A visit to the Nairobi National Game Park

Tomorrow I fly back home from Kenya after a quick in and out trip. As stated in my profile, I volunteer with the YMCA and we are presently discussing plans to open up a university with campuses in Togo, Kenya and Zimbabwe. The meeting finished yesterday and today was spent on a guided tour of Kenya YMCA facilities in the morning (I will not bore you with that) and a tour of the Nairobi National Game Park in the afternoon.

The team that made up the workshop participants garbed in Masai dressing

Below are a few amateur photographs of the wild animals and birds that we managed to see in the park. I think that we could have seen more and learned more if we had an trained and experienced game guide with us but evidently this amateur photographer was in the hands of an amateur game guide. Next time I will give the guide a small test before I accept the deal. Perhaps we will have better photos too!

An Antelope (Hartebeest). They are difficult to take a photo of because as soon
as you approach them they run off, stand at a distance, and then look back.

The Buffalo. Ugly and dirty but a great friend of birds (can you see one on
its back?). This one was surrounded by impalas as if for protection.

The Guinea Fowl crossing the road to quickly catch up with its friends

who had already done so. They are almost always seen in groups.

The Hippopotamus. It is the most dangerous of all the wild animals when
it comes to killing human beings. So, we kept a fair distance from it.

An Antelope (Impala). It is also very hard to take a picture of and is very
quick to run away and hide behind bushes. I must admit, I love their meat.

The Lion. Everything about this animal confirms why it is called the
king of the jungle. We got this close because we were in a car!

The Male Ostrich. It is the tallest and fastest land birds on the planet
and is native to Africa. The ostrich eggs are also the biggest bird eggs.

The Stork (Marabu). It is a wetland bird, as can be seen from its long legs.
It is a scavenger and will be found where vultures are also found.

Vultures. Mention the devil... They are usually poised on top of trees waiting
to see the cats capture their prey. Then they swoop down to have their share.

Finally, the Zebra. Well known for its black and white stripes, it belongs to
the horse family but has never been tamed and so you are not likely to ride it.