Lions, Giraffes and Gorillas Oh My

[Flying mermaid]

Room looks lovely. Hope you do get a visiting giraffe to say 'hello'.
MrFM now copyrights his photos to stop unauthorised use?

no - he and a friend have always done that for their cosplay photos - They give them away for free, but I guess they like recognition. I suspect his software now just automatically puts it on

 

[Pushka]

Fabulous photos.

 

[love_the_life]

now for some of the stars - this is at afternoon tea on the terraceView attachment 135716 View attachment 135717 View attachment 135718 View attachment 135719 View attachment 135720

They are so amazing to watch. So close, eating out of your hand. And a baby there as well.

View attachment 135722 There are warthogs too. They come and find the pellets the giraffes drop.View attachment 135721

Warthogs are very cute....in an ugly sort of way.

 

[tgh]

I am a bit late, but hope you are going out to the effell-ant orphanage on your second day..

 

[Flying mermaid]

I am a bit late, but hope you are going out to the effell-ant orphanage on your second day..

we are not actually. We stayed at Camp Jabulani in South Africa a few years ago, which is associated with the Hoedspruit endangered species centre. Jabulani rescues orphan elephants as well, and we learnt a lot about Elephants there, so decided we would do Giraffes and Karen Blixen museum here. We leave for the Masai Mara quite early tomorrow.

 

[Flying mermaid]

As it started getting light I managed to entice a Giraffe to my window

 

[Flying mermaid]

Then it was time for breakfast with the Giraffes

 

[Flying mermaid]

Then I raced upstairs to feed another one from my window, while Mr FM took photos below

 

[Flying_man]

Giraffe is amazing creature. I will be scared if one put head in my window though.

 

[rock86]

Giraffe Manor looks absolutely awesome, some great photos!

 

[craven morehead]

I have been holding off on starting this, as I thought it was too soon, but no can't wait any longer.

We are off on the 6th September and given most of this was booked early June 2017, its been a long long wait.

Even booking that early, we struggled to get accommodation at the Giraffe Manor and ended up adding 3 nights in one of their camps in the Masai Mara in order to access some of the rooms reserved for their clients who booked other camps with them.

So this is the plan

CBR-SYD J Qantas
Syd-DXB F Emirates
quick sleep at the transit hotel in Dubai
DXB-NBO F Emirates

Giraffe Manor 2 nights

Wilson Airport to Masai Mara Safarilink

Sala's Camp 3 nights

Masai Mara to Wilson Safarilink

Wilson to Segera Retreat in the Laikipia Area Private plane

Segera Retreat 4 nights

Laikipia to Wilson Private plane

Hemingways Nairobi 1 night

NBO-KGL Y Kenyan Air

Kigali to Bisate by road transport

Bisate 6 nights

2 Gorilla Treks
1 Golden Monkey trek

Bisate to Kigali by road

Kigali Serena 1 night

Kigali to Lamai Auric Air

Singita Mara River Tented Camp 3 nights

Lamai to Singita Grumeti Air

Sabora Tented Camp 3 nights

Sasakwa 3 nights

Singita to NBO (JKIA) Coastal Air

Hemingways Nairobi 2 nights

NBO-DXB F Emirates
DXB-MEL F Emirates

Parkroyal Melbourne Airport 1 Night

MEL-CBR J Qantas

Only had to read the thread title and I jumped on board

 

[Flying mermaid]

Giraffe is amazing creature. I will be scared if one put head in my window though.

they are so gentle - it was wonderful feeding them. . In the Masai Mara at the moment and wifi is a bit limited, so will update once we get to Segera.

 

[Flying mermaid]

We spent the free day at the Giraffe Manor, visiting the attached Giraffe centre. As guests you get free entry and a person to take you around.

we learnt a fair bit about giraffes, including that giraffe numbers are now 20% of elephant numbers so they are struggling. The Giraffe centre breeds endangered Rothschild Giraffes and releases them into the wild when they are 3 years old. They are funded by donations, entry fees to the resource centre and money from the Giraffe Manor.

After that giraffe manor organised a driver to take us to the Karen Blixen museum. The driver cost is included in the accommodation cost. The museum is the original farmhouse from her coffee plantation, with original furniture, photos and paintings. A guide takes you around on an individual tour and was very knowledgeable.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Next morning we were off to Wilson airport for our flight to the Masai Mara. we were in a Cessna Caravel that could take 12 people, but there were only 8 passengers. I don't know whether that made them more relaxed, but they didn't ask to weigh my handbag (6kg), so we came in at 27kg, so no stress. The other planes allow us 20kg each so no more stress over weight.

We went to Sala's Camp with low expectations, as we had only booked it in order to get into the Giraffe manor. However we really enjoyed it. It is at a more secluded end of the reserve and our guides did their best to keep away from other vehicles. Didn't always succeed, but often we were on our own. Of course as soon as there was something interesting the vehicles did tend to gather. The other problem of course is not going off road. All the guides ignore that to a certain extent, but try to not do too much. They also go over the border into Tanzania, so lots of illegal things happening.

Our guide did get caught going off road and will probably get a fine although he was trying to wriggle out of it I feel sorry for them, as they are caught between wanting to get sightings for their guests and sticking to the rules (which are actually there for a good reason). It is why we generally go to private game reserves, to avoid that kind of conflict.

The high season is over and our camp was only half full, so we were lucky enough to get a private vehicle. Our guide was Moses and tracker was Anthony and we had a wonderful time with them. Spent a lot of time talking Masai culture and Kenyan politics.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Our tents at Sala's Camp - all the tents overlook the Sand River and have their own plunge pool. It was amazing listening to the lions at night. On the last day a lion chased a Buffalo into the camp and some of the guests were having trouble getting to their rooms

 

[Flying mermaid]

Lions near the camp

 

[Flying mermaid]

We came across some lions having a wonderful feed. The migration has moved on, but the tail end is still in the Masai Mara, so plenty of food for the lions. I have included a sunset, as I know they are popular.

 

[Denali]

Fantastic!

 

[Flying_man]

Zebra look so simerlar to normal horse. Is it possible to train zebra to operate like horse? Ride him and use him to pull cart? Or they are too wild?

 

[rock86]

Zebra look so simerlar to normal horse. Is it possible to train zebra to operate like horse? Ride him and use him to pull cart? Or they are too wild?

Sure you can, they do it in the movie 'Racing Stripes'..........