Wazungu in Tsavo

I'm in an endless game of catch-up that will no doubt continue until I leave Kenya. This last bit of time is flying by, and it's so packed full of adventure that I can't seem to find the time to document. I don't want to give it all to you yet because each thing deserves its own moment in the sun. For now, I'd like to introduce you to the wonderful world of Tsavo and Amboseli.

All the wazungu went on a little safari over the weekend. The original plan was to see Tsavo East, Tsavo West, and Amboseli - an aggressive schedule, but we just wanted to see it all! There was some miscommunication between our travel agent, us, and our driver, that resulted in us completely bypassing Tsavo West and essentially making things up as we went. It was a grand social experiment of how people act when things don't go as planned, and a big reminder to me of two things: (1) I don't like traveling in big groups. There is an element of flexibility I like to have, and it just doesn't exist when there are more than two or three people. The ability to wing it and be spontaneous is completely gone. Everyone's got their own opinions + no one wants to make any decisions = lots of wasted time. (2) Things just operate differently in Kenya. Everything takes longer than any typical American would anticipate, and you've just got to learn to be okay with that.

Despite the change in schedule, we managed to have ourselves a grand time. We opted for the camping-style safari, which was great for me because I haven't gotten to do any other camping this summer and I needed my fix. And we had a cook!!! Never in my life have I eaten so well on a camping trip. It may have spoiled me forever.

But enough of the talk. On to the highlights!

We saw a waterfall, Lugard Falls, that had cut itself through the rock over time. This was especially a favorite time because we actually got to exit the car and walk around. I literally skipped down to the falls. I'm pretty sure I held back from doing a cartwheel.

The best time to go looking for animals is when the sun is just barely coming or going, which means lots of amazing sunrises/sunsets we got to witness.



We saw a lion love triangle - a young, tough lion happened upon an older lion honeymooning with his lioness. There was a skrimish between the two, and in the end, the young dude stole the lady away while the old dude looked on. That was when we happened upon the scene.  Poor guy.  He was pretty beat up - physically and emotionally!


Elephants! Lots of elephants! They get a little testy when there are baby elephants around - which was almost always. They puff their ears out to look more threatening and lunge at you. Duly noted. We kept our distance.



As we got to Amboseli, the sun was going down. So I was looking out one window at this amazing sunset, and then I'd turn and look out the other window at Mt. Kilimanjaro. Which one do I look at?! What a happy dilemma.

Driving through Amboseli in the dark, we saw masses of animals around the marsh that don't come out in such abundance during the day. Lots of them were halfway submerged in the marsh.  It was too dark to capture this image, but I borrowed one to give you an idea. Just imagine that it's also dark.

There are a lot of Maasai living in Amboseli, and once we arrived they stopped by - probably to try to sell us some bracelets. Basically, they were standing there, huddled around me and Bekah DC and UT, watching us set up our tent. They did the same thing to me the next morning as I dressed my wound from a minor mishap in Tanzania. For whatever reason, this was hilarious to us. Uh, did you guys want to help, or were you just going to stand there and stare at us?

Other than that, there were just lots of beautiful animals!




Just to get you all excited about when I come home, I plan to post a "best of" album with all the pics everyone else has been taking that I just haven't gotten my hands on yet. There are some real good ones, and sometimes I hold back from snapping shots so I can just enjoy the moment.