Very nice pics. It's like you're a professional photographer or something.

All the animals seem fit, healthy and muscular. I'd probably be concerned being what looks to be very close to lions and such. How far away are you when you take these pics? It looks you're within talking distance....

The diversity of life there is remarkable. Makes our animal population seem bland. Glad you had a good time and made it back in one piece.

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
I didn't see a gorilla in there sir. Where's the gorilla ?

David, Mountain Gorilla's are just that. They are in the heavy forested mountainous regions of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:

All the animals seem fit, healthy and muscular. I'd probably be concerned being what looks to be very close to lions and such. How far away are you when you take these pics? It looks you're within talking distance....

They can sometimes get almost right next to the vehicle, but they tend to ignore you...unless you're out walking around, especially alone. Then you'll probably end up as a snack. Our guide related a story to us of another guide who went off to take a piss and ended up being dinner for a large cat.

That cat looks hungry. Probably why she is hanging around that close. It would not be hard for her to grab that person on the hood if it was so inclined. Would not blame her either.

Great pics, David! Thank you for sharing them!

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
Looks like a great trip.

How many days where you there? Was it long/short enough?

We were in Africa 10 days, with a day and a half travel to and from besides (13 days). For me, it was about the right length. I saw a lot of animals, got some nice photos to remember the trip by, and met some very nice people. The natives are friendly and speak English (English and Swahili are the official national languages). The accommodations were quite satisfactory and some were also quite interesting in their own right. The food was OK--a little too fancy for me, but OK.

konata88, many of the animals were fairly close to the vehicles, even crossing the trail in front of or behind them with only 10-15 feet separation. The animals ignore the vehicles--they see them all the time and hunting is forbidden in Kenya (since 1977) so they don't fear them. As long as we stayed in the vehicles we were safe. I do have photos of herds and animals at greater distances, but I didn't put those into that first initial selection because I figured folks would rather see the more close up views. I intend to expand my Flickr coverage to include more of the distant shots, as well as those taken on the road trips where we drove through native towns and villages on our way from one attraction/accommodation to another.

Thanks, everyone, for the very nice comments! I don't think my photos are NG quality, but they're OK. (There was a NG camera truck touring one of the areas--huge camera on the front.)

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
There are active shooting sports competitions in Nairobi.

Oh, I know there are guns in Kenya--I even saw a gun store on our travels one day (wasn't quick enough to get a photo--drat!). But hunting of any kind is not allowed, and (AFAIK) there weren't any guns with us on our game drives. (We did not get out of the vehicles much while in the field.)

flashguy

Nice photos! My favorite is the zebras in the golden field.

Great, great photos! About the sign indicating the Tanzanian border: were you in the Serengeti? Ngorongoro Crater? Where specifically did you see all these animals?

Top notch!!! The images are so good that they put me there to the point I won’t have to experience my own African safari. It is now “been there/done that” for me.

Wow. Great photos! Thanks so much for sharing these.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
Great, great photos! About the sign indicating the Tanzanian border: were you in the Serengeti? Ngorongoro Crater? Where specifically did you see all these animals?

Technically, we were on the edge of the Serengeti, in southwestern Kenya.

My tour group stayed at several different resorts in Kenya, principally in the southwest. The pictures I posted had been taken all through the tour, so were from different locations. If you browse via Flickr, most photos have geographic coordinates in the EXIF.

flashguy

Those are really great pictures.
The trip of a lifetime I'm sure.