Safari Walk

An early morning flight provided the opportunity for an afternoon adventure.  We decided to visit the Nairobi National Park for late afternoon stroll through the Safari Walk exhibit.   We figured visiting a "zoo" would be better than hanging around the hotel...so off we went with low expectations.

Since it was late in the day, the park was virtually empty.  We paid our $20 fee and entered the park, only to immediately be met by a "tour guide".  The guide starts leading us toward the Hippo attraction and the whole time he is rattling off animal facts---I must to confess to half-listening---until I heard, "You wanna get a closer look".  I didn't even have time to finish saying "your kidding right" before our guide was climbing over the exhibit fence.  Turns out our "guide" was actually responsible for feeding the animals...from that point forward, it was a safari fantasy!

This picture is of a 3-ton (6,000 pound) White Rhino.  The rhino skin is two inches thick and feels very much like a quality leather sofa---not like sand paper---which is what I was expecting.

 

Next is a Bongo, a beautiful animal that really enjoyed playing tug-a-war with my leafy plants.  If you have ever played the bongo drums, then you have touched this animals hide.

So we set off, plowing through the brush behind the exhibits, to get within 5 feet of this female Lion.  When she growled you could not help but freeze in your tracks!

After picking our way through another tree line (I knew I should have worn long pants), we came upon this playful Leopard;

The guide was able to draw several Hyena from their under ground dens by jingling car keys and grunting.  These animals were much bigger than I expected, with massive necks and powerful jaws...they run in packs of 10-20 and are known to force a lion of it's prey.

The Ostrich is not only the biggest bird in the world, but also the fastest, with the ability to run up to 50 miles per hour...the long, flexible neck allows the ostrich quickly to pluck leaves from tree branches;

The Cheetah, the fastest recorded mammal on land, purred & lounged around looking for rubs...but I could never totally forget about their massive fangs

We also saw albino Zebra, Crocodile and Wildebeest...along with animals, whose names I can't even remember.  It turned out to be the ultimate trip to the zoo.