Kenya Archives - The Jacobs Family Website

December 11, 2015

Giraffe Manor

This is it. 6 weeks after we got back home I’ve finally parsed the last photo gallery from Kenya. After wrapping up our stay in the national parks and private reserves we spent the final day at Giraffe Manor. An old English-style manor house that is also a breeding and rehabilitation center for the endangered Rothschild Giraffe. We had opportunities to feed and interact with Giraffes (and the warthogs that sought to hoover up any dropped giraffe pellets off the ground). Especially memorable was having breakfast while the giraffe stuck their heads in the windows to get fed. Pretty amazing.

Kai feeds a giraffe at the Giraffe manor visitor center.

A brave kid to smooch a giraffe like that. Brave giraffe too I guess.

Feeding giraffe at the manor.

Family picture with the giraffe.

Feeding giraffe at Giraffe Manor

Kai with his friend.

Nora feeds the giraffe

Giraffe at breakfast.

The giraffe were not at all shy.

Nora with a warthog hovering up the giraffe kibble she dropped.

Ben feeds a giraffe.

Kai feeds a giraffe

Nora takes a picture of me taking a picture of her.

Ben taking a picture of Nora taking a picture of him.

Feeding giraffe at Giraffe Manor

December 4, 2015

Mara Bushtops Last Day

Here is the last gallery from Mara Bushtops – we had a great stay though Ben got food poisoning on the last day and the 45 minute Land Cruiser ride followed by an hour in a bush plane to get back to Nairobi was not fun.

Nora takes a rosepedal bath in our "tent"

Sundown at Mara Bushtops

A hyena getting a head.

Another shot of a hyena in the morning.

A lion naps on a warm rock.

A hovering kingfisher.

A panoramic view of the sand river.

Another shot of the sand river.

Crystal and the kids on a hill over the Mara.

Looking out over Tanzania

A rainbow lizard. Not sure of thier real name but that is what we called them. Apparently only the male is flashy.

It is unussual to see a hippo far from the water in the day. He doesn't look happy.

The next day we stopped by the two leopard tree and found it had transformed into a one leopard tree.

Leopard luggi.

Looks a little grump.

Definitly not amused.

Crystal relaxes while watching the zebra from the deck.

The rain was a real treat.

Kai and Nora enjoying the rain.

Our last dinner at Mara bushtops. I didn't know it but at the time I was eating a meal that would make me violently ill later that night.

November 25, 2015

Mara Safari 2

Here is the second gallery from the all-day game drive in the Masia Mara. We got to see a wildebeast crossing and a lion chase (but not catch) some cape buffalo. Enjoy the pics!

Kai and Nora in the Land Cruiser.

An interesting bug where we stopped for snacks;

Kai with wildebeast.

Wildebeast herd.

Kai with a herd of wildebeast.

Cape buffalo along the sand river. A pride of lions was nearby.

The lions were hanging out by some rocks. See the alert one on the right? A few minutes later she would make a go for the buffalo.

The lion bounds after the buffalo. Not sure if she was hunting or just having some sport. Either way the buffalo got out of the way fast.

Another pic of the lion chase

I did not know that a buffalo had the muscle control to keep its tail straight up in the air.

The lion switches targets.

The buffalo cleared out quick

The tired lions walks slowly back to the rest of the pride.

Jumping the river.

A rare antelope. I forget the name.

Nora climbs on the land rover.

Kai with his scratch he earned while dodging a rhino.

Lunch on the Mara

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A lion in the grass.

Nora really wanted to see a leopard on her birthday. The day was almost over when we came across two in the same tree.

Apparently two leopards together is very rare. Our guide told us it must be the honeymoon.

The two leopard tree.

Another shot of the sleeping leopard.

A lion cub.

November 19, 2015

Mara Safari

After the balloon ride we spent the rest of the day on a game drive in the Masai Mara. Here are pictures from the first part of the day. Enjoy!

I believe this was a butler hawk. We distrubed his meal of a baby warthog and he flew into a tree.

The same hawk circles the vehicle.

Another bird stops by.

What to you call a gathering of vultures? A "wake" of vultures.

Zebras brave the crocs to get some water.

There were plenty of crocs about.

