KENYA: Mombasa - Safari 2018 (Spring Break)

Safari! 

The main reason tourist come flocking to East Africa region. Kenya alone has about 40 parks managed by the Kenya Wildlife Service. For this trip, we choose Tsavo East which is the biggest and oldest of the parks.

We began our journey at about 5am from Mombasa and it was a 4hour trip to the entrance of the park. The weather was pleasant as it rained a few days ago, but this had unfavourable effect as the top prey would run to higher ground or even away from the route we are taking.

As soon as you enter the park, you will notice the soil is bright red even brighter after it rained! The park is also renowned for its "red elephants" and the huge number of elephant herds within the enormous park. 

Spotting a single animal in the safari is easier said than done. You will spot the occasional footprint of predatory animal or droppings of large animal like an elephant plus the acrid smell of urine but not one beast within sight. But our patience was rewarded when the driver stopped the vehicle and pointed to our right...Zebras! 

A dazzle of zebras is what you call a group of them.  The stripes confuses its predator, it doesn't camouflage the animal...but what it does is it hides the number and the movement of the group. It also supposed to make focusing onto a single animal to be difficult for the predators.

I have t o make do with the 55210mm lens I have for this trip. The other option is to use the digital zoom with the kit lens (1650mm) which greatly reduces the quality of the photos. The majestic animals were out of reach, but don't be too upset. Chances are you will get closer to the animals later on. The guides are excellent at that. They've been driving day in and out and well versed with the timing of the residents here in the park. They know which waterhole, which grazing ground...even which bush and which route should he take to get closer to the animals. 

He told us to crane our necks to look out for red elephants!?

Red Elephants? As we traveled deeper into the safari... we do saw elephants.. a HUUUUUUUGEEEEEEE number of them. I read somewhere that Tsavo boasted about 12,000 elephants and the number increases yearly. Surely this is good for conservation effort but from time to time, but there were also news of elephant gunned down by poachers in Tsavo. 

We do saw elephants in the distance. Huge numbers of them moving together in one large herd. Too far to spot if there were any red ones among them. 

African buffalo

a group of impalas

Oryx 

This picture of a male waterbuck was taken just a 
moment before it sprang into the bushes to the left.  

Then, from behind the bushes and trees... came this lone elephant - a red one! Not actually a clown's red nose colour but a red tinge due to the rich colour of the red-oxide dust of the soil. You see, the elephant would dust bath to cool themselves and to protect its skin from parasites. 

The "red elephant" crossed in front of our vehicle and as silently as it appeared, it continued inaudibly among the bushes and trees; and gone right in front of our eyes. It was amazing because all the while it was very silent save for the sound of its breath. 

There were other herd of elephant deeper into the park, some warthogs and a few monkeys we found along the way. But my personal favourite is the giraffe. It reminded me of the Toys R Us mascot. When the company opened its store in Malaysia in the 80's, it also featured their jingle in the local TV. Always during commercials between cartoon shows. 

We exited the way we came in at about 3pm. The journey back seemed faster, but the trip was well worth it. Who knows, I may repeat it this year...