Paul Marcellini Photography

This was stop three on the safari. What I liked about Samburu was the feeling of being out there, really in the wild. Lake Nakuru National Park is right outside the city of Nakuru and even within the park you can see houses on the cliffs. It was a bit of a let down at first but once I saw all the photo opportunities I got over that pretty quick. Lake Nakuru is a soda lake and is home to sometimes 1.5 million flamingos. Most are Lesser Flamingos but we did see some Greater Flamingos as well. They feed on an algae that grows in the lake and have had some recent problems due to effluent flowing into the lake. White Rhino were also introduced and we saw many.  We did not see a Black Rhino but I guess you can’t have it all. It was cloudy and rainy most of our stay which i was happy for as it allowed for longer shooting in softer light. Problem was it lowered the light levels a lot. This is where I really saw how well the 5d2 performed and how bad the 50d was. The 50d lost me some shots but I am still happy with what I came away with.

I also loved that we could leave the vehicle near the lake in this park. I was hoping for some flamingo close-ups but they are quite nervous birds here. The lake was also surrounded by the f=Fever Trees, named because they harbored mosquitoes which got early people sick with disease. These trees were beautiful and this was the most wooded area we visited. A good place for leopards, with lots of habitat, and lots of hiding places, so we did not see one.

First, here is the man and machine that made the safari possible. Fred and the Land Cruiser.

And here are the Lesser Flamingos(Phoenicopterus minor)…

There were also these beautiful Great White Pelicans(Pelecanus onocrotalus). They actually look pink in breeding season.

And of course the White Rhinos(Ceratotherium simum)…

A big male with a long horn, which is actually made from matted hair. The White Rhino gets its name from a mistranslation between English, Dutch and Afrikaans. The name was actually supposed to be wide, referring to the lips.

These Olive Baboons(Papio anubis) were everywhere and I kept forgetting to shoot them but finally got some of this little one.

I liked this Waterbuck in the soft light and rain. It really saturated his colors.

These guys, were building nests right in front of the lodge. They were quite busy and noisy. Speke’s Weaver(Ploceus spekei)

I had to be quite sneaky to get close to this African Fish Eagle(Haliaeetus vocifer) who didn’t seem interested in sharing, but the gull sure hoped.

And lastly, the Rock Hyrax(Procavia capensis), a relative of the Elephant actually. This was on the side of a very high cliff.

A great place, maybe a bit busy for my tastes, but still a great stop in Kenya.

~ by Paul on May 26, 2009.