These guys seemed to be hatching some sort of an escape plan. A Cape buffalo, yellow billed stork and a pair of yellow billed oxpeckers all hanging out in apparent symbiosis. Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 200, f/5.6 at 1/500th of a second.

“Big tusker” is a term used to describe elephants with tusks that weight more than 100 pounds each, and are so long they graze the ground as the elephant walks (the heaviest ever tusk for an African elephant was 226 lbs). The last of the true big tuskers live in an area of Tsavo National Park in Kenya. They are nearly gone due to their desirability to hunters and poachers. I photographed these two elephants in the Masai Mara of Kenya. They aren’t exactly in the big tusker category, but they did have the longest tusks of any elephants we saw on this recent trip, especially the bigger of the two in the foreground. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 125mm) ISO 320, f/5.6 at 1/1000th of a second.

Olive baboons are often seen grooming one another. It’s part of their social behavior, usually removing ticks in areas that the one receiving the grooming can not reach. Photographed just outside the Masai Mara in Kenya. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 500, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second.

We didn’t see too many ostriches on this trip, but we did have good luck with them the first night in Nairobi National Park. This is the common ostrich. We also saw a couple of Somali ostriches while in Samburu, but none posing for the camera quite like this guy. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 560, f/6.3 at 1/640th of a second.

We saw three species of bee eaters while in Kenya. This is the white-throated, showing us a bit of that colorful plumage. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1400, f/5.6 at 1/800th of a second.

One of the reasons I love to add a visit to the north of Kenya to my itineraries is the gerenuk. I’m always on the lookout for their feeding behavior when they stand on their hind legs beneath acacia trees, feeding on the upper branches. This is a female, captured early in the morning, pre-sunrise. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1800, f/5.6 at 1/125th of a second.

We saw two species of giraffe on our recent trip. Reticulated giraffes live in the north of Kenya, while Masai giraffes inhabit the savanna grasslands of the south. And where there’s a giraffe, there’s usually an oxpecker or two. In this case, a yellow-billed oxpecker, along for the ride — and a few ticks. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1100, f/5.6 at 1/1250th of a second.

This was one of two large male lions traveling together along a riverbank cliff in a forested area of the Masai Mara. The area was quite thick with vegetation, so I waited, and hoped, the lion would appear in the clearing. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500m PF lens, ISO 1600, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second.

Tawny eagle are usually the most commonly seen raptor on an East African safari (at least in my experience). I caught this guy just after takeoff in Samburu National Park in Kenya. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 280, f/5.6 at 1/1000th of a second.

One of the “cutest” moments of our trip was watching these four cheetah cubs playing king of the hill. While Mom was out searching for dinner, these four were busy chasing each other around and up and down a termite mound. We had several quality sessions over a three-day period with this crew — or coalition, as a group of cheetahs is properly called. Nikon D850 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 175mm) ISO 640, f/8 at 1/1250th of a second.