Some friends I made along the way...

and I have to photograph them all. I think I may have a problem....

I cannot begin to describe all the animals and birds that I have come across since arriving in Kenya, some I have never even seen before. The problem is I am photographing them from all angles which creates far too many photos and then I have the added dilemma of which ones to choose to post.

I couldn’t help posting the one above, I have taken so many selfies with this llama and I have to admit he is far more photogenic than I am and he knows how to pose!!

So, a few days ago I took a 5 hour drive out of Nairobi and stayed at the Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club. This is where we stayed after climbing Mount Kenya, but we just didn’t have enough time to enjoy the surroundings it offered so I was desperate to return. Another reason was that I felt a slight connection to the place.

You see, William Holden, the Hollywood actor, used to own the hotel in the 50s and as I mentioned in my previous post, he and my father used to hang out together. Now I don’t know how close their ‘hanging’ out was, whether they were just drinking buddies or great friends, or my dad just stalked him!!! No idea. I would like to think that they both spent days at the hotel, looking at Mount Kenya in the distance and talking into the early hours of the morning about animal conservation.

After he bought the hotel and the vast land surrounding it, William Holden set about populating the area around Mount Kenya with the endangered Bongo. Currently there are 90 Bongos in the area, they all have names and can all be identified by the Park Rangers. Bongo below!

In the Conservancy alongside the hotel, there is also the Common Eland, the largest antelope in the world,

and the rare Golden Zebra.

There are also giraffes, wildebeests, antelopes, llamas, buffaloes, wild boars and a plethora of birds that I cannot even begin to describe and more to the point, name.

Peacocks!

Impala.

There is also the Baby Animal Orphanage also next to the hotel which I was desperate to revisit. This is Olaf the Giraffe. Only 4 months old but still taller than me. He loved having his neck scratched!!

Speedy the tortoise that is over 100 years old.

Can’t forget the Marabou Storks though!!! They just walked about the hotel grounds like they owned it. Very regal and elegant and huge.

My favourite has to be the Colobus Monkey with their long white tails. They would also roam around the hotel and appear at breakfast time swiping anything left on the plate.

So that’s it, a selection of the animals that I have encountered recently. I really wanted to share the ones that are not so common, the ones that I have not seen or even heard of. They are simply stunning. I can see why my father turned into David Attenborough when the wildlife programmes came on TV!

I have to admit that I feel extremely lucky to be here and to able to see these animals for myself. My ‘needing to escape’ from everything has given me the opportunity to experience and see these amazing and wonderful array of animals and birds in real life and not through a television screen. I hope sharing them through my photos brings you an element of the experience and the journey that I am going through right now.

Apparently William Holden also loved taking lots of photos of animals. I wonder if he had a similar problem to me in having to choose which ones to share!!!!

Thank you for reading my Blog!!! Next stop the Kenyan coast.

---