Samburu National Park, Kenya

July, 2008

Samburu was the luxury part of our vacation. We stayed at Larson's Camp, registered with the "Small Luxury Hotels of the World." The camp is truely luxurious and being the only people in a camp set up for over 50 guests the service was great. The camp is located on a river with crocodiles which lay in wait for stupid tourists to put their toes in the water. Sitting on our porch we could watch elephants and baboons walking on the far side of the river. Lunch was served on a platform overlooking the river with a guy with a slingshot on hand to keep the camp monkeys from bothering us. The birds and squirrel were welcome, however. The food, of course, was excellent. The only downside to the camp was the lack of eco-friendly initiatives, although Mr. Mike the camp director did tell us that he was planning on installing solar water heaters and electric panels to replace the diesel generator in the next year.

In Samburu we got our fist up-close view of a lioness hunting. She was about 5 feet from our OPEN jeep. Unfortunately for us (but not for the gazelles) she missed catching anything for lunch. Other things we saw were a dead hyena attracting vultures, a cheetah, a lot of eagles and colorful birds, and the elusive leopard.