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solo male Maasai giraffe towers above migration herd
It's typical for a male Maasai giraffe to be solo until mating time - on safari at the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya
The Maasai giraffe is distinguished by jagged and irregular spots on its body. Its geographic range includes various parts of central, eastern, and southern Africa. It is the largest-bodied giraffe species, making it the tallest land animal on Earth. Its long and muscular tongue, which can be up to 50 centimeters in length, is prehensile and allows it to grab leaves from tall trees that are inaccessible to other animals. The tongues darker pigment is believed to function as a natural sunscreen and prevent sunburn. - animalia.bio/masai-giraffe
Tips from my vacation: I booked a 2-week stay in Kenya at The Safari Club's (TSC) 4 lodges and I was very disappointed. TSC describes itself as 'luxury' and charges a lot but gives you very little in return. Staying with them isn't worth their ridiculous price - in 2 of the 4 lodges the food wasn't luxury - not even good. In another 2 of the 4, the locations were awful with long drive times to the action. Their lodge rooms are big and look really posh, but it's just style over substance - there's a lot of issues with the basics -- besides the overcooked, poorly seasoned and/or boring and repetitive food... I encountered: crappy jeeps with stuck windows, $7 bottles of disgusting wine, broken furniture in room... they failed to replace used towels (which are thread-bare and useless), and they couldn't accommodate simple drink preferences and/or dietary requests, and service and amenities overall are horrible.
My suggestions instead: I highly recommend Kicheche camps instead of TSC's. See my 2021 videos for more reviews and wildlife, but hands down, Kicheche is the BEST safari company in Kenya! Staying at Kicheche's Laikipia Ol Pejeta and Valley Camp, Naboisho Conservancy Maasai Mara is my favorite safari experience of all time! Other companies (like the horrible TSC and Asilia) claim ‘luxury’ experiences, Kicheche actually delivers! The lodging, food, service, location, and animal diversity and density are all amazing and make Kicheche camps your best investment.
Reviews of each TSC lodge:
The Giraffe Manor in Nairobi: this lodge's shtick is 'feeding the giraffes' at tea and breakfast which draws a lot of people but I was underwhelmed with the company overall. This place is good for 1 night for the Grams but the catch is, in order to stay here you have to book at one of their other lodges. Food was good, but not a lot going for it besides 'feeding the giraffe' which you can do for much less at the 'Giraffe Center' next door. The TSC says they do 'good work', but I'd rather spend my money at lodges that deliver quality like Kicheche, and donate my money directly to causes (not as a ridiculous high fee to stay at TSC's sub-par non-luxury lodges).
Sasaab in Samburu: horrible food, bad location and lodge service. It's beautiful, but it's style over substance. Plus, it's very far, on a very bumpy road from the main attraction, Samburu NR. And unlike other safari companies who offer an AM and PM safari, Sasaab only offers an AM safari because they're too lazy to drive back in the PM and instead push non-safari snooze-fest activities. Staying closer or on Samburu NR is clearly the best choice if you're there for safaris. Even if you're not going for the safaris, Sasaab Lodge is not worth the ridiculous price - the food's not luxury, it's poorly cooked and one note, and all the guests were complaining about it and the horrible service; and the private plunge pool is too cold to ever enjoy. If you still decide to go despite all that, I do recommend their guide Gabriel who spotted all 'Special 5' on one AM drive, he's an elephant whisperer, and cooks the best field breakfast I've ever had. They should make him the Lodge Chef :)
Solio Lodge in Laikipia: food's not luxury, not even good. Just like Sasaab, it's style over substance - the rooms are big and look nice, but a lot of issues with the basics and bad service. And their jeeps are crappy and the windows get stuck. Go for the day with another company, lunch there's okay (vegetarian only, if you want meat you have to special request it-but they screwed up grilled chicken, so don't bother). And go when it's been wet for a while, otherwise the rhinos are sparse.
Sala’s Camp in the Maasai Mara: much better food and service here, but the location's not great - very far (1+ hr) from the wildebeest crossing. Guides didn't like driving all the way out there every day to wait, and told me 'it wasn't going to happen today' on 3 of the 4 days I was there - which per another guest, it did do - so I missed out seeing it when that was my main goal for this location.
