Saturday safari and more

Just as we had planned, Jeff picked me up at 6am sharp, we'll before breakfast was available at the Jimlizer Hotel where the team and I had stayed during our clinic. I introduced him to trail mix and Nature Valley granola bars. We arrived at the Nairobi Game Park around its 6:30 opening time and there must have been 50 or more safari vehicles in line already. Wow! On my early trips to this park,  we used to have to send someone into the park office with cash and it took forever to get checked in. With phone payments possible in advance speeding things up, we only waited about 15 minutes and we were motoring into the park. Having a driver and vehicle to myself had pluses and minuses. I could go to my favorite spots in the park, reposition frequently for the perfect photo, stay as long as I wanted and move on when I was ready. Also, I had more time to get to know Jeff. We shared each other's faith walk and talked about anything and everything. It brought back strong memories of my dear, dear friend and brother Jay and endless hours in my boat. It was cathartic for me. The downside was the $300 cost between entrance fees for me, Jeff and our popup Toyota van with no one to split it with. It was worth it. Leaving Kenya having done no nature photography would have been far worse!

I had Jeff take me to a water feature with an island rookery similar to Murphy Park. It had Egyptian Geese, Sacred Ibises, Egrets, Herons and other shorebirds like Plovers and Killdeer-like ones. I even got flyby shots of an African Fish Eagle! There are Crocodiles and Hippos there too. Jeff yelled when one large Croc near us went from absolutely motionless to violently thrashing. I wheeled and cranked off a burst of shots that revealed a large fish in its jaws sideways. But not for long. One big gulp took care of it!

It's been very rainy around Nairobi for weeks, so the dirt roads were rutted and muddy. And the grass was tall and with plentiful food, the wildlife was scattered. As weird as it may sound,  some of my best safaris have been in drought years when wildlife is concentrated. I saw Hippos,  Rhinos,  Giraffes, Water Buffalo,  Hartebeests,  Gazelles, Impalas and a few more animals but no Lions or Zebras which are always there. My primary focus was birds, but that was tough too and it was a grey morning. I took about 1200 pictures over a 6 hour period and I know maybe 100 will be winners. Some of my tracking and auto focus settings quit working about halfway through the day, so I had to go old school and rely on my years of practice before modern features were even invented. 

I had lunch with Catherine and Jeff and settled accounts as best as we could. I also brought her refurbished laptops for the Kongasis school for when they get electricity and several personal gifts. We hugged and I returned to my hotel room for a short nap, a shower and to finish packing. I left for the airport at 6:30pm. I was 3 hours before my flight and said a fond farewell to Jeff until we meet again. He had dropped me in the middle of the Terminals. I asked a policeman where Terminal 1A was and he head 1E! I ended up getting plenty of exercise finding 1A over the next 20 minutes. My overnight flight was routine.

I have a 6 hour layover at Heathrow and it looks like my flight to Austin will leave at least half an hour late but we can probably make that up. I've gotten word that the rest of the team got back OK.  I'm bringing up the rear! More to follow as I can. Blessings!