Rhinos and Baboons

These photos are from my archives and were taken in Nakuru, Kenya, East Africa. 

The first photo  was taken from the north side of Lake Nakuru on a return trip to see the Menengai Crater.  You get a glorious view of the lake as you approach the city from the north.  I will try to share photos of my visit to the crater in another post. Today's post is about Lake Nakuru and the wildlife park situated there.

 

The next view of the lake is from Baboon Cliff Point in Lake Nakuru Provincial Park.  The point is situated on the western side of Lake Nakuru and the views from the top are fantastic.  It's one of my favourite spots in the park.  The name derives from the fact that so many baboons are living in this particular area of the park.

I'm only sharing two of the photos of the baboons. There were so many baboons and they are quite mischievous. They will enter your car and take things if you are not keeping a close watch.  The monkeys do the same.

Here you can see baboons climbing all over the parked cars.

The rhinos in the next two photos were an awesome site. These rhinos are called black rhinos though the colour can range from brown to grey.  The World Wildlife Fund for Nature Kenya  has been working with the government and other organizations and people of goodwill, to save the black rhinos from poaching and loss of habitat and so the population has more than doubled over the past 25 years.  You can read more about black rhino conservation needs and efforts here. Sadl, the Northern White Rhino is virtually extinct. Just over a year ago, Kenya harvested the eggs of the two last white female rhinos in the northern part of the country.  They are hoping to fertilize them with the sperm of the last male white rhino that died in Sudan in March 2018.  You can read more about white rhinos here.

I took a little time to see many wild animals both in zoos and in their natural habitat while I've been on missions trips to the very poor in Kenya.  I feel so very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see many of these wonderful creatures in their natural habitat.  My hope is that through the good will and good work of people in Kenya and around the globe, these majestic creatures will not go extinct while we can still do something to save them. The largest threats to their survival are poaching and loss of habitat.  If you love wild animals please consider a gift to those that work in conservation.  If, like me, you are interested in alleviating the suffering of the very poor who barely eke out a living, kindly read more at the various links on the side bar and consider being a change maker along with me. During this global pandemic they are suffering even  more than usual.

I hope you enjoyed this brief post on Kenyan wildlife. I'm joining up with Eileen's, Saturday's Critters meme today.  Please come and visit this space again soon.

Enjoy your weekend and stay safe.

Baboons in the Park

Baboons are fascinating creatures. 

They are curious too. If you leave your car doors or windows open they will get inside and take things just as the monkeys do.

In fact, baboons are Old World Monkeys.

These photos were taken at Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya. I took many photos but at the moment I can only find a few to share.

  

I especially enjoy watching the baby baboons. Understandably the baby baboon likes to stick close by mama baboon.  Most often you will see the baby being carried around on the mama's back or belly.

 This particular baby seemed to be having lots of fun by himself on the picnic table with his mama close at hand.

I hope you enjoyed these photos.

I'm linking up with our host Eileen at Saturday's Critters.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers reading this.
You deserve a big hug. xx

Saturday's Critters

Hello friends, I hope all of you are well this fine weekend.

We were expecting rain in Vancouver but it turned out to be a pleasant day with intermittent sunshine.  It allowed me to get a wee bit of work done in the garden. I planted some cabbage, beets and lettuce. 

The other day I planted several types of flowers and managed to put some pansies into containers, as well as some geraniums and a few pots of herbs.

I still have a few more spaces I can plant so hope to do that next week as we are expecting rain now for the next few days.

This is one of many baboons I photographed in Lake Nakuru National Park. In another post I will show more of them.

Baboons are fun creatures to observe and you can spend hours watching them. I especially love it when I see a baby baboon with it's mother.

These goats slowed down our progress on the highway between Nakuru and Marigat in Kenya.

Goats are common creatures in Kenya.  Many people raise them in place of cattle or in addition to cattle.

I've always enjoyed observing goats too, especially the baby goats (kids).

Joining Saturday's Critters with our host Eileen.

 

Baboons of Nakuru Park

Thank you and a big welcome to my newest followers: Alan (an awesome photoblogger), Ms. Burrito (a 5 year old emerging blogger), Paco (who has an artsy photoblog) and Cathy Lookabaugh. Cathy you don't have a website link so I can't visit you.

There is so much to see at the Nakuru National Park and I've had to split the photos into several posts (you can find the links to these and to my other travel posts on Kenya at the bottom of this post). In today's post, I bring you to Baboon Point one of my favourite places in the park.

One of the reasons I enjoy Baboon Point on Baboon Cliff is because of the spectacular views. Here from high up you have a fantastic view of Lake Nakuru.  Another reason is to see the troop of baboons. Baboons like to live in groups or troops of 20-100.  Each troop is protected by one or more dominant males.

A baboon is basically a type of monkey and is easily recognizable by a large head and cheek pouches.  The baboon also has a long jaw and this enables them to store food in their cheek pouches just like a chipmunk.

Isn't the view stunning? I love that I can see the winding dirt path that brought us from the lake to the cliffs.

This photo is taken just a little more to the left of the photo above.

This is one place where it is gratifying to see a lot of locals and African visitors.

There are so many baboons to keep everyone occupied in watching them, hence the name "Baboon Cliff".

I tried to zoom in on the lake.

These baboons are ignoring me.

These baboons are doing what baboons love to do.  They love to explore cars and will get into them if you are not careful.

Something inside this car has caught this baboon's eye.

Baboons have long, powerful limbs and can travel at high speeds.  Their buttocks are hairless and are often a bright colour.  Their fur is coarse and usually short and they can come in a variety of colours from blondish to a dark brown.

The baboons seem oblivious to humans but I wonder if they would like to tell us to 'get lost'?

Here a baboon is grooming another.

Just chillaxin'

Another spectacular view.

Pondering life's big questions.  The baboon is a very intelligent animal and can be trained.

I tried unsuccessfully to capture a photo of the baby baboon with it's mother under this picnic table.

Baboons are social creatures.  The female baboons are about half the size of the males and they produce one baby baboon after carrying it for a 6 month period.

I transferred my attention from the picnic table to take a photo of this mother and her baby.

A group of baboons is called a troop.  Unfortunately they are big pests for Kenya's farmer and can inflict a lot of damage on crops.  So while we tourists may like the baboon,  the local farmers do not.

Even baboons get tired. Maybe this one is bored with the tourists that day! LOL

Baboons eat a variety of things like worms, insects, reptiles, small mammals, fruits, vegetation and eggs. I didn't get to see any baboon having a meal that day. Perhaps another day.

Please come again for more of my expedition to Kenya.  If you haven't been on the trip before today you can catch up by checking out the links below.  Thank you for visiting!

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Click here to read Part 1 in this series. It starts with my stopover in Nairobi, Kenya.

Click here to read Part 2 in this series in Kenya. It continues with my sojourn in Nairobi, Kenya.

Click here to read Part 3 in this series on Kenya where I stop to view a stunning lookout.

Click here to read Part 4 in this series on Kenya where I stop at Lake Elementeita.

Click here to read Part 5 in this series on Kenya where I talk about some hotels in Nakuru.

Click here to read Part 6 in this series on Kenya where I show you some tourist sites around Nakuru.

Click here to read Part 7 in this series on Kenya where I show you the Castle Without a Princess.

Click here to read Part 8 in this series on Kenya where I feature a collection of scenes from around Nakuru. 
Click here to read Part 9 in this series where we enter the park and begin to tour it. 
Click here to read Part 10 about the flamingos and water buffalo. 

Click on the MW badge above to see more of our spectacular world and please do leave a comment below before you go.