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Perfectly safe Kenyan safaris start at $1,499âairfare included!
Wait a minute...wasnât it last year that a safari with mostly Westerners was robbed, the women raped and several men killed with machetes???Aug. 4 â The Great Rift Valley is the site where our distant ancestors first branched off from other apes (this is where the Leakeys and other anthropologists dig up all those bones of pre-homo sapiens hominoids). In its midst sits Lake Nakuru, famed for its flocks of flamingos, but also for spotting leopards, hippos, bats, colobus moneys, rock hyrax, hyenas, giraffes, otters, and waterbucks. And thatâs just one brief stop on a Kenyan safari. And, not to mention the brief stops to give local tribesmen "gifts" to grant safe passage... MOST KENYA tours spend just the first night in the bustling big city capital of Nairobi before heading out on safari. Though the itineraries differ, all hit the countryâs major national parks, including Lake Nakuru described above and the Samburu Game Reserve set up along the shady, watered patch of land in the hot, arid lowlands north of Mt. Kenyaâa singularly beautiful setting in which to peep at elephants, cheetahs, giraffes, oryx, vervet moneys, zebras, crocodiles, and leopards. Ahh, Nairobi...where the rule of law only goes so far as the bribe money you have to do anything. Not to mention the panhandlers, who upon spotting any Westerner converge on them like flies. And no trip to Kenya ever misses out on the justly famous Masai Mara Game Reserve, 646 square miles of grassland forming the Kenyan side of Tanzaniaâs Serengeti and the classic safari experience. This is where the wildebeest roam, in great migrations across the Serengeti Plains. But that impressive 1.5 million-strong herd of herbivores arenât the only critters to see in the park. Oh no, youâll see more when you see the local tribesmen critters approach your Safari, and they start talking friendly to your guides, you say, "My, they must know each other...how quaint!" Hopefully, youâll have more bribe money and the females wonât be attractive as to catch the local critterâs eye... This is real Wild Kingdom, circle-of-life stuff here. You might see a pride of lions take down a group of gazelles or zebras, giraffes moseying along mowing the tops of trees, hyenas cackling over a buffalo carcass, elephants lumbering, jackals slinking, ostriches holding their heads proudly above the sand, and a whole passel of other exotic African creatures: dik-dik, eland, steinbok, hartebeest, wart hog, rhino, hippo, kongoni, klipspringer...well, there are 2.5 million of them, so letâs just stop there. OK, who wants to sign up??? Posted by: TJ 2003-08-05 |
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