Kenya Photos – The First Batch (and Introducing Another “Other” Photographer)

While I published “preliminary” photos of the FOGs/FOAs Kenya safari a couple of weeks ago, and promised more later, I’m still not ready with mine, which I hope to offer along with my own blog posts and stories.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t share the good work of others who traveled with me on the safari. I have already mentioned that Jerry Jourdan – one of our group – is not only a serious photographer. He is also a birder and his blog posts are beautiful. Take a look at http://jerryjourdan.blogspot.com/. I think you’ll be impressed.

And while other members of the safari group are pretty serious photographers as well, I want to give special recognition to Andrew Berner’s stunning pictures. Andrew and Jerry and Charles (our driver) turned out to be the bird specialists on the safari, so we all benefitted from their bird-spotting (and bird-naming) skills. Like Jerry, Andrew has permitted me to reference his superior selections as yet another introduction to the record of our trip, so I’m happy to direct readers to my SmugMug site. At the site, Andrew’s photographs are identified in each of his gallery titles with his initials (AB).

But don’t let me leave you with the impression that Andrew’s photographic talents are limited to bird pictures. At the site, you’ll see amazing wildlife photos (including this, my favorite elephant photo which will have an entire post devoted to it at some point). Andrew’s photographs capture – in amazing detail – the awesome experiences we all shared during the safari (and why not? – the “A” of the safari’s title, which our friends and we took to calling “the FOGs and FOAs Kenya Safari” is for “Andrew”).

So until I can post my own impressions about the safari, please enjoy Andrew’s images, taken during our visits to such spectacular Kenyan destinations as the Amboseli National Park, Tsavo East and West, the Nairobi National Park (complete with the Nairobi skyline providing the backdrop for much of the wildlife), the Nakuru National Park and the Menengai Crater, and of course Masai Mara (where we were able to view the first days of the Great Migration). And, not surprisingly, there are very pleasing photographs of our visit to our Africa “family” in Nyanguru Village in Kisii. We had a lovely time with Charles and his beautiful family, enjoying ourselves with his wife and mother and his handsome children, including my namesake “Angel” Claire. We shared such a good visit with the family and with all the neighbors who, with the entire Masese family, made us feel very welcome. And thanks to Charles’s good driving and his perfect navigation skills, we traveled to Kisii via the great tea plantations, stopping for lunch at the famous Tea Hotel in Kericho, all beautifully captured in Andrew’s photographs.