(Author's Note: to counter the fact that we literally were doing a Safari in the middle of the city, I had to alter my photos so as to make you think we actually were back in simpler times).
Clearly, one comes to Kenya for the Safari: the early morning game drives; the large, tented encampments; watching the elephants, silhouetted by the setting sun, graze peacefully while you sip your Gin and Tonic to slyly ward of malaria. However, if one were on a budget or pressed for time, he or she also could go on Safari right in the center of downtown Nairobi.
As I've stated in a previous post, Nairobi has been a sleepy, backwater town for much of its short life. As a result, it is no stranger to African wildlife. The rapid expansion of Nairobi over the past 15-20 years could have pushed Kenya's biggest commodity, its wildlife, further and further out into the plains. But for whatever reason, and I think it was a brilliant one, the Kenyan government decided that the city should have a game preserve and it set aside 172 square kilometers of city land to house every animal any visitor to Kenya could ask for.
The size of the park truly is amazing and you're immediately taken by the fact that you have no idea how a park this size could remain so well camouflaged in such an urban environment. Upon entering the game area we were immediately greeted by a giraffe, which I thought was nice, then set off on a road to the center of the park, randomly selecting trails that we felt would lead us to the largest sampling of game.
Like every person on Safari, our main goal was to see lions. But, we warmed up with a few Grant's gazelles, zebra, ostrich, and kudu:
After about an hour of driving around, we were beginning to think our chances of actually seeing a lion were slim. Then, as the road curved around by a watering hole, we spotted a small pride getting some shade under a tree.
After that sighting, it seemed like there were lions everywhere. Seeing a lion in the wild was definitely a first for me and it seemed surreal to actually be that close to them. We also were lucky enough to spot a lioness with her cubs, a first for all of us,
As we started to drive away, we noticed a male lion in the distance. We were never able to get close to him, but he cut a magnificent profile on the horizon.
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