Kenya

My friends at Carrousel Travel helped us plan the most amazing trip to the African country of Kenya! We landed in Nairobi and spent the first day exploring the capital city. We visited Nairobi National Park, one of the only parks on earth to be so close to a major city! It was strange to see a lion with the city skyline in the distance.

The highlight in Nairobi was visiting Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. This non-profit is one of Africa’s oldest wildlife charities and a leading conservation organization devoted to the preservation and protection of wildlife. They operate all over the country of Kenya, but we were lucky enough to visit the Nairobi Orphanage where they help protect and raise orphaned baby elephants (and lucky for us, a rhino)!

From Nairobi we traveled north to the 90,000 acre Ol Pejeta Conservancy, the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa and sadly, the home to the last two remaining northern white rhinos in the world. All of the big 5 (lion, buffalo, elephant, leopard and rhinos) call Ol Pejeta home, as well as Jackson’s hartebeests and Grevy’s zebras. We visited the Sweetwaters chimpanzee sanctuary, providing lifelong care to orphaned and abused chimps. On a bright note, we had our own luxury cottage that included a butler and chef!

Next we headed further north into the 63 square mile Samburu National Reserve. The park is home to abundant wildlife including a variety of rare species such as the reticulated giraffe, the long necked gerenuk, Somali ostrich, Grevy’s Zebra and Beisa Oryx. We stayed at the luxury tent camp on the bank of the Ewaso Nyiro River appropriately called the Elephant Bedroom Camp. Hilariously, we couldn’t get to our camp upon arrival because a large bull elephant was in the way! Another favorite feature of the area were the gorgeous Doum palm trees:

We took the morning for a cultural visit to see how the indigenous Samburu people live. They are semi-nomatic and herd mainly cattle but also keep sheep, goats and camels.

Here are a few taken throughout the trip that I liked so much as a ‘fine art sepia toned’ looking image:

The next stop was Lake Nakuru National Park and Lake Naivasha. We stayed at the Sopa Resort where hippos come to graze each night! Luckily there were security guards on the lookout…

What a trip!!!