Kenya Vacation Guide

Are you a fan of photography like myself? I am not a professional photographer, but I like taking great pictures of wildlife. I just grab a camera, go on safari and click as many pictures as I can. Many are not very good, but I am sometimes amazed to find some truly spectacular photos which would be worth a million Bucks.

Kenya is one of the best locations for wildlife photography in the world. There are many national parks with numerous animals and birds that can only be found in the wild in Africa.

Masai Mara National Reserve

The Masai Mara National Reserve is the best place to capture great photo memories. There are photography safaris in the Masai Mara that last an entire two weeks.

Whether you are an amateur or professional photographer, it is advisable to bring some long lenses and join a photography tour that usually starts early in the morning when the animals are getting up and wandering around.

You will mostly be taking photographs while atop a safari vehicle and it is helpful to have only about 4 photographers per vehicle to avoid blocking each others views.

Other parks to take photos. I have gone on several photo safaris where we hired a 4 wheel drive vehicle and traveled to several areas. Some of our best photo opportunities were in the following destinations; Mountain Lodge near Mount Kenya National Park, Samburu Game Reserve, Lewa Downs and Lake Nakuru. The Mountain Lodge is a hotel built near a waterhole where a lot of animals come for a drink giving you a great opportunity to take numerous pictures. The other destinations are Lewa Downs with its rare rhinos and Samburu Game Reserve with its many lions, elephants, cheetahs, zebra and giraffes. You can get excellent shots of Beautiful Flamingos at Lake Nakuru which has hundreds of thousands of flamingos. Tour Groups If you are in a tour group, it is important that everyone is punctual especially if you want to get good pictures. Typically, you have to leave before 6.00am in the morning.

Driver and Guides

There are excellent driver who also act as guides supplied by the tour companies. These Driver/guides are indispensable to get you to the animals you want to take pictures of since they even know the individual animals and can find them very easily.

You can also rent a drive yourself vehicle but many Kenya’s Animal Parks cover vast areas and for a first timer, it may be difficult to get around. So hiring an experienced driver is very important.

Most safari vehicles have two-way radios for drivers to communicate with one another. If one vehicle finds some interesting animals, they can inform other vehicles to come over and see them.

Safari Vehicles

Most safari vehicles in Kenya are either four wheel drive Land Rovers or Nissan vans with pop- up roofs suitable for photography. When the roof is opened, it still protects the passengers from the sun and rain while allowing photographers to stand upright and take pictures on any direction.

Tourists taking photos while on a safari vehicle*

Accommodation

Tourists in Kenya are accommodated in very nice lodges and tented camps for those iin the Animal parks. All the camps have nice beds and private bathrooms. I have found accommodation being very decent, from comfortable to luxury. Meals are very well prepared.

A unique thing is the close proximity many animals get to your places of accommodation. You may find monkeys rummaging for food near your tent or other animals grazing around.

It is not uncommon to see a large buffalo just a few meters away from your sleeping quarters. So it is advisable to be careful since some of these animals can be very dangerous. It also gives an opportunity to take rare photos too.

Hot-Air Balloon Photo Safari

Some game parks in Kenya cover huge expanses of land and may be difficult to travel by road, especially in the rainy season. To solve this problem, they provide Hot air balloon tours.

This is an ideal way to see the landscape and wildlife from above ground. This gives an excellent bird eye view and an excellent opportunity to take wonderful photographs and capture moments in the animal life occurring without human interference.

I have watched a cheetah chase a gazelle at unbelievable speeds. I was rooting for the gazelle to get away but unfortunately for her, she waf no match for the cheetahs speed.

Copyright: Mwongera Kioga:

Images under Creative Commons Attribution Licence. * by Demosh