Meru, Samburu, Lake Nakuru, Kenya — October, 2014

[Tom Kellie]

What's a game drive without flowers,

Bright colors dusty tracks can use?

Bouncing along during hot hours,

Wildflowers provide gorgeous hues.

 

 

 

Roadside Purple

 

 

 

Maroon Spikes

 

 

 

Red-Orange Ruffles

 

[Tom Kellie]

Lake Nakuru...it's time to leave,

The views, trees, animals and birds,

Whose beauty was hard to believe,

To describe which there are no words.

 

 

 

Blooming Acacias Above Lake Nakuru

 

 

 

Zebra and Flamingoes at Lake Nakuru

 

 

 

African Buffalo Herds at Lake Nakuru

 

 

 

Farewell to Lake Nakuru National Park

 

[Tom Kellie]

The Lake Nakuru Lodge Entrance,

Acacia blooms in profusion,

Zephyrs waft a lovely fragrance,

Its sweetness is no illusion.

 

 

 

Lake Nakuru Lodge Gate

 

 

 

Lodge Landscaping in Bloom

 

 

[Tom Kellie]

A visual benediction,

Perched high on wires above the lake,

Hirundo smithii inaction,

The ultimate image I make.

 

 

 

Hirundo smithii

 

[Tom Kellie]

The Vale of Nakuru abounds,

In lush vegetation each year,

In the area which surrounds,

Skies are typically blue and clear.

 

 

 

Roadside Poinsettia

 

 

 

Blooming Succulents

 

 

 

Cacti Pair

 

[Tom Kellie]

Mbaruk's vehicle rest stop,

Lets passengers get out to stretch,

There are chilled drinks in the small shop,

Small kids looking on, playing catch.

 

 

 

Bus Rest Stop

 

 

Mbaruk Wayside

 

 

 

Mirangine House

 

[Tom Kellie]

With Lake Elmenteita in view,

One might overlook a nursery,

In fact, there might even be two.

What's on offer there may vary.

 

 

 

Lake Elmenteita

 

 

 

Near Lake Elmenteita

 

 

 

Open for Business

 

 

 

Landscaping Plants

 

 

 

Roadside Nursery

 

[Tom Kellie]

Lithe donkeys sure-footed and gray,

Bring Gilgil produce from the fields,

Work which they do early each day,

One notices striking crop yields.

 

 

 

Roadside Stands

 

 

 

Gentle Donkeys

 

 

 

Stone Blocks, Onions, Tomatoes

 

[Tom Kellie]

Ordinary life with freedom,

Is the birthright of those born here.

Gilgil's own peaceable kingdom,

Gives to all a life without fear.

 

 

 

Gilgil Central Seventh-Day Adventist Church

 

 

 

Zuku, Fidelity, Goat

 

 

 

Tripod Stands

 

 

 

Danger Abnormal Load

 

 

 

Corruption Free Zone

 

 

 

Welcome Shade Trees

 

 

 

Waiting for Transportation

 

 

 

Frontage Garden

 

 

 

Silted River

 

[Tom Kellie]

The Dairy Training Institute,

Lord Delamere's farm acreage,

Enhance Navaisha's good repute,

Truly far above average.

 

 

 

Dairy Training Institute

 

 

 

Irrigated Farmland

 

 

 

Elegant Acacia

 

 

 

Hedge-lined Entrance Road

 

 

 

Delamere

 

 

 

Well-tended Trees

 

[Tom Kellie]

Central Kenya's roads lined with trees,

Maintaining a vision of green,

For it's signs and plants that one sees,

I never ask what that might mean.

 

 

 

Britam Sign

 

 

 

Hell's Gate and Longonot

 

 

 

Navaisha Unity

 

[Tom Kellie]

We stop at what's now old friend,

Mt. Longonot Transit Hotel,

Serves up lunches which never end,

And hosts tiny sunbirds as well.

