Report 1.
Tuesday Oct 31, 2006. Out of San Jose.
San Jose International Airport. Sharon's waiting to load up for our 6:40 am flight to Chicago, then the second leg to London.
Wednesday night, November 1, 2006. In-flight live map near end of London-to-Nairobi leg. Is that AFRICA? Pinch me.
Thursday, November 2, 2006. All Day with Gacheri.
Sharon and I got up early and did some birding on the hotel grounds.
Nairobi
rush-hour traffic from our hotel room balcony.
We also did a little when we were touring the countryside with Gacheri.
Daughter Tara's friend Gacheri, who could well be President of Kenya someday. Just my opinion. A wonderful lady, in tune with her country. Will run for parliament again next year. Finished highest among new candidates last election. She and Tara call each other 'sister' now. They met at a global women's leadership conference at Santa Clara University. Everywhere we went in the countryside and villages around Gacheri's family home, people came up to greet her. They clearly love and respect her. Alcoholism is rampant there, and Gacheri asked Sharon to talk to a couple of groups, which she did.
Sharon jumped at the loose invitation that it was ok to bring candy and small toys for the children. These are school kids near where Gacheri went as a child. They were delightful.
Some of these kids are great-grandchildren to an old woman who lives in this dwelling. The elderly woman's daughter is on the faculty of Santa Clara University, and is a highly respected professor of religious studies of some kind. Remarkable story...
... and here is the elderly woman. Grandmother in Kikuyan is "sho-sho". As in, "That's my sho-sho."
These kids, unbelievably, all sleep in three rooms of a shack of an orphanage compound -- no electricity, no running water, no heat, no windows, you can see through many cracks in each wall. They sang us a song, designed to teach them to learn some English words. Made my heart hurt.
BIRDS FOR TODAY:
Total Trip Birds Seen: 18
Of those, Total Life Birds Seen: 17
Best Birds of the Day: Variable Sunbird, Bronze Sunbird, Common Scimitarbill,
Speckled Mousebird.
Friday, November 3, 2006. All Day in Nairobi National Park
Huge herd
of Cape Buffalo from an overlook.
I'd say we
saw at least 1000 zebra this day.
They like
the road too.
So do the
warthogs, which are actually grey, but root around in red dirt and mud.
Closeup of
a Cape Buffalo. The most dangerous animal in Africa.
Baby Giraffe.
A brother or sister was just out of this shot, and mom was off to the right,
waiting and watching. And eating, of course. Leaves from high in a tree. This
is a Masai Giraffe.
An Eland.
I took this
shot standing in our van, a twin of the white one on the left, with the popup
top. We get out of the van only a couple of times during the day -- at designated
safe areas, with toilets and picnic facilities. There may be lions or cape buffalo
around.
A Beautiful
Common Waterbuck..
Just to prove
we did actually see some birds. This is a beautiful Yellow-billed Stork, with
the back of another one visible just to the left, over the rise. You can see
that Nairobi NP is close to civilization. It's only about a twenty minute drive
from our hotel, the Panafric.
A Spotted
Hyena, also called Laughing Hyena.
Pace is hectic. Breakfast at 6, take off at 6:45, get back to Nairobi about 7 pm, dinner in a restaurant, back to hotel at 8 pm, bird review till 9 pm or so.
TODAY'S TOTALS
Trip Birds Seen Today (First Time on the Trip): 153
Total Trip Birds to Date: 171
Life Birds Seen Today: 116
Total Life Birds to Date: 133
Best Birds of the Day: Spot-flanked Barbet, Hartlaub's Bustard, Red-cheeked Cordon-Bleu, Martial Eagle, African Finfoot, Purple Grenadier (spotted and ID'd for the group by Sharon!), Giant Kingfisher, Rosy-throated Longclaw, Blue-naped Mousebird, Kittlitz's Plover, Black-backed puffback, Yellow-necked Spurfowl, Hartlaub's Turaco, Zebra Waxbill, Red-collared Widowbird.