We landed at Nairobi airport and were met up by our tour operator. Our driver and tour guide Isaac was introduced and we started our safari sojourn filled with excitement and anticipation.
We were warned of our long drive ahead to Amboseli National Park - about 140kms away from Nairboi which would take almost 6 hrs to reach. It was around 8:30 am (Kenya time) that we left the airport. We stopped around 11:00 am at a small cafe where we spotted a crow with a white neck and breast. I got to know later that it's a "Pied crow" and these are what is found across Kenya generally.
We moved on towards Amboseli (a few kms of bad road) and then turned onto the actual route to the National Park.
Sweeping plains, spectacular landscapes were my first thoughts....wow!
At the first sight of a Wildebeest, we screamed at Isaac to stop the car. A bewildered Isaac was not sure what went wrong until he saw us frantically clicking pictures of the Wildebeest and Zebra. He had a smile on his face......little did we know what was in store for us.
We checked in at Amboseli Kibo wildlife lodge for a quick-lunch and moved on to our first actual game drive.
We saw lots of Elephants, Thomson's gazelles, a few giraffe and a couple of Masai giraffe.
We were nearing the end of the evening game drive when we spotted a herd of elephants with babies amongst them. As they crossed the road in front of us, one of the teenagers was left behind and came charging towards the vehicles in confusion making furious noises. A call from one of the elder elephants redirected the teenager towards the path of the other elephants. Phew! Now we know what a "Close call" means!
The evening sky gave me the first vision of a close to my dream silhoutte (something I've always wanted when I'd do Africa).
As we headed out the next morning checking out of Kibo after breakfast, we spotted Crown crested cranes dancing. The pair was a very pretty picture posing beautifully.
We also spotted Superb Starling male and Hildebrandt starling - brightly coloured birds apart from a Male Ostrich trying to woo the female Ostrich.
Before departing from Amboseli, the early morning views of Mount Kilimanjaro (the prime reason for me being in Amboseli) and the snow-capped mountain view on our way out of the park gave me hopes that I was going to return soon.
