Some pictures from Kenya

...hopefully you know to clicky on the pics to enlarge them...



We spent a day in Nairobi before heading up to the ranch, and on the way there, we had to stop and stand with one leg in each hemisphere






Kuki Gallmann's Foundation played host to us for this fabulous experience. The logo with two acacias trees has so much meaning behind it.



While on the ranch, we were under the care of The Laikipia Wilderness Education Centre...







My shelter at LWEC during the stay on the ranch. No electricity, but I was one of the lucky ones with a flushing toilet (baby steps!)


At all times, we were under the watchful eyes of three eskari (guards). They are some of the most amazing people I've ever met. After intensive training they are the ones that keep the animals and humans living together at peace on the ranch. Here, they are listening and smelling the air for the buffalo. The way they use all of their senses blows my mind. The eskari are amazing. The things that they know,
sense, feel...it's incredible. Their first priority is to protect the animals. If the animals and humans get too close to one another, they shoot once into the air to (hopefully) scare the animal away. The second shot is the injure. The third is to kill.

Staying single file on a game walk. Notice the bush coloured clothing, the MEC bag (with a little Canadian pin on it all covered with the rusty coloured dirt that we would come to love) and buffalo tracks on the path (which we were following).




Jeez...






...and it hurt that my friends never stood down wind...






For 400USD per person per night, you too can sit on the throne...(the guest resort on site)





and see this...(sorry, the picture really doesn't give the view justice. There's a little brown patch at the bottom right of the picture where animals will come to lick salt that is put out by the eskari)





For some reason, I just love this picture








Their colours don't lend themselves to camouflage, but they're still pretty good at hiding!


One day, we went to visit a local Samburu village. They welcomed us to their village with open arms, told us about their history and traditions and danced for (and with) us. They used red ochre to paint on their faces and bodies. The Samburu warriors would dance by jumping as high as they could (you've probably seen the Masai do the same on documentaries...)



A beautiful samburu girl
You can imagine how intrigued all the people we met were when we could automatically show them their pictures on our digital cameras.





Taking some time out from the Samburu festivities...
Notice the sandals made out of tires.





Tee hee...impala bums! Notice the lone stag (look for the big horns) within the group. Impala live in harems, so we'd either see a stag with all his lady friends or random bachelor impala bouncing around. Every so often a bachelor will take on da man, head butt for a bit and hopefully knock him out of the group. The ladies will swoon and he will be hot stuff until the next guy comes around.


Yellow fever acacias are absolutely spectacular








And I thought my legs were short and my bum was too big!







Speechless...I'm sorry...you just have to see it for yourself.







100 points if you can spot the crayfish!





Kalenge taking a break from chomping on sugar cane to opt for greener choices. His mom (wild in the ranch) still comes to visit him every so often.






One doesn't tire of this very easily...








Watching the sun set with an acacia in the foreground...I miss it so much!




Hopefully I'll get my act together and write about it soon! (No promises...)