A Journey

In Kiswahili, the word safari means “journey.”  This past weekend I made a journey to Tsavo West National Park, my first escape from Mutomo since arriving on October 17^th.  I went with two of my Swedish neighbors, Erick and Layla, and our driver Titus.  The park is located in southern Kenya, near the Tanzanian border.  The landscape was green and lush (a nice change from the sparce desert of Mutomo), and the animal sightings were spectacular.  Unfortunately we never spotted any lions or rhinos, and the elephants were only seen from very far away.  Still, I was very satisfied with the experience.  It was like seeing The Lion King in real life, except without Elton John singing.  The wildlife was certainly the highlight of the trip, but a close second would be the hot shower.  It’s been well over a month since I’ve taken any shower, let alone a hot one, and so I was thrilled to see the bathroom in my hotel room.  I must have just stood there for a good ten minutes, laughing with delight.  

 

That's right, I took a picture.

 I won’t write any more for this blog entry.  I’ll let the photos speak for themselves...

Helmeted guineafowl. They look like turkeys, and I was tempted to taste one.

Monkey

Crocodile viewed from afar, which was fine by me.

Hippos coming up for air. There were probably eight of them together.

A dik-dik, which is like an antelope, but about the size of a house cat.

Lava fields within the park, which erupted about 200 years ago.

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Me with Layla, Titus, and Erick.

Antelope

View from the hotel. Animals come to the water hole to drink. A group of monkeys was there when we arrived.

Agama lizard

Impala

More impala

White people... more rare than zebras.

Another dik-dik

A leopard outside the hotel. Each night the staff put up a piece of meat to attract the leopard... sort of artificial, but still interesting to see.

Baboons

And another baboon.

 ....