Hippos in the Mara river.

More hippos relaxing in the river.

Hippos go wading in - never mind the crocs.

Watching a hippo on the Mara river.

An iridescent wasp on a flower.

A lion walking down by the river.

Another shot of the lion.

Part of the massive wildebeast migration. This time over the sand river.

Part of the wildebeast migration.

Watching the wildbeast cross the sand river.

A panorama of the herd of wildebeast on the other side of the river.

November 18, 2015

Mara Balloon ride

The first full day at Mara Bushtops we had booked a balloon ride in the Masai Mara. We were woken up with coffee and cookies well before dawn and then whisked in a land cruiser into the park. We arrived at the launch site just as dawn was beginning to break. There was not much for us to do as we stood out of the way as the crews scrambled to get the balloon laid out and filled with hot air. Once it started to become bouyant, however, then things moved fast and the had to scramble into the basket while the balloon struggled to fly away and a dozen ground crew members struggled to keep us on the ground.

Once we were airborne the most striking thing is the total silence (if you don’t count the occasional roar of the gas jets as the pilot put more hot air in the balloon). We drifted over the Mara for about an hour and then, after a controlled crash landing, the chase vehicle whisked us away to another omlete station that had sprung up out of the bush.

Getting ready for the dawn balloon ride.

Balloon ride prep. We stood around with not much to do for a long time while they warmed up the balloon.

Once the balloon had lift we had to move fast to get into the basket.

Another balloon fires up in the distance.

Crystal on the balloon ride.

Dawn balloon launches are popular.

Mara sunrise.

A balloon up above us.

Another Mara sunrise shot.

Mara sunrise.

Another balloon fires up in the distance.

This was Nora's birthday.

A group of researchers stake our a hyena den.

We didn't see many hyena except on the balloon ride. We saw over a dozen on that trip.

This is one of the chase tractors for the balloons. Here he was doing about 35 mph.

Crystal and Kai floating over the Mara.

More hyenas on the Mara.

Hyenas frolicking at dawn.

Another hyena shot.

A balloon far off in the distance.

Crystal and Kai on the balloon ride.

Nora peeking out of the balloon basket

At first the balloon pilot thought this was a rhino but it turned out to be a massive forest warthog.

Bush breakfast after the balloon ride.

Omlette stations in the middle of the African savanah were more common than one might expect.

November 15, 2015

Mara Bushtops Day 1 – Game Drive and Sundown

Here is a continuation of the last gallery. We drove around the conservancy for the afternoon and then stopped for sundowners where the Mara Bushtops crew had set up a fire (and bar) to enjoy the sunset. Once again I was amazed at the ability for the lodges to make guest facilities pop up out of nowhere in the bush whether it be omelet stations in the morning or a bar for sundowners at night.

Most of the time the wildlife ignored us. This was a rate moment when we had this lion's attention.

Another shot of the lion. The building in the upper left is our tent.

Nora checks her wildlife guide for anything she hasn't checked off yet.

A small rainstorm passed through and then we were treated to a rainbow.

What is the name for a gathering of giraffes? A tower of giraffes.

An african elephant.

A game of twister goes horribly wrong.

I bet you didn't think elephants could go up on their tip toes.

Sunset on the Mara.

Nora in the Masai Mara

Sundown campfire at Mara Bushtops.

Sundowners on the Mara.

Ben at sunset on the Mara.

The setting sun over the Masai Mara.

The sun gets ready to set.

Setting african sun.

November 13, 2015

Arriving at Mara Bushtops

Our last “safari” lodge was Mara Bushtops which is situated on a private conservancy right off of the Masai Mara park. We arrived after an hour-long flight over the verdant Mt. Kenya highlights to a tiny airstrip without a single building but our safari crew was there to meet us.
We had booked the Leopard Family tent which was absolutely fabulous and really was a case study in how opulent you could make a facility and still call it a “tent”. It was certainly the first (and will probably be the last) tent I’ve stayed in that had its own hot tub and wine wall.
That afternoon we took a game drive staying within a kilometer or so of the lodge but still managed to see plenty of wildlife including a lion checking out game at the water hole – we even got a picture of the lion and our tent in the same frame. This seemed very cool to be situated right in the middle of a heavy wildlife zone but the next night when we heard a pride of lions take down and then noisily eat a zebra only a few meters from our tent it took on a different feel.

