Watch your toes!

Following the Great Elephants of Amboseli

Daddy and TK excited for our safari adventure

in Amboseli National Park

Our Safari Guide

This friendly Blacksmith Lapwing was a wonderful unexpected part of our day of exploring Amboseli. While driving along a patchwork of swamp tracks, he appeared in front of our van and insisted on darting back and forth in front of us until we obediently followed him for nearly 30 minutes, much to the delight to everyone in our family.

A young elephant looking for breakfast

The large bull elephant in the centre of this picture was twice the height of all of the others. He pushed his way through the herd and encircled the strays nudging them forward toward the nearby watering hole. Not a single elephant challenges his proddings -- not that we would blame them, who would want an elephant that size stepping on your toes?

A couple of babies staying close to their mothers.

One of a group of three spotted hyenas that we met scavenging several times as we explored the nearly 400 square km of the park. Although it was obvious that the park hadn't seen much rain lately, Amboseli was relatively green and had very high grass and good leaf cover in the forests. This is a very good sign for the animals, but made spotting big cats like lions, leopards and cheetahs nearly impossible. But Amboseli lacked in felines, it more than made up for in the mighty savanna elephants.

Bushbuck and gazelles in the wide Olokenya swamp

lands in Amboseli's southern corner.

Nana & Erica on Safari in Amboseli

Erica with Nana and the kids at their jumbo tent

Emma saying good-bye

to a great few days at Kibo Camp!

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

Family Vacation at Amboseli National Park, Kenya

On New Year's Day, Erica's mom, Mary, arrived from Canada for a visit. Although her original flights were cancelled due to December storms, she braved the solo trip to Africa and patiently awaited her luggage that arrived three days after her. On January 4th, we travelled about 250 km south west of Nairobi to enjoy two nights at the Kibo tented camp just outside the Eastern gate of Amboseli.

A curious baby Baboon enjoying a foot scratch

At our tent on our last morning

It was wonderful to sleep with our tent flaps open listening to the night sounds and pre-dawn bird song of Africa. One morning we met a heard of over a hundred elephants only a few kms from our campsite. At one point our van was totally surrounded by the gentle giants.

Tristan and Emma stayed with Nana

in the spacious family tent

Kibo Safari Camp is a wonderful rustic camp of canvas tents protected from the sun by thatched roofs supported by timber poles. It is set at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro the highest point in Africa. Although often shrouded in clouds, the shy Kili showed herself to us on two occasions: on our first evening, for nearly forty-five minutes as the the sun was setting, the clouds disappeared revealing the large dome covered snow.

Awaking to a beautiful view

of the Mountain from our tents

Then on our first morning, we were surprised to find that the mountain was completely free of cloud cover. We had clear views of Kili all morning from within the park, right up until about 11:30 am. Photographs do not do justice to the impressive backdrop of Kilimanjaro from the plain of Amboseli.

Elephants under the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro

Along with views of the snows of Kilimanjaro, the other reason that Amboseli is such a renowned part of Kenya is the abundance of elephants. Perhaps no where else on the planet has such massive herds of these great creatures. Almost every corner of the park is inhabited by elephant. We were spellbound by our time wandering through Amboseli with these incredible animals.

Tristan and Emma at breakfast with our host

Duncan Kilonzo at the Kibo Safari Camp

Sunset on Amboseli

Birthday Weekend!

A dusty zebra looking for grass along the very dry sand bed which was once Lake Amboseli.

Kerry, Mel, and Erica

at the Kibo Eco Lodge, Amboseli

This past weekend, Erica joined two of our good friends for a birthday getaway to celebrate our friend Mel turning 30. They traveled three hours south of Nairobi to the Tanzanian border, where they stayed in the Amboseli National Park.

The girls enjoying some quiet time in their safari tent after a very hot and dusty drive.



Erica up early to catch a glimpse of the snow covered peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro. As the highest mountain in Africa, Kili forms a spectacular backdrop to Amboseli National Park, located on the southern border of Kenya.



The girls on their camping adventure.

While they did see some beautiful wildlife, they were struck by the terrible impact of the drought on the region. The severe lack of rain within much of Kenya has especially affected this part of the country. They saw very little water during their travels and sadly very little grazing for the animals: everywhere they went they came across herds of plains animals that seemed to have dropped dead where they had been standing. At times they saw hundreds lying on an open plain surrounded by dust and withered grass.

And yet, there remained thousands more struggling to survive. We pray for the rains to return and renew places like Amboseli.

A family of elephant crossing the plain.

A tired bull elephant cooling

himself off with a dust bath.

Amboseli is known for its large elephant herds that graze on the marsh lands below Mt. Kilimanjaro.

The lack of tree and bush cover in Amboseli makes it a prime spot to see large predators like lions.

These three lionesses were especially affectionate with one another as they lazed in the sun.

Some of Mel's friends had conspired to throw a surprise birthday party on Sunday evening at our home, after the girls returned from the camping trip. It was a great surprise!

Ava finally got to blow out those birthday candles

The conspirators!

Wendy, Mel, Kerry and Erica
-- Great Birthday Weekend!