one of the native trees that locals use for animal food when the area dries out. It was quite green as it was the end of the short rains, and they'd had good rain this season. |
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| Lake Baringo from the basalt cliffs. |
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| Climbing the cliffs |
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| This area of the lake apparently used to be grassy plains where animals roamed, including the rare Grevy's Zebra (now restricted to Samburu park) |
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| Island with unique flowered trees that are related to baobabs (with the large white trunks). |
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| Gorge at the bottom of the Kerio valley, on the way from Baringo to Kakamega |
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| Winding road up the western escarpment. There are paragliders in the sky, although difficult to see in the picture! |
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| Kerio valley from the escarpment |
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| Kakamega forest |
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| Strangler Fig |
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| Lots of beautiful butterflies, most of which we couldn't get pictures of |
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| A mysterious bee-eater was in the region, we spent a long time trying to figure out what kind it was, without success. |
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| Ishikuti guest house in Kakamega forest |
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| With our CMC friends in Eldoret, watering trees |
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| Lots of boys...so lots of beating on each other! |
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| Playing the chocolate game, with lots of laughs |
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