Another short weekend at Kapiti, and because the lions have moved onto the top of the hill, the other wildstock has moved down onto the plains. We went looking for them, but the track was peppered with HUGE holes, apparently made by aardvarks.

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This week end’s escape - the Nairobi National Park, specifically the pens of animals (they called the area a ’safari walk’) requiring ’special’ treatment: I don’t know what they were all there for, but some needed vet attention, and some were just fit to be re-released ….

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Tsavo is a National Park about 200 km to the east of Nairobi. It is famous as the place where man eating lions killed about 100 labourers and locals when the railway was being built through this area. With the civil unrest in Kenya, the tourist trade has dwindled seriously, and we had to share the park with only a few others. We stayed at Kapiti overnight, on the way:

We travelled in a group of three cars (and at least two tow ropes as insurance), for easy consultation of maps:

Shortly after we entered the park, Miika’s car had a close encounter with an surprised elephant, and we all thought there was going to be ‘an incident,’ and rushed into our cars before photos were taken (it was ‘t - h - a - t’ big …). So no photos of that event.

One of the most famous parts of Tsavo is the springs, that gush out megalitres (= a lot, for you non-Aussies) of water, enough to supply many large coastal towns such as Mombasa.

The water flows out crystal clear. Ilma (who is about 99 month pregnant) really wanted to have a cool dip in the water, but hippos had got there first.

Tsavo West has many dormant volcanoes, and no eruptions for the last 400 years

Overnight accommodation was in ‘bandas’ - self catered cottages with bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. Simple but excellent.

as expected / hoped, there were many sorts of wildlife: an eagle about to be disturbed from his breakfast

Mother and baby

Monkeys

And lots of giraffes, which I can’t stop photographing … but why is it they only show their right profiles?

Giraffe crossing between Miika’s and Steve’s car:

stream crossing

A bird family:

Elephant casing Steve’s car

Delia said I should stop annoying the elephant with my camera clicking.

I stopped until the distance between him and us had increased

Maybe the drop in tourist numbers has meant that elephants are not used to sharing their park?

OK, so a different route around the campus, around the beautifully maintained gardens:
A view from some of the internal stairs in the labs:

some of Hannah’s best friends in the solar heated pool:

A covered cloister between offices - much needed during the rainy season:

The campus is built into the side of a hill, so buildings nestle into the landscape.

More of the gardens in the central office area:

Many of the international staff live on site, so we have lots of children growing up around us.

close up of Tamu and Hannah playing chasey: I haven’t got the action shots sorted out yet!

Two of the campus babies:

And at the other end of the age-scale, TC takes a nap in the afternoon shade, as one should if one is a cat aged about 17 years.

The front playground, with the Ubiquitous Hyper-Hannah