Kenya 2022

September 2022 marks the revisit of Kenya after last years incredible journey, hopefully the river crossings will happen this time.

Like previous year the journey started in Tsavo West National Park. The area consists of lava rock, springs, man-eaters ("nickname" for lions) and magical sunsets. Last time I didn't encounter any lions in Tsavo, so I was very happy to find lions on the second day of the visit. The lions were sleeping on the black lava rocks with in a close distance a leopard hiding from them in the grass.
The different environments is what makes Tsavo West a nice place to visit. Open plains, forests, red sand and an enormous lava flow of black rock.

After Tsavo the journey continuous to Amboseli National Park. It has been an extremely dry year, which shows whilst driving through the park. Every few hundred meters you can find a dead animal, which ranges from antilopes to elephants, due to lack of food. The drought brings a lot of dust which helps create colourful sunsets. A must visit in Amboseli is the lake Amboseli dry bed, where elephants roam this vast area and give nice photographic opportunities. Next to all the elephants there was an abundance of lions to photograph and as a bonus an hyena den. The hyena den was occupied with cute little pups of which the eyes had recently opened and their fur was still completely black.

The next destination is the Maasai Mara, but due to the long travel distance a 1 night stop is scheduled at Lake Naivasha. After arriving there close to the end of the afternoon, a boat trip made. The area is full of hippos and birds, with the highlight the capture of a fish by an African fish eagle.

The day after I arrived at the main destination of the trip, the Maasai Mara National Reserve. The visit to the Maasai Mara has been split into two sections. One in the main area and the other in the Mara Triangle Conservancy, to hopefully witness The Great Migration. During the game drives in the Mara there is no shortage of cat sightings. Lions can be found left and right with the occasional leopard and cheetah. Almost everyday Topi pride, a coalition of at that time 25 lions, was visited. A revisit of the previous Tano bora, a 5 cheetah coalition, was also on the list. This time there were only two of the 5 remaining which made for a renaming to mbili bora, meaning the magnificent two.

After spending a few days in the main area it was time to move into the Mara triangle Conservancy, which is a good location due to the short travel times to the mayor crossing point of the Mara river. Upon arrival in the area the lack of big herds is clearly visible, according to the guide a lot of the wildebeest have left to Tanzania again. In the days spend in the Mara Triangle there is little migrational action. At least there was a small crossing of some zebras of which one ended in the teeth of a crocodile. The 10 minute struggle of the zebra to keep it head above water was a spectacular, although sad, sighting. Luckily the Masaai Mara has more to offer than The Migration. During the stay I am treated with again multiple lion sightings, leopards and as icing on the cake a cheetah mother named Risasi which had 3 cubs. Due to the vulnerable status the cheetahs were followed the entire day by a group of rangers, preventing overcrowding by tourists.

- Images taken in Tsavo West National Park, Amboseli National Park, Lake Naivasha and Maasai Mara National Reserve and Mara Triangle Conservancy