Tsavo
National Park in Kenya is not as full of
animals as the Mara or others, but it has a unique sub-species of lions that
thankfully we did not see.
Today's Tsavo Lions are descendants of the pair of rogue lions that killed and
ate over a hundred people during the building of the
Trans-Kenya train from Mombasa to Nairobi in the late 1800s. The
mid-1990s' movie "Ghosts in the Darkness" graphically
seared their story into my memory and was the catalyst for my to visit Tsavo.
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(Above Far L)
Looking back at the rooftop and veranda viewing levels of our
lodging, Kamboyo Guest House, which was the former home of Tsavo's warden. (Above L) Greg and Rick in the backyard next to a termite-and-ant hill. (Above R and Far R) Our backyard view of the snows of Kilimanjaro and its neighboring mountain (squint really hard). (Below L to R) Our backyard held 3 water holes, 2 man-made: lower "staff" level (for Cape Buffalo, gazelles, warthogs, birds, and elephants if nothing else is there, etc.); Elephant "Executive" level, then Bird "bath" level (Far L 2 rows below) where you can see a Beautiful Starling. No kidding, that is its quite appropriate name. (Middle in 2 rows below) we visit Mzima Springs about one hour from our house, where hippos, crocs, and many shiny fish hang out. The viewing "bubble" below the surface of the Springs put us in a fish tank to allow the fish to look at us. On our drive back to the guest house, we spied the Verraux Owl (2 rows below, Far R) which turned its head 180 degrees as we watched. |
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(Far and Above L) On Sunday morning, the eight of us ate a gourmet
breakfast on the veranda (brick wall was home to lizards both prior
evenings). Greg, Anna, Rick and I drove to the top of Roaring Rocks, a picnic area in process, to take one last view of Tsavo--and one last gourmet meal. (Far R) I was really glad that I looked at Rick's picture of the spider found in our sink Friday night only on Sunday afternoon as we drove back to Nairobi (read our blog for rationale). The drain at the top of the picture (Far R) is 1.5 inches across...at least I didn't lie awake both nights... |
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