Переглядів: 37

Відео

Rongai lion pride - part 2 - lionesses are intensely focused on something
Переглядів 1223 години тому
Rongai lion pride hanging out in the bush while keeping an eye on the wildebeest migration - on safari at Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya "While the basic social unit for female lions is a pride, the story is a little more complicated for males. Young male lions are typically kicked out of their birth pride around adolescence, when it becomes clear to the adult male that the younger male wi...
lioness up a tree, mate hanging out at the base - part 4 - female gets up
Переглядів 422 години тому
a lioness is up a tree, while her mate waits at the base of the tree. They're probably in between mating sessions. I was blown away by all the lions hanging out in trees in this area - never seen anything like it before. My guide said during the green season, they climb up in the trees to get a better breeze and get away from all the flies - on safari at central Serengeti NP, Tanzania Love is i...
grey-breasted spurfowl mates - part 12 - male stands guard as female forages
Переглядів 272 години тому
grey-breasted spurfowl (aka francolin) pair preening in a tree - on safari at southern Serengeti NP, Tanzania "...found in fairly dry thorn savanna, woodland, and thickets, usually in pairs or small groups. Similar to Red-necked Francolin, but there is little overlap in range, and separated by the brown legs and many plumage details. Also similar to Yellow-necked Francolin, but easily separated...
white rhino herd - part 11 - social grazers
Переглядів 334 години тому
The white rhino is the most social of all rhino species and will graze and nap together. It's also the only grazer among the five rhino species, feeding almost exclusively on short grasses - on safari at Solio Ranch/Game Reserve, Kenya. "The African White rhino derives its name from the Afrikaans word wyd/weit, which translates to wide, and refers to the rhino’s broad, square-lipped mouth. It i...
baboon troop by the river - part 9 - baboon cleaning station
Переглядів 414 години тому
A good-sized baboon troop with a lot of babies by the river - on safari at Selinda Reserve, Botswana ua-cam.com/video/vlwsPHL7W8Y/v-deo.html two babies play around mum "The female will be pregnant for 6 months and give birth to one, very rarely two, youngsters. A baby baboon is called an infant and is helpless at birth. The eyes are open however, and the infant is well furred. The newborn baboo...
mega-herd converging around a hyena kill - part 20 - big clan still feasting
Переглядів 1867 годин тому
This is the scene a bit after after the ua-cam.com/video/d2vdCOh9O60/v-deo.html takedown. This fresh hyena kill was in the middle of a confluence of so many small wildebeest herds galloping in from all directions to form a mind-blowing mega-herd ua-cam.com/video/1iM6PfVjiv0/v-deo.html. You can see some of the herd swaying from the path as if they're trying to decide a better way around the hyen...
brown kiwi/tokoeka night walk - three different sightings
Переглядів 217 годин тому
This night walk to search for wild brown kiwi/tokoeka was a unique experience. We were lucky and spotted three that night - hiking on Stewart Island/Rakiura, South Island/Te Waipounamu, New Zealand/Aotearoa male (smaller) 0:00 female (larger) 3:06 juvenile (sex unkn) 11:39 guide making a kiwi call 14:42 real calls: savethekiwi.nz/about-kiwi/kiwi-facts/kiwi-calls juvenile running 15:33 "Because ...
the blond lion - part 17 - gorgeous
Переглядів 839 годин тому
We happened on this blond lion snoozing alone in the grass - occasionally eyeing the wildebeest herd in the distance as sparrows swoop around him ua-cam.com/video/uC_3_S1YZYc/v-deo.html Lionesses prefer darker manes - he's got some dark patches coming in...he might not be alone for long. On safari at southern Serengeti NP, Tanzania Lion 'manes vary in color from almost white to deep black and i...
zebra at waterhole - part 7 - fluffy baby has the zoomies, stomps and races around
Переглядів 2939 годин тому
A baby zebra at the waterhole has the zoomies, stomps and races around - on safari at southern Serengeti NP, Tanzania ua-cam.com/video/5ublPg8cdgM/v-deo.html mom enjoys a sand bath and baby checks out the water ua-cam.com/video/jVvdgCGp3iM/v-deo.html baby nuzzles mama ua-cam.com/video/4ShTDZWCr0o/v-deo.html baby making ripples ua-cam.com/video/OUgYnuaWRlo/v-deo.html baby nursing ua-cam.com/vide...
wildebeest mini-crossing - part 7 - last of the herd... ...herons fly in
Переглядів 18612 годин тому
My first wildebeest crossing - albeit a mini-crossing of a stream ua-cam.com/video/2hMBxMiRPcg/v-deo.html and not the chasm-cliffed Mara River. I've been to the Mara twice ua-cam.com/video/pGIP2GmH380/v-deo.html and we missed seeing a crossing both times, so this is the best I got - had to laugh... ua-cam.com/video/7nG94mMP8eE/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/FmVE06rjbf0/v-deo.html - on safari at so...
