Wild Animal Park II

We really took a lot of pictures at the Wild Animal Park so this is rollout #2. When we arrived almost an hour late (I rode with Matt and Diana) it was really hot and I'm not talking about the weather. Sharyn and Jill were very gracious considering they waited outside the entrance for 54 minutes. The entrance is really nice at the park and beautifully landscaped.


The path into the Wild Animal Park is through an aviary along a man made creek and very shaded to simulate a rainforest. The birds are amazingly beautiful.


Some are so unusual you have to look twice and wonder what you are seeing.


Cute photo op after the aviary so I got Matt and Diana who were not to hot for this sappy picture - but I made them anyway.


There was a baby elephant that had an itch and used the railings to scratch it and it's a great thing that the railings are extremely heavy.


The elephants are a big draw for the park and get their own tetherball.


I just love the open spaces of the park and I think the animals probably find it an acceptable alternative to the wild.


Well the wild animal park even has what is called a wild ass enclosure and I'm not swearing - that is exactly what they are called.


The water hole and some water buffalo chatting around the water cooler.


How many sheep on the hillside - can you find them all.


This little girl walked into the show area to take a picture of her family.


But her camera was pointed at this little boy and his cool hairdo.


I wish this picture was more clear of the huge owl flying directly at me.


This hornbill looked unreal in this picture of him.


This is an African Fish Eagle being rather tame.


This is an African Fish Eagle in the wild.

The African Fish Eagle ( Haliaeetus vocifer) has a very distinctive call which is one of the distinctive sounds of Kenya (once heard it is never forgotten). It is particularly common in and around some of the Rift Valley lakes. Although, as its name suggests, it feeds extensively on fish, in some areas (eg Lake Bogoria) it preys on flamingos and other water birds. It is also known to eat carrion and is classified as a kleptoparasite ie it steals prey from other birds. Goliath Herons are known to lose a percentage of their catch to Fish Eagles.

The balloon ride was amazing to see and you can see it from everywhere in the park.


Matt got these great pictures while up in the Balloon. This one is of the huge open area called East Africa.


This on is of the new animal hospital and research facility.


This one is of an area you don't want to fall out of the balloon or get too close to the ground.



There were 8 sheep on the hill

Scrabble - not today

Quote of the Day

"Africa is a cruel country; it takes your heart and grinds it into powdered stone-and no one minds." ~ Elspeth Huxley, who died in 1997, is chiefly remembered for her lyrical and evocative memoir The Flame Trees of Thika (1959), which achieved worldwide fame for a second time when made into a television drama series in 1981.