Finally time for the big stop in Nairobi, Kenya – Game drive through the Nairobi National Park https://www.kws.go.ke/parks/nairobi-national-parkWe finally got to pop the top on our 4x4 and check out some wildlife! While our guide was getting our tickets and time sorted, we got to practice using our camera lenses and shiny new binoculars on a family of wart hogs in the parking lot. Documents sorted we rolled in.
It didn’t take long to find our first viewing stop – Cape Buffalo including white birds with symbiotic relationship (they follow in the footsteps of the buffalo and eat all the insects rustled up in the wake of the big animals).
It was fascinating to see the Nairobi skyline as we bumped along on the safari roads and crossed path with the wild animals! We quickly pulled up to a large pond with a large sunning crocodile, hippos, Marabou stork (undertaker birds), and other wildlife.
As we continued, we saw young male impalas play fighting, a dazzle of zebras, two white rhinos together (they live in pairs). White rhinos are actually extinct in the wild, so the few pairs we saw on our drive through NNP are very closely monitored.
We were delighted to witness three lionesses lounging and resting in the sun, many giraffes feeding, another mama and baby white rhino, male (black) and female (gray) ostriches, and an amazing rainbow to put an exclamation point on the many switches of rain to sun we experienced all day!
Our guide was determined to find some black rhinos in the park, so he drove very deep in the park and we were rewarded with a spotting of a mom and baby rhino. Here's a good time to mention that black rhinos are very hard to find as they live and feed in the bush - we found this pair peeking around a bush (photo) and Jason enjoyed getting a closer look through his binoculars. He was surprised by fire hose force of spray from the adult rhino - turns out the black rhino was marking its territory! We ended up seeing 7 black rhino total on this drive - all pretty far from the road - but that's good because we didn't have any rhino spottings on our future game drives in Masai Mara National Park.
We started to learn a lot about the many types of antelope that live on the savanna - impalas, Hartebeests, kudu, and many more! We witnessed a group of park rangers tending to an injured lion that had survived a hyena attack. Giraffes and other animals made their way down the middle of the road and we politely respected their space and gave them time to pass. We were amazed to learn about butcher birds (shrike) who impale their prey on thorns, barbed wire, or sharpened sticks. As the sun began to set and we made our way out of the park, we spotted a hyena in the bushes and despite our guides best efforts no leopard with cub sighting on this drive.
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