Mountain Lodge

I've already told you about our day  at the Mountain Lodge but it really is a better story with some pictures!

When the Mountain Lodge was built,

 the intention was to have every room face the watering hole -

and it was a great idea!

Each room has a private balcony and that's where we spent

the best part of our afternoon,

 with cameras and binoculars in hand!

Here are the first Cape buffalo we saw, having a quiet afternoon.

Resident warthogs spent the afternoon digging.

They always kneel down and can root
through quite an area in an afternoon.

The larger the hump on the Cape buffalo horns,
the older the animal.

Later on our trip we saw some where the two tips nearly met!

Partway through the afternoon, the vervet monkeys came bounding
out of the forest to drink at the hole.

There is a well at the side of the watering hole

and some animals, especially the elephants, like to use it.

Next the olive baboons came from the hills

and settled down to drink, clean each other and play.

This is exactly what the view was like from our balcony.

Directly under and in front of the lodge is this viewing station,
 at ground level.

Down here you had a different perspective

and it would have been a great spot to watch lions and elephants,

which unfortunately never came by.

Meanwhile - up on the balcony in front of our rooms - - -

the monkeys have come to visit!  This one is checking out
 Clarence and Sandra's room

and you can see Albert watching from behind.

Up close these guys are kind of intimidating.

Bob was the brave one and stayed out to catch them closeup.

 Sandra and I retreated to our rooms, protecting our snacks!

It was Sandra and Clarence's 25th anniversary the next morning,

so Bob captured this early morning picture

with Mount Kenya in the background.

It was a good way to celebrate -

and a great start to our safari!
And it's really hard to take a picture where you can see
the mountain and the people.  Sorry for the foreground darkness of this one.

Next stop - Samburu National Reserve!