Kenya Safari - Masai Mara, Amboseli, Lake Nakuru, Lake Bogoria, Lake Naivasha, Selenkay and Ol Kinyei.

[Safaridude]

I too enjoyed the fish eagle sequence. And that is one seriously huge lesser kudu.

[safaripics]

@@FlyTraveler really enjoying your trip report. Looking forward to the next instalment

[PCNW]

Good report and stunning photos. I think the Nikon 70-300 is the best bang for the buck they have. Welcome to ST.

[Kitsafari]

thank you for sharing your experience. my husband and i are starting to wonder if it we could do mobile safaris and your experience suggest that we can! so it'll be something to explore in the future, near future I hope!

 

Your eagle pix are gorgeous! love the sequence and that dip into the waters for the fish (a bit grainy but wat a good shot!).

[TonyQ]

Great report - I am really enjoying this. Brilliant photos of elephant - I love the photo of the two babies, one resting the trunk on the one in front!

The flamingo are also stunning!

[FlyTraveler]

Lovely Amboseli elephant pictures. Brought back wonderful memories from 3 years ago.

 

Thanks AKR1,

 

I was just disappointed with the overcast skies... really wanted to see and photograph wildlife with Kilimanjaro as a background, no matter how much of a cliche this pictures have become... @everyone - has any of you taken photos like this in Amboseli?

[FlyTraveler]

I too enjoyed the fish eagle sequence. And that is one seriously huge lesser kudu.

 

Thanks Safaridude, the eagle sequence photos are not technically perfect at all, but still interesting. I like the lesser kudu photos, as well (have several of them, but they are similar, that's why I posted one). I had a very short glance through your reports and find them very interesting (the one of the warnings about travel disaster is particularly useful), will read in detail when I find time

[FlyTraveler]

@@FlyTraveler really enjoying your trip report. Looking forward to the next instalment

 

Thanks safaripics, I did like the photos on your blog, I would guess that you do not publish much photos here in order to keep them for your websites :)

[FlyTraveler]

Good report and stunning photos. I think the Nikon 70-300 is the best bang for the buck they have. Welcome to ST.

 

Hi PCNW and thanks for the good words. I envy your photo equipment (D4, D800 bodies), your opinion on the new Nikon 80-400 mm + 1.4 TC is a great feedback. IMO both 70-300 mm VR and the new 80-400 mm VR II are "the best bang for the buck", just in different price ranges. At different IQ and price levels both lenses are certain compromise compared to the primes, but the versatility, size and weight factors are also an issue... I have done lots of travel photography before, but not on safari and not with telephoto lenses, so 24-70 f:2.8 was in most cases the only lens I needed to carry with me. With the African safari trip I suddenly faced the telephoto problem and the idea of buying more expensive lens just for one safari did not look very appealing, so I had to choose between the cheap 70-300 VR and the pro 70-200 f:2.8, which would also find fare use when not on a safari. Tested both and decided to go with the budget one...

 

I loved your report on the Northern Tanzania safari, the photos are just amazing (the river crossings, the zebras, the cheetah hunt, the silhuette of the lioness and many others), had just a very quick glimpse on your Botswana report (very interesting to me, since we are planning to go there in 2014), the biggest problem I have with this site is time... Will comment on your trip reports rather than here... Too bad we can not comment on individual photos like on Facebook.

[Game Warden]

You can always quote the photo into your post and then comment, or visit the member's albums in the gallery to comment on individual pics. (If that member has albums here.)

[JohnR]

I was just disappointed with the overcast skies... really wanted to see and photograph wildlife with Kilimanjaro as a background, no matter how much of a cliche this pictures have become... @everyone - has any of you taken photos like this in Amboseli?

 

@FlyTraveler When we arrived in Selenkay they said that the skies had been cloudy and no-one had seen Kili for a month. We were lucky and got a few glimpses of the peak through the clouds but that was it

 

[FlyTraveler]

thank you for sharing your experience. my husband and i are starting to wonder if it we could do mobile safaris and your experience suggest that we can! so it'll be something to explore in the future, near future I hope!

 

Your eagle pix are gorgeous! love the sequence and that dip into the waters for the fish (a bit grainy but wat a good shot!).

Hi Kitsafari, thanks for the comments. Yes, our experience with Gamewatchers adventure camps was at kind of a mobile safari comfort level (we had private flush toilets and bush showers, though) plus there was electrical power for recharging camera batteries and laptops available.

 

I saw your post regarding planning a safari in Botswana in May, we are planning a South Africa and Botswana safari in May - beginning of June as well and I had a hard time figuring out how to get a good inner delta experience without breaking the bank at the end of May when the flood most likely will be at a very early stage. I am about to pay the deposit actually (today or tomorrow), so kind of late seeking an advice here. Hesitated a lot about a mobile safari, finally ended up with 2 nights stay in Kasane (Chobe river), an Air Botswana flight Kasane - Maun, 1 night in Maun, 2 nights wet camp (Pelo Camp - Wilderness Safaris, located in Jao plains area and close to the panhandle - almost guaranteed water levels at the end of May) and 3 nights at Sango camp ( located between Moremi NP and Khwai area and offering game drives in both the park and the community concession).

[FlyTraveler]

 

I was just disappointed with the overcast skies... really wanted to see and photograph wildlife with Kilimanjaro as a background, no matter how much of a cliche this pictures have become... @everyone - has any of you taken photos like this in Amboseli?

 

@FlyTraveler When we arrived in Selenkay they said that the skies had been cloudy and no-one had seen Kili for a month. We were lucky and got a few glimpses of the peak through the clouds but that was it

 

 

 

This is great!! Good for you! This adds completely different perspective to Amboseli NP...

