Acacia camp - our first safari/camp trip

We made a quick weekend camping trip to Acacia Camp, a large ranch not far outside Nairobi that has nice wildlife to view.  We were happy to have the new SALTers join us, in the country only 2 days now; plus "MCC kid" Reid Carpenter joined in the fun.

Nairobi has a justified reputation for bad traffic.  We were snarled in traffic about an hour getting out of Nairobi, which unfortunately is "not too bad" for around here.  Traffic was stop and go most of the way down to the camp, which is 35 km outside of the city.

Only a few miles off the highway we start seeing classic savanna animals.  We can't get enough of the zebras, and wildebeest were fascinating to watch.

Setting up our campsite, Alex was looking at the giraffes roaming around the area.

Lots of warthogs; they were harder to photograph.

Sunset on the savanna, beautiful African scenery

Alex riding on top of the Prado to get a better view of the wildlife (here seen through the sunroof underneath it)

It was surprisingly chilly at night, but we managed to get a fire going after some effort.

Lots of vervet monkeys around that kept us alert

We had a beautiful full moon, here seen in the morning.

Sunrise

Giraffes were still around in the morning, Evan and I (Doug) were first up and watched them along with the zebras and wildebeest.

The birdlife was fascinating also, here a Long-tailed Fiscal Shrike.

One of many resident vervet monkeys ("Bob")

A very friendly (overly so!) Common Eland wandered the campground

Eventually we took refuge in and on the truck, after being nuzzled and nibbled by her.

We took several drives around the ranch - lots of great African mammals and birds.

Driving across the ranch.

Ostriches (to state the obvious...)

After sleeping some 10 hours at night, we were still in need of morning coffee after the morning game drive.  The camp had nice bungalows and a restaurant to tank up on coffee and watch the birds in the gardens.

David (SALTer), Reid Carpenter, and Kara (SALTer) discussing the day's finds with a guide book

Alex practices driving, a good place for that as there's not much on the road except zebras and such.  Not many can say they learned to drive on safari in Africa!