TulipGirl

Today we took a day trip to walk among the animals on Crescent Island in Lake Naivasha. Crescent Island is no longer an island — after the El Nino weather pattern changes (in 1996, I believe) it became a peninsula. Yet, it is still a protected wildlife sanctuary, home to many species of animals living free from predators.

The drive there and home was. . . exciting. . . to say the least. This was our first trip out of Nairobi in our own vehicle (a 2004 Nissan Terrano, 90k African kilometers on it, standard transmission.) Shifting into fourth was a bit sticky, but Hubby finessed it just fine. But combine that with driving through the mountains, curving roads, with lots of slow moving lorries to pass? I was pretty calm, all things considered. Hubby has cat-like reflexes and is a great driver, but the situations were crazy at times.

We stopped along the way to look out over the Rift Valley. Amazing view. . .

Along the way, we saw some baboons, zebra, and had to stop for a herd of cattle and goats crossing the street.

When you visit Crescent Island, you get to walk among the animals. No fences, no pens. . . this is like a free-range zoo. While there weren’t many people there (our family and friends, and a group of adoptive parents who we only saw when we arrived), the animals are used to people enough that they don’t startle easily.

It was amazing to walk near the animals, watch them graze. I loved seeing the impalas running and jumping — it illustrated how brilliant the choreography in The Lion King musical really was, capturing the essence of the animals movements.

We also had a picnic lunch on the island, but almost as soon as we started eating, the rains came. We finished up in the truck. A monkey (not sure what kind) came up to the truck to retrieve a chip one of the boys dropped. He then scampered up a tree — but J14 got decent pictures of him.

As you can probably tell, I’ve been amazed at the birds we’ve seen here. The pelicans in the pictures don’t look as tall as they did in person — they were almost the size of C10 and R12! Besides the Great White Pelican, we also saw Yellow-Billed Storks and numerous other smaller, faster birds which I haven’t identified yet.

Probably the most exciting animals we saw, however, were the four baby giraffe. Our guide said that the youngest was 5 days old and the oldest was 2 months. We saw one mother giraffe with the babies, and in the distance another giraffe eating from the tall trees near the water.

This really was a fabulous family day, and a place we’ll be sure to bring friends and family who come visit. (hint, hint!)

For more pics, click here. We really, really need to get a better camera and lenses — Kenya is amazing!