male lion relaxed in tree - part 4 - gets comfortable
Переглядів 8712 годин тому
this male lion looked so relaxed in the tree, legs dangling... I was blown away by all the lions hanging out in trees in this area - never seen anything like it before. My guide said during the green season, they climb up in the trees to get a better breeze and get away from all the flies - on safari at central Serengeti NP, Tanzania The next day, was even better - an entire lion pride with cub...
giraffe herd at a waterhole - part 7 - family joins big bull to eat
Переглядів 7814 годин тому
This Southern giraffe herd was surprisingly relaxed around the waterhole ua-cam.com/video/woXvyVvUt0c/v-deo.html and had a lot of cute calves. My guide said the older ones are 5-6months, and the tiny one about a 1week old! you can still see its umbilical cord - on safari at Okavango Delta, Botswana ua-cam.com/video/UGvl5g57UE0/v-deo.html full version ua-cam.com/video/3iScJueEBQQ/v-deo.html a li...
pair of lion pride males - part 19 - alpha snoozes in the shade
Переглядів 7314 годин тому
An extremely relaxed alpha pride male stops for a drink at a wet spot in the marsh ua-cam.com/video/vmpOVzNzokM/v-deo.html then strolls over to our jeep to use it for a bit of shade ua-cam.com/video/mdn_tGk_Rm8/v-deo.html - on safari at Selinda Reserve, Botswana Eventually, his #-2, beta, joins him and they relax before their evening prowl. As the sun sets, the alpha pride male struts off into ...
four days on a lion kill - day 1 - 3 - mama lioness trying to rest between meals
Переглядів 18716 годин тому
On my first day at Ol Pej, we stumbled onto a fresh lion kill - an African buffalo! - which is a pretty impressive takedown by three lionesses. We spent four days essentially camping out for hours to see how things unfolded. This was a beautiful immersive experience and an amazing insight into animal behavior around a lion kill. On safari with Kicheche Laikipia Camp (KLC), Ol Pejeta Conservancy...
yellow-throated sandgrouse family - part 1 - dad preens as mum pecks for breakfast
Переглядів 6016 годин тому
yellow-throated sandgrouse family - part 1 - dad preens as mum pecks for breakfast
lioness's kill - part 51 - shifts the kill
Переглядів 43119 годин тому
lioness's kill - part 51 - shifts the kill
giraffe baby with mum - part 5 - mum's walked away! baby doesn't realize he's alone
Переглядів 8719 годин тому
giraffe baby with mum - part 5 - mum's walked away! baby doesn't realize he's alone
eland and the hyena clan - part 10 - hyena regroup
Переглядів 1721 годину тому
eland and the hyena clan - part 10 - hyena regroup
four days on a lion kill - day 3 - 44 - jackal wants his spot back; baby vulture waits for his turn
Переглядів 19321 годину тому
four days on a lion kill - day 3 - 44 - jackal wants his spot back; baby vulture waits for his turn
Lake Ndutu flamingos - part 3 - a lot of activity in the evening rain
Переглядів 23День тому
Lake Ndutu flamingos - part 3 - a lot of activity in the evening rain
lion cub on the kopjes - part 12 - poor little guy has a big tick on head
Переглядів 149День тому
lion cub on the kopjes - part 12 - poor little guy has a big tick on head
three-day old wildebeest babies - part 11 - calves join the cuddle puddle
Переглядів 497День тому
three-day old wildebeest babies - part 11 - calves join the cuddle puddle
African Safari - 2023-11 day 8 AM - Selinda Reserve, Botswana (full length)
Переглядів 421День тому
African Safari - 2023-11 day 8 AM - Selinda Reserve, Botswana (full length)
leopard babies! - part 9 - mum nurses cub as other stares out the opening
Переглядів 404День тому
leopard babies! - part 9 - mum nurses cub as other stares out the opening
bat-eared fox pair - part 1 - rare to see during the day
Переглядів 175День тому
bat-eared fox pair - part 1 - rare to see during the day
mohawk lion - part 2 - boldly struts through other males' territory
Переглядів 200День тому
mohawk lion - part 2 - boldly struts through other males' territory
lioness relaxed in tree - part 3 - checking us out
Переглядів 31День тому
lioness relaxed in tree - part 3 - checking us out
lilac-breasted roller - part 1 - swallows a big bug, 'burps'
Переглядів 38День тому
lilac-breasted roller - part 1 - swallows a big bug, 'burps'
southern ground hornbill - part 5 - skilled hunter
Переглядів 14114 днів тому
southern ground hornbill - part 5 - skilled hunter

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