I've just returned from a 2-week safari in Kenya and Tanzania, East Africa. It was amazing. I took this picture of a female lion attacking a full-grown zebra in the Serengeti. The lacerations on the zebra's haunches are from the lion's claws. She was very skilled and the zebra did not escape. I was happy to be standing safely in the Land Cruiser roughly 50 feet away. Our guide, Omar, did an excellent job of tracking the lion and positioning the vehicle near the zebra where he suspected she would attack. It was one of the highlights of the trip.
The safari was an organized tour that Nicole invited me to join, so I accompanied her. It was a fairly face-paced itinerary. We stayed in a different lodge or camp almost every night. The basic trek was: Nairobi, Mount Kenya, Sweetwaters, Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara, Amboseli, Ngorongoro Crater, Olduvai Gorge, Serengeti, and Tarangire. We also visited a coffee and tea plantation, a yarn spinning and weaving facility, Karen Blixen's estate (from Out of Africa), and a giraffe shelter called Giraffe Manor.
The big highlights of the trip for me were: watching two white rhinos sparring near Lake Nakuru (see picture below), a hot-air balloon ride over the plains of the Masai Mara at the crack of dawn followed by a champaign breakfast, the lion kill described above, visiting a primitive tribal village where the Masai people still live traditional lives, and seeing a mother cheetah leave her cubs to chase a gazelle at blindingly fast speeds.
The main downside to the trip was the long, dusty, insanely bumpy roads. With the aggressive itinerary, we were always on the go and spent a long time in the truck getting jostled and catapulted around. By the end of the day there was a layer of dirt over pretty much everything -- clothes, hair, face, luggage, binoculars, camera. It was a fair price to pay, however, for the opportunity to witness such a wide array of wildlife in such a diverse and naturally functioning ecosystem.
