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.

Lake Elementeita

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.

As we continue our journey northward from the look out along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway as seen in my post here, we eventually make our way to Lake Elementeita. Lake Elementeita, also spelled Elementaita, is a soda lake, in the eastern limb of East Africa's Great Rift Valley, about 120 km northwest of Nairobi, Kenya. The lake gets it's name from the Masaai word "muteita" which means "dust place", a reference to the dry and dusty quality of the area, especially between January and March.

I passed through this area in November 2010.  At the time the area was nice, lush and green.  Elementeita is located between Lake Naivasha and Lake Nakuru. The major Nairobi-Nakuru highway runs along the nearby escarpment giving motorists a spectacular vista towards the lake. However I wanted a better look at the lake.

At the entry gate just off the highway we paid a small entry fee and then turned off to drive down a very bumpy dirt road to the lake.  Don't let the bumpy road deter you from the experience of seeing the lake.  I still remember my first trip where I couldn't get over how bad the roads were and now it doesn't bother me at all. By the way, many of the major highways have been improved since my first journey to Kenya.

Taking these close up views of the mountains and surrounding area will make any bumps you encounter more than worth it!

After the busyness of Nairobi and the traffic jams we encountered every day, I felt myself relaxing the tense muscles in my body. It was just so wonderful to be out in natural surroundings of which the country of Kenya is bountifully blessed.

As often happens when you veer off the beaten path, children appeared out of nowhere.  Some had been working and some had been playing for at least one of them had a machete, a common implement here. The children excitedly ran down to the lake to meet us. I often have candy with me and small change for like children everywhere they hope to be given a small treat.

The first white settlement at Lake Elementeita occured when Lord Delamere (1897-1931) established Soysambu, a 48,000 acre ranch on the western side of the lake. Delamere gifted the land nearest the lake to his brother-in-law, the Honorable Galbraith Lowry Egerton Cole (1881-1929).  Egerton Cole is buried on Kekopey Ranch which today is called Lake Elementeita Lodge and is open for overnight guests.

On our drive back up the road to the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway, I snapped these photos of the buildings on the surrounding hillside.   You can see some of the birdlife in the foreground of the lake.

There are between 350-400 bird species recorded in the Lake Nakuru/Lake Elmenteita basin. Elementeita attracts visiting flamingoes which feed on the lake's crustacean and insect larvae and on its suspended blue-green algae.  In 1962,  tilapia fish were introduced to the lake from Lake Magadi in Kenya.  An unfortunate side effect of tilapia introduction is that the flamingo population has dramatically dwindled.  The tilapia fish attract a lot of fish eating birds that also feed upon the flamingo eggs and chicks.  Over a million birds that formerly bred at Elmenteita are now said to have sought refuge at  Lake Natron in Tanzania.

*All photos mine*

Overnight visitors to Lake Elementeita can spend the night at the Elementaita Lodge as well as camping at Mbweha camp.  You can find breathing photos of these lodgings by clicking on the links (as underlined).

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Elmenteita
http://www.africanmeccasafaris.com/kenya/guide/lakeelementaita.asp
http://www.enhols.com/kenya_safari/lake/elementaita.aspx