This is our plane at terminal 1 of the areodrome we landed out right outside the Masai Mara park.

Kai, Nora and Crystal outside the Leapord family tent at Mara Bushtops.

Kai and Nora watch the zebras from the deck of the tent.

The tent had a great view of a watering hole with lots of animals all day long.

Crystal relaxing on the couch and taking in the view.

Crystal in our "tent" at Mara Bushtops.

Wildebeast on the Mara Conservancy.

On our first game drive in the Mara we came across this lion shortly after we started.

We were plenty close.

Here the lion is walking away while Nora looks on.

A jackal

Another shot of the jakal

A picture of the back of Kai's head. You can see a blurry lion crossing the road ahead.

Nora watches a lion that is watching our tent.

Another shot of the lion. The building in the upper left is our tent.

October 20, 2015

Lewa Conservancy Day 2

Here are a few last shots from our stay at the Lewa Conservancy.

Lewa sunrise

Crystal and Nora at the Lewa lodge.

Lewa ostrich.

Watching elephants from the land rover.

Kai and Nora took a lot of pictures. I know the camera is heavy but both of them would always cock their head to the side (and therefore tilt the camera) when they looked through the view finder leading to tilted images. This is a typical example. T

Lewa elephant eating tall grass at the swamp.

This guy was splashing water at us from the other side of the creek. Could have been playful but my bet was it was an indication to move along.

Rolling plains of Lewa. If you look close you can see a couple elephants, center right.

Lewa sunset

Nora with her new bracelet at the Lewa tent.

These two giraffe were "necking". Running at a gallop while trying to bash each other

Festus saw a herd of elephant and figured they were heading for water. He drove to a point he thought they would cross and we silently watched as they walked right by.

Elephants approaching

Elephant on thier way to a water hole.

Lewa elephant.

Our Lewa guide, Festus, while waiting in the Lewa departure lounge.

Two giraffe frolick at the end of runway 270. A few minutes later the runway keeper ran up and shooed them off. In the 45 minutes we waited for the plane he spent the whole time chasing animals off the dirt strip.

October 12, 2015

Lewa Conservancy

The Lewa conservancy is a vast track of land with a healthy population of rhino and rigorous poaching controls. We were able to spend two days at a safari camp on the conservancy with our guide, Festus. Most of the terrain was grass and long, rolling hills but there were some wooded valleys and even a lake/swamp where animals tended to congregate. Here are some pictures from the first day.

A giraffe, when it feels threatened, will hide in whatever cover is available. If you look close you can see one in in this picture.

This was a blank rhino we came across on one of the Lewa hills.

Another side shot of the rhino.

Rhino stink eye is a special kind of stink eye. Once this rhino started squaring off with the vehicle the driver slowly retreated. Normally we were totally ignored by the wildlife but, in the cases we weren't, the guides discretely retreated (at least

A great shot of a Grevy Zebra. Our guide told us there were 12 easy ways to distinguish a Grevy zerbra from a common zebra and at the time I could give you 8. Now all I have is that the stripes don't reach the belly.

This was the same pair of cheetah brothers that we saw the day before. The day before they were lean and sleek. Now they are bloated after gorging on a breakfast of Kellogs Impala-bits.

A full cheetah sits down next to his stomach.

A burp helps.

Cheetahs of Lewa.

A bush breakfast at Lewa.

Nora at Kai next to a "yellow fever tree".

A Lewa ostrich.

There were tons of warthogs in every park but they were shy. As soon as they would see us they would trot away so this was our most common view of a warthog - from behind.

Feeding giraffes.

A pride of 8 lions spralled under a tree sleeping in the mid-day sun. One was almost certainly the collared lioness from the day before.

Lion sleeping in the grass.

Lioness with flies.

October 8, 2015

Meru to Lewa

Included in this gallery are a few last pictures of Meru and then on to our next stop at the Lewa Conservancy. We did the transfer by car (a 4 hour drive or so) rather than by plane as there we no good connections that would get us to Lewa sooner.