 

 

 

Louvers

 

 

 

Mt. Longonot Transit Hotel

 

 

 

Accommodation, Bar & Nyama Choma

 

 

 

Bigmac Africa Safaris Sign

 

[Tom Kellie]

The white hibiscus by the door,

Is a tradition when we're here.

Simply to see it, nothing more,

Makes each Kenya visit more dear.

 

 

 

White Hibiscus Bloom

 

[Tom Kellie]

When it appears, I speak no word,

Instead aim my lens where it's at.

This utterly lovely sunbird,

Is truly vibrant, and that's that.

 

 

 

Variable Sunbird

 

 

 

Cinnyrus venusta

 

[Tom Kellie]

The Great Rift Valley lies behind,

This safari is winding down,

Happy memories fill the mind,

As we approach Nairobi town.

 

 

 

Going Up the Rift Valley Escarpment

 

 

 

Sheepskin Goods

 

 

 

Rift Valley View with Monkey

 

 

 

Good Hope Curio Shop

 

 

 

Final View of the Great Rift Valley

 

[Tom Kellie]

Kenya's National Museum,

Draws me back time and time again,

Neither tedium or boredom,

Perhaps overwhelmed now and then.

 

 

 

Nairobi Sentinel

 

 

 

Louis Leakey Auditorium

 

 

 

Museum of Kenya

 

 

 

Mosaic Column

 

 

 

Signpost

 

 

 

Entrance Sculpture

 

 

 

Meeting Point

 

 

 

The Kenya Museum Society Bookshop

 

[Tom Kellie]

The Succulent Garden invites,

Contemplation of growing plants.

Many botanical highlights,

Are colonized by tiny ants.

 

 

 

Botanical Minimalism

 

 

 

The Judgment of Paris

 

 

 

Before and After

 

 

 

Subtle Hues

 

[Tom Kellie]

It's Crithagra striolata,

Perching on a red-dusted stone,

There's actually nothing a matter,

This bird is glad to be alone.

 

 

 

Crithagra striolata

 

 

 

Streaky Seedeater

 

 

 

Seedeater Glancing Upward

 

[Tom Kellie]

In Kenya the bee-eater clan,

Is very well-represented.

Remaining aloof from mere man,

They are generally contented.

 

 

 

Merops oreobates

 

[Tom Kellie]

Even in low-key Nairobi, 

Eyes are constantly wide open,

Where striped skinks seem to be happy,

Waiting for something to happen.

 

 

 

Trachylepsis striata

 

[Tom Kellie]

Which pollinators visit these,

Distinctive succulent flowers?

Are they bats, or sunbirds, or bees?

They're low and on spiky towers.

 

 

 

Aloe ‘Sophie’

 

 

 

In Search of Scarlet

 

 

 

Jatropha multifida

 

 

 

Huernia macrocarpa

 

 

 

Never Darkened

 

 

 

Vibrant Red-Orange

 

[Tom Kellie]

These Scadoxus multiflorus,

Resemble nothing else at all,

Their flowers explode before us,

More than anything they enthrall.

 

 

 

Scadoxus multiflorus

 

 

 

Nairobi Scadoxus multiflorus

 

 

 

Blood Lily Blooms

 

[Tom Kellie]

Aloes abound where I wander,

Their characteristic profiles,

Apparent hither and yonder,

Bright colors which evoke smiles.

 

 

 

Intensely Vibrant

 

 

 

Aloes in Red

 

 

 

Aloe Group

 

[Tom Kellie]

Decades past in Argentina,

Jacaranda blooms brought solace,

Yet here they are in Africa,

With beauty beyond their surface.

 

 

 

Jacaranda Blooms

 

[Tom Kellie]

The garden's peace includes bird song,

Hidden or confiding, birds thrive,

They've been perching there all along,

The pure joy of being alive.

 

 

 

Milvus migrans

 

 

 

Crithagra donaldsoni

 

 

 

Ruffled Plumage

 

 

 

Colius striatus

 

 

 

Olive Thrush

 

 

 

Turdus olivaceus