Safari in Nairobi National Park

Early in the morning we were picked up by the driver for a half-day game drive in Nairobi National Park. The weather was not that great in the morning, after showers in the night. We headed straight out of the city center to take the road around the National Park and then there we were by the gate where the guide would spend some minutes with the paperwork.

INTRODUCTION


The Nairobi National Park has many samples of animals and they live wild, but the population of bigcats is very reduced due to poaching in the park vicinities, we could not see one single cat there and the lions that subexist in this system are less than 10, so it would be really a lucky morning if we could have seen one of them. Most of we could see in this park are the antelopes that have breeded without fear of becoming prey of the big cats. But the park still reserved us some good stuff.

FIRST MORNING SIGHT


The giraffe sillouette marks the begin of this game drive, and then on every corner we find impalas, zebras, waterbucks, coke hartebeests, elands and gazelles.

WILDLIFE AND SKYLINE


The Nairobi skyline always recall us that we are close to the city neighbourhood. The ostriches and antelopes graze the field as if they were far in the wilderness.

BLACK RHINO


The weather gets better and we keep following the tracks until we finally find a back rhino. This has been particularly great for us, because before this time we had just spotted a single black rhino but it was so far that we could not even take a picture. And black rhinos are really shy creatures.

ANOTHER BLACK RHINO


They could not bear our presence for any longer than a few seconds and they start to move away, and not far from where we have spotted this black rhino we have found another one. Should I mention it was shy, too? It gave us a hard time to try get closer because we have to go just a little go off-road to see over the hill where it was running from us, but the rocks in the ground prevented us from going any further.

CROWNED CRANE


It was not bad at all, we were lucky to have spotted not one, but two black rhinos, and that was the very first time for us with this animal. The journey continues until we come across with the birds we think are the most beautiful birds of Africa. The crowned crane.

FEMALE CROWNED CRANE


There was a flock of them, not such a generous flock, but we could see males and females individuals. The males are the most colourful while the female keeps restricted to more pale brown feathers than the bright red and yellow patterns we can see in the males.

CATTLE


WELL-FED CROC


We made a stop and got off the vehicle to walk along the border of a small river that separates one of the borders of the park from the common land occupied by maasai villagers. They bring cattle to drink water from the river and that keeps this croc well fed.

TURTLE ON A BRANCH


The walk is guides by a park ranger and we just can spot croc, hippos, phythons and turtles, but this time we were not so lucky. The hippos had left for a walk far into the bush and no phytons around. But we have seen these huge turtles just over a branch taking a sun bath.

GIRAFFES ON THE RUN


We have to run now, because we have yet to go to another site before we head to the airport and to the Masai Mara.