There are a number of activities offered at Ol Donyo. Some we did not participate in include horseback riding and safari walks. We did do a number of the traditional safari drives. We also visited a Masai village, and did a day long drive to and within Amboseli National Park. More about those later. And we spent quite a bit of time in the hides at the water hole.
Our guide was wonderful – very experienced and a great person. So meet Tipape Parmeres (Dan). He knew all the wildlife of course. But he was a great teacher of Masai culture; of course is is a Masai and lived in the village of Kajiado that we visited. Dan has been with Great Plains Conservation since 2013, and has guided for almost ten years.
Safari Drives
We saw a fairly wide variety of wildlife on our standard drives though the adjacent woodlands and within the savannah. Below is a selection. The lions were part of a pride of nine, including cubs and an old male. Much of the game were attracted to the Ol Donyo water hole, filled daily with water trucked in daily from near Mt. Kilimanjaro. This was particularly true during our visit where we saw lots of male elephants, zebras and giraffes. More later. On the savanna we saw some “lifers” including both Thompson and Grant’s gazelles (really!). The Tommies are smaller and have a black stripe across their flanks. The Grant’s are larger, have white above their tail and lyre=shaped horns in both sexes. Giraffes and zebras again quite common.
The Carefree Photographer 