The pin-tailed whydah is just one of the cool birds we see in Kenya on our safaris. And if it looks familiar, you might have seen one in Southern California where they are an introduced species. This is the male. The female lacks the long tail and is more brown in color. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1400, f/5.6 at 1/2500th of a second.

When Karen and I lead safaris to Kenya, we always stay a night in Nairobi — not necessarily because we want to, but because airline schedules usually dictate that we do. Plus this gives our guests an afternoon to rest before the safari begins. That said, Nairobi National Park is always an option that first afternoon for anyone wanting to get a bit of safari-lite experience before the Masai Mara. It also gives us a very strong probability of seeing rhinos, which aren’t always easy to see in other parks. For this image, I positioned the vehicle so that I could capture the skyline of Nairobi. Pretty remarkable that such large animals, including giraffes, lions, ostrich and many others, live so close to a major city. The park itself is fenced on the three sides adjacent to the city, but open on the other so that animals can safely move in and out. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 1250, f/5.6 at 1/1250th of a second.

As I dive deeper into all my files from our last trip to Kenya, I keep finding more shots of lions doing all the things that lions do. We encountered this pride late afternoon in the Ol Pajeta Conservancy. There was one adult male with multiple adult females, along with a couple of cubs. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 500, f/4 at 1/1000th of a second.

Elephants have the largest brain of any land animal and three times as many neurons as humans. They are incredibly smart and have also been known to show deep empathy while grieving a lost family member. That said, zoologists haven’t been willing to attribute their ability to shed a tear to an emotional response. But only because they can’t prove it. Who knows why this particular elephant was crying. Perhaps the wind, perhaps a fly, perhaps something more. Photographed in the Ol Pajeta Conservancy in Kenya. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1250, f/5.6 at 1/160th of a second.

I love the time in-between game drives while on our African safaris. This is when I’m free to walk around camp on my own searching for whatever wildlife I can find. At our camp in the Ol Pajeta Conservancy of Kenya, there was a water hole in front of all the tents. Impala were a frequent visitor, along with zebra and waterbuck. I was able to get into my favorite position (on the ground) to capture some nice low-level shots of the action. Impala are without a doubt the most common mammal species that we see, but still a treat to see them and have the opportunity to photograph them in all sorts of settings. This was a young male, hanging around the periphery of a much larger male’s harem — never really challenging, but perhaps scheming a strategy for a later date. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/3200th of a second.

Spotting a leopard is always at the top of the wish list on our African safaris. Even better to find one in a great setting like this. We were able to observe her for awhile while resting on that fallen tree. Eventually she began her hunt, climbed a tree and then disappeared into the tall grasses and scrub brush of Samburu National Reserve in Kenya. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 340mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/200th of a second.