Our Most Recent Safari

The Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend President Burgener (counselor to President Broadbent of the KN Mission) and us went on a short safari to The Nairobi National Park. We saw a wide range of critters and some beautiful scenery. Here we pose with the guards who protected us while we were out of our pick up to explore the Hippo Pond. They carry AK 47s but they said that they use them to shoot into the air to scare any aggressive animals. They report that they have not had to kill any animals yet, but have had several charge them. Hippos, Water Buffalo and Rhinos are the most ill tempered.

This is another reason that we needed a arm escort. There were not any hippos in the pond but there were two of these very large Nile Crocodiles and 7 very large turtles.

This Nile Monitor Lizard is a fairly rare sighting as well. He scampered across the road as we drove away from the Hippo Pond. He measured well over two feet long! Not as scary as the monitor lizards on the Galapagos Islands but I would not like to meet him hiking in the woods.

We were treated to close encounters with two different families of Giraffes. There were five members of this giraffe family. They did not seem intimidated by us driving down THEIR road. The one farthest away was the patriarch. He stood in the middle of the road and did not budge until the other four members of his family were safely across the road.

There were three Rhinos only about 70 meter off of the road but the grass was so tall that we did not get a real good picture. These guys are not as social as some other animals.

It is mind blowing to realize that these wild animals live only a few kilometers from the modern metropolis of Nairobi.