I have posted some selected photos of my recent tour of Kenya, East Africa to Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/...ms/72157711628146807

Here's a selfie of me feeding a blind Black Rhino: DEC_1832.jpg by David Casteel, on Flickr

flashguy

Photo of hot air balloon and user name checks out.

Great pics!

you take good pictures,
My 72 y.o. neighbor lady got back, a week ago, from hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro ,

Her and 8 others also went on a truck ride around the park to see a bunch of "wild life".

Wow. Thank you for sharing the pictures with us.

Love the images flashguy. My favorite so far is the 9th photo with the zebras. Beautiful bokeh, excellent work, my compliments. Well worth the journey and thanks for sharing.

quote:

Originally posted by just1tym:
Love the images flashguy. My favorite so far is the 9th photo with the zebras. Beautiful bokeh, excellent work, my compliments. Well worth the journey and thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the compliment, and I'm glad you enjoyed them. The bokeh in that photo was not planned but was the result of having used a very long lens for the shot, I think. I do agree that the result was very nice.

I discovered that all my GPS data I'd transferred to my photos was incorrect--used the wrong time zone correction and all the points were an hour off. I'm in the process of going back and correcting those errors. Unfortunately, the process I have to use to put the corrected GPS data into the EXIF also undoes my post-processing and I have to redo all that, as well. This is taking some time.

I will possibly not bother to correct the GPS data in the photos already posted, or will defer it to the last. It's not really important to know exactly where each of those photos was made, I think. Photos of the road travel do need proper GPS data though, as there are landmarks that can be identified in some of those. I will be posting more photos soon.

flashguy

Thank you! Outstanding pictures. I bet that was fun!

quote:

Originally posted by DetonicsMk6:
Thank you! Outstanding pictures. I bet that was fun!

It was! Just about a year ago an ad for that tour popped up in my e-mail, and I looked at it (I review most travel notices that come to me, but act on very few). Since I'd never been anywhere in Africa, the trip intrigued me and I signed up for it. Conversations with their advisor revealed that I might have some issues with the physical needs, but we decided that I could probably get by. (I am walking challenged.) My experience on the tour was very positive--the agency managed to get accommodations with easier walking needs and I did get some assistance from time to time from the tour guide, driver, and a few of the other travelers. I had wheelchair assist at all the airports (a real help!). I had a great time!

I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures. I'm still in the process of working with them and will be posting some more later.

flashguy

Truely amazing photos David. Looks like a trip of a lifetime, though I know you’re quite the world traveler.

Question for you, having never been to Africa how was the experience outside of the landscape/wildlife? Food, accommodations, safety, etc. vs your expectations?

quote:

Originally posted by SigM4:
Truely amazing photos David. Looks like a trip of a lifetime, though I know you’re quite the world traveler.

Question for you, having never been to Africa how was the experience outside of the landscape/wildlife? Food, accommodations, safety, etc. vs your expectations?

The accommodations were fine, somewhat better than I had really expected, actually. Even the "Tents" I'd been told about were much more than I had imagined and very nice. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Lo...aikipia_County_.html
All the other accommodations were of conventional construction and all had wi-fi. I was quite satisfied with them.

Food. Every location had a breakfast buffet that was similar to what would be found in Europe, most with a grill where eggs were prepared to order. Cold cereal, fruit, and area specialties were also available. Most other meals were also buffets, so one could pick and choose. I found the offerings to be more fancy than I prefer, and some of the "local" foods I avoided, but others in the group seemed to enjoy them. (I'm very picky and like "plain" food.)

Safety. This was not an issue with me. Kenya is a pretty stable country and we were mostly in the southwest, well away from Somalia, so I wasn't concerned about riots, etc. The natives were friendly and all spoke good English (English and Swahili are the official languages of the country). I never felt threatened in any way. On the game drives we pretty much stayed in the 4WD vehicles and the animals just ignored those. There has been no hunting in Kenya since 1977 and the animals don't view the vehicles (which they see daily) as threats, so pay no attention to them. They cross the trails and walk past the vehicles all the time. No problem. On the few occasions when we were outside the vehicles there were no dangerous animals in the area. Several folks have asked if our guides (our drivers, actually) carried guns--I never saw one. No one had a gun on his person, and I don't think there were any in the vehicles, either (but I don't really know--if there were, they were not visible). FWIW, I never felt fearful during any of the game drives.

Kenya is an interesting place. We were told that 75% of the population is Christian (and from what I saw, a lot of them are "Bible church"); 20% are Muslim; and the rest "who knows?". The Muslims and the Christians seem to get along with each other well. There is a Methodist college in Nairobi. Every little town or village had dozens of little Gospel churches along the road. All was pretty serene there. The villages are pretty untidy, with lots of little shacks and kiosks along the road, but there were a lot of bigger solid structures, too, and a lot of construction going on. The roads are not too good (some decent ones between major towns, though) and every few miles there are speed bumps in the pavement (yes--speed bumps on the highways!). Our drivers knew where every one of those was and slowed way down to cross them. Very odd. We'd be going along at 30-40 mph and suddenly slowed to 5 mph to cross a speed bump--it was weird. Not just in the towns, either, but out in the open country. Even the major highways had them.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience and I'm glad I talked myself into doing it. I knew I'd have some physical challenges, but deccided that they could be handled (and they were). I probably won't do it again, but the once was a fine trip. I highly recommend it. (My tour company was Holiday Vacations https://www.holidayvacations.com/ and they take care of all the details--flights, bookings, etc. and a dedicated tour guide on the tour. (Disclaimer--I do not have any financial connection to this company.)

flashguy