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Samburu - RS (inside tab)

Journaling on the back of Male Lion reads:

Just away from camp we ran into more elephants. They had some youngsters with them. I got close enough to use a 50 mm lens! Incredible! We moved closer to the Uaso Nyiro. Photographed some of the trees knocked down by elephants in the past. They sure can do a lot of damage. The sky darkened and soon a light rain developed. We ran into a female impala that had a two day old fawn. It was nursing, and the light was horrid for filming. 1/30th. I photographed it really by bracing the camera and not breathing as I clicked off the shots of this special event. Nice! In some scrub near the road was a group of one of my favotites to watch - Gerenuk. They are long-necked antelope. Actually the word gerenuk is Somali for "giraffe neck". They are real representative of Kenya's dry arid country. Actually, they look kind of strange with their disproportionate necks. The males have short, thick horns with a slight curve. The feed on the thorny acacia bushes and small trees. Many timesthey can be seen standing up on their hind legs, nibbling on the leaves. I believe they are the only antelope to do this. Its quite the sight. I saw at this placeon bush with five standing around it. As it remained cloudy, some sun broke through way out across in the Shaba area. The sun directed sunlight right down on Shaba Hill - Awesome Sight!! The whole area amazes me and I wish I could spend about ten years exploring it.

Journaling on the back of the Male Lion reads:

We headed over to Champagne Ridge looking for leopard. Just as the sun hit the horizon, Pat spotted a leopard walking out beneath a dead tree. Incredible camouflage! It was probably about 75 feet away, and this beautiful, spotted cat slowly walked through the dry scrub, muscles rippling, as it searched for prey. I fired off a volley of "shots", but didn't have enough light.

There is no end to the fascination in this area, it has to be a dream - there always seems to be something to look at and photograph. "Ninapenda sana Samburu"!! (I love Samburu very much).

Broke out of the starting gate at 6:10 a.m. armed with a tremendous attitude and 3 Nikons loaded. A little too early to shoot though, not enough light. We came across a herd of grevy zebta, grant gazelle and more oryx. I love those zebra. We went back to the river area, and saw a huge troop of baboons running along the shore, right past us. There must have been 100 or more. They were headed for the lodge, looking for food. At one point a female stopped, a big male ran right up to her and bag! - They mated in seconds. Got off a quick shot and I sure hope I caught it, never had time to really focus or check the light. Across the river we saw some gerenuks. About 7 of them. A young male went up to an older one and they started to duel. There were some horn locks, pushing and shoving, and I got it all on film. I finally gave in and went to photograph the local show of Samburu dancers. I know its a "tourist" thing, but I needed "some" pictures of thoese people and that was the only way. I took a lot with slide and video. I got 100 shillings worth.