Hello, Cruiseboysians! I hope your winter is going well. I’ve been getting ready for my Far East Grand Voyage, but decided to take a break and post pictures from the event that started the photography-thing for me: my trip to Kenya in 2006.

I was living in northern England at the time, and one of my co-workers made near annual visits to Kenya for photo safaris. He frequently offered to assist others and I accepted for this trip. It was two weeks long and visited three main sites: Samburu National Reserve, Lake Nakuru National Park and Maasi Mara National Reserve.

I have never shared these images online, but wanted them recorded in my blog and associated albums. I have added the full-size image albums to my Photo Album page – however, a warning (or perhaps an apology) is in order. This was 2006 and I was using a “baby’s first digital SLR” – a Canon Rebel. So, it’s less camera that what I was using for my 2019 World Cruise, and far less than what I have now. But, it’s what I had. Another thing, I don’t have all the details broken down into days, so I will organize my posts by location and only provide details that I recorded within the images themselves.

First, you should understand the vehicle.

We had an extended Land Rover with a roof on hinges that open forward and rearward. This allowed us tourists to stay in the vehicle, stand and take pictures while supporting our arms and cameras on the car. The guides provided sandbags to assist. As long as we stayed in the cars, the animals don’t really notices us. However, sometimes they get curious.

Off we go!

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Samburu

I’m not really a “bird guy”, but many of my better pictures on this safari were of birds.

A proud goshawk showing off his breakfast – check out his talons. Usually it’s hard to get close to raptors, but this guy was sitting right next to the road!

Weavers make a number of spherical nests at the end of branches, and only use a few of them to confuse hunters.

Yes, it’s actually name is “Superb Starling”. No, I don’t know why.

You wouldn’t believe the number of guineafowl running around. The bright blue feathers really jump out of the surrounding bush, but the red eyes are creepy.

These are the birds that the character Zazu in “Lion King” was based on.

I love the color combinations on these birds. The water reflection worked pretty well, too.

This bird is smaller than my fist.

We waited almost an hour for this guy to take off, but he ignored us with extreme prejudice.

Now, to the mammals. Starting with the smallest, but maybe the cutest.

A very small antelope. Less than 18″ high, weighing no more than 10 lbs. Usually found with mate nearby. They’re named for the sound they make as they scamper away.

Here showing their famous ability to stand on back legs to browse on higher leaves.

Now, those are some horns!

I’m really happy how our driver arranged the angle as these four lined up. So, are they black on white, or white on black? Note the location tracker on the second.

Strolling to the next tree.

“Are you talking to me?” After doing too much to get a good shot, this fellow charged our vehicle. Got pretty close, too.

Ms. Lion on the prowl.

This was the only leopard we saw the entire trip, and I learned a lot about the difficulty of photography with this one. The sun setting behind the hill that the cat was resting on and it was at the extreme range from my camera/lens combination. This is the best I could do with after-software editing to bring out the colors.

A family unit of about 20 elephants crossed the road within 10 feet of us. Note the youngest doesn’t even reach an adult’s belly.

I was humming “Pink Elephants” the entire time.

So ugly they’re cute.

I found it strange that the baboons don’t develop the black facial “hood” until late in life.

The family group of 30 were passing thru, checking under every rock and clump of grass for bugs.

When your guide says that Vervet Monkeys have blue testicles, believe them.

This termite mound was well over a meter tall.

During our last day in Samburu with fog arrived in the morning. This was a great starting location for our safari. From here we drive to Lake Nakuru. See you there.