Game of Kenya

This item appears on page 16 of the May 2011 issue.

Our first game drive in the Samburu National Reserve in Kenya was very exciting! We spend about three hours driving all over the park and saw three different types of giraffes, Grevy’s zebras (lots of them), Grant’s gazelles (ditto), a secretary bird, warthogs (ugly critters), oryx, Cape buffalo (big mean looking and very plentiful), impalas, elephants, gerenuk (a giraffe-necked gazelle that stands on its hind legs to eat from the tops of bushes), guinea fowl and lots and lots of baboons.

The dainty little gazelles and ba­­boons must have had a death wish: they didn’t get out of the road until our vehicle was almost on them.

Best were the sightings of a leopard and two cheetahs. They are not easily found, and we got within 10 feet of the leopard.

Our “home” here was the Samburu Serena Lodge, probably the nicest place we stayed on our Africa trip, which took place July-August. Our driver-guide, Richard, a Kikuyu, was outstanding at finding game. He got us to within 20 feet of most of the animals.

Judith A. SIESS
Cleveland, OH