[FlyTraveler]

Great report - I am really enjoying this. Brilliant photos of elephant - I love the photo of the two babies, one resting the trunk on the one in front!

The flamingo are also stunning!

 

Thanks TonyQ, such good comments have even more impact when coming from you... I do regard your SLNP report and photos as a reference for writing and photography plus the safari experience itself, of course...

[AKR1]

 

 

 

 

I was just disappointed with the overcast skies... really wanted to see and photograph wildlife with Kilimanjaro as a background, no matter how much of a cliche this pictures have become... @everyone - has any of you taken photos like this in Amboseli?

@FlyTraveler When we arrived in Selenkay they said that the skies had been cloudy and no-one had seen Kili for a month. We were lucky and got a few glimpses of the peak through the clouds but that was it

 

This is great!! Good for you! This adds completely

 

different perspective to Amboseli NP...

@@FlyTraveler

Check out the Amboseli thread to see some good pictures of Killi in all her glory. Maybe GW can put the link here.

[AKR1]

 

 

 

 

I was just disappointed with the overcast skies... really wanted to see and photograph wildlife with Kilimanjaro as a background, no matter how much of a cliche this pictures have become... @everyone - has any of you taken photos like this in Amboseli?

@FlyTraveler When we arrived in Selenkay they said that the skies had been cloudy and no-one had seen Kili for a month. We were lucky and got a few glimpses of the peak through the clouds but that was it

 

This is great!! Good for you! This adds completely

 

different perspective to Amboseli NP...

@@FlyTraveler

Check out the Amboseli thread to see some good pictures of Killi in all her glory. Maybe GW can put the link here.

[FlyTraveler]

August 05 and August 07, 2013 Ol Kinyei private conservancy

 

The idea behind the Ol Kinyei conservancy is exactly the same as in Selenkay, the main difference is that Ol Kinyei is in the Masai Mara eco system and there are quite a few other conservancies around – Naboisho, Olare Orok, the newest one Olare Motorogi (which belongs to Richard Branson) and others. The camp set up, staff, quality of guiding were at least as good as in the Selenkay camp. Here there was a fence around the sleeping quarter of the camp (where the dome tents were located) which gave me the hint that we will finally see predators here.

 

I believe that it will be useful for people who have not been there or at least not familiar with the region to share some details regarding this conservancy, since I have been hesitating whether to spend time in central Mara after Ol Kinyei or not with my primary concern being seeing the annual migration and possibly river crossings. While on the phone with the Gamewatchers’ representative I asked him to what extend we will be able to experience the migration in Ol Kinyei and he said that there are no fences between the conservancies and the Mara and herds of wildebeest and zebras will be all over the place, including Ol Kinyei. I did notice, though that Ol Kinyei did not border Masai Mara and was kind of far from the gate, left alone the central part of the reserve and Mara River.

 

That’s why I decided to book 3 extra nights in a camp in Central Mara which turned out to be the best kept Masai Mara secret, but more on this later. One can not feel the migration at all in Ol Kinyei, there are resident wildebeest and zebras, but nothing at the magnitude of millions of migrating animals like in Mara. Although a full day game drive in Masai Mara was included in the Gamewatchers package (and we added another one), I still believe that in order to experience the reserve one must also stay minimum of two days (we stayed three) at a camp or lodge within Mara, preferably in the central part where almost everything of interest is within 30 minutes drive.

 

Having said that I would not underestimate at all the scenic beauty and the wildlife experience in Ol Kinyei. The terrain is mostly bushy with some tree forests and also some limited open planes (where we saw cheetahs). Great variety of game - resident lion pride with two cubs (watched them for hours), three resident cheetah brothers, lots of topi, eland, impala antelopes, Grant’s and Thomson gazelles, giraffes, apparently there were elephants (judging by the broken trees), but we could not see any, dik diks, all sorts of birds etc.

 

We spent 2 full days in Ol Kinyei (Aug. 05 and Aug. 07) plus two full days in Masai Mara with Gamewatchers while staying in their adventure camp (for our last day there we had a choice between a full day in Mara or full day in Ol Kinyei). The advantages of the conservancy were also quite obvious – a very, very few Porini camps only vehicles, night drives and unlimited off-road driving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[africapurohit]

Great cheetah action shots!

[Treepol]

Really enjoying this TR and the wonderful photos, thanks for sharing.

 

The sequence of the fish eagle and that of the flamingos are particularly eye-catching.

 

Your plans for Botswana sound interesting - which company are you travelling with?

[Game Warden]

Trip planning subforum please for the Bots plans.

[maranathatoursug]

Briliant photos. Kenya is one of the most beautiful countries in the world with some of the world's most extraordinary wildlife in areas such as the Masai Mara Game Reserve.

[FlyTraveler]

Really enjoying this TR and the wonderful photos, thanks for sharing.

 

The sequence of the fish eagle and that of the flamingos are particularly eye-catching.

 

Your plans for Botswana sound interesting - which company are you travelling with?

 

Hi Treepol, Thanks for the good comments. For the Botswana plans I placed a very detailed post at http://safaritalk.net/topic/11533-south-africa-and-botswana-safari-plus-victoria-falls/

[twaffle]

Fantastic action in your Mara photos, well done. Looking forward to the next instalment.

[Sangeeta]

What a good read this is! I was at Ol Kinyei in April this year and saw those same cubs - they were much smaller then and nice to see them growing.

[Safari Cal]

Really enjoying your report, your photos really bring it to life, they're fantastic. Looks like the Mara really delivered during your stay