Game Drive Number 1 – Kenya 2026, blog post #5

 We helped out at the school Monday all day and Tuesday just in the morning. My son and daughter-in-law arrived at the volunteer house around midnight Monday night / Tuesday morning. We headed back to the house from the school for lunch, hoping that they had slept long enough and were up and about. Only my son was, but that was okay; we didn’t have anything else to do that afternoon, except to sit around. And go out to eat at the Wattle House in Kikuyu, with our friend and her four kids. 

Wednesday morning, however, was another story. We weren’t out the door super early – I have no idea what time it was – but we were on our way to Amboseli National Park, so couldn’t dilly-dally all morning.

We arrived at Riverine Camp around 12:30 – I told you about that little camp last time. We settled in, had lunch, took a walk around, then laid around until 3ish, when we headed out for the late afternoon game drive.

Our animal count included: 

Male Ostrich

Vultures. I counted over 50 of them in this tree. 

Grant's Gazelle

Thomson's Gazelle

Grey Crowned Crane

Maasai Giraffe

Zebra

Hippo in a pond of water

Wildebeest. Along with the vulture, these animals are on the list of Five Ugliest Animals seen on Safari. We saw the other three another day, but can you guess what they are? 

Speaking of groups of Five. That first afternoon at Amboseli we only saw one of the Classic Big Five, the animals which at one time were the big game hunters prize and which are still the animals tourists on safari most want to see.  

Amboseli National Park is not only known for its large herds of elephants, but also for the Big Tuskers – male elephants who have lived long enough to have long, impressive tusks, sometimes reaching down to the ground. We were not fortunate enough to see one of them (there are less than a few dozen alive across Kenya), but the family which we did see was impressive enough. 

If you have the time, do some research on elephants. They are amazing creatures, very intelligent and caring towards other family members. We need to protect them and let them grow old. There are still poachers out there, killing elephants for their tusks. It makes me sick. In Amboseli, they are protected as much as possible, but the elephants are free to roam, leading to confrontations with humans. 

WWF is probably the most well-known conservation nonprofit, but you can sure look up others on-line. And I'll tell you about the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust on another post.