Wild Animals in the Wild: Cresent Island, Naivasha

A near perfect day.......

One of the 2 boats ferrying our group to Crescent Island in Lake Naivasha

Many of the world's cut Roses come from the shores of this lake where kilometers of greenhouses crowd the lake shore for access to the water. This I learned from my father actually - so it turns out he does know a few things about the world - maybe I should have listened more closely :)

Sharing the water with the greenhouses are the many Hippo's grazing or swimming happily about. Considered one of the most dangerous animals - they move slower in the water so you can get up for a pretty close look. They're bigger than expected and cute in their "peaceful" state.

 The two in the water seemed unconcerned by our boat and clicking cameras. Of course they could actually care less happily living in what must be a paradise for Hippos.The Hippos directly below are grazing in a marshy area so thought to be a safe distance from the boat.

Hey Hilda - have you seen my glasses?

Pictured above is a great example of why you read the memos that cross your desk : Wildebeest Dance Party...no Zebras please!! You can see one of the  rose growing operation on the shore to the left.

In one of the final scenes from the movie "Out of Africa", the plane takes off and the runway where that was filmed is right behind the Wildebeest pictured below. 

Heeeeeeeeyyyyyy - that's not a Wildebeest.....

Crescent Island is home to many Dik Dik's  (a small deer-like fella) Impala, Thompson gazelles, Wildebeest, Fish Eagles and my favorite, Giraffes. On this island most of the dangerous animals are absent so you can wander about freely among the animals. We were a group of about 18 - and while generally a noisy talkative bunch, all were pretty quiet as we wandered along. It was a surreal experience. You can't get too close to the various herds as they manage their human/wild animal comfort zones pretty diligently. I tried to sneak closer on a few occasions but they were having none of it.

Giraffes on the other hand have no personal bubble whatsoever. You can walk right up to them and of course I did just that. For 15 minutes or so we walked through the brush and trees (eyes peeled for snakes of course -I hate those fuckers) with a group of about 10 long-legged fellas. Later we walked across the plain for another half hour enjoying the relaxed easy relationship with these magnificent animals. Beautiful and comical all at once - as life should be :)

Likely family members, there were clear differences in size. The Bull Male was obvious, towering above in a stately no bullshit manner - he was clearly in charge.

There were smaller giraffes in the group as well but all moving in a beautiful graceful rhythm that reminded me of dancers rather than wild animals.

In a moment that touched my heart and will likely stay with me forever, we spotted a young giraffe thought to be only days old. Like an unruly 2 year old child, it ran around playfully until suddenly tripped over it's new gangly legs and ended up in a heap on the dry grass. Pictured below are 5 giraffes that came over to see if all was OK. If you look closely you can see it's little feeties sticking up.

I told you so Jr. - no running around on the Savannah...you'll trip and fall and bump your funny looking head.

We finished the day at the Sopa Lodge drinking cold beer (Tusker Malt in the green bottle not the brown one) and swimming in the massive outdoor pool. The field surrounding the lodge sprinkled with these mysterious, wonderful and beautiful wild animals. A near perfect day.....

Thanks for reading my blog!!  Layno