Elephant calf at Samburu National Reserve

Located on the banks of the Ewaso Ngiro river, this reserve is one of the lesser visited national parks in Kenya. It is situated about 350 kms north of Nairobi and the long distance keeps most of the regular safari tourists away.  This was one of the two areas where conservationists Joy and George Adamson raised Elsa the lioness who was portrayed in the book and the movie, Born Free. The other famous character from this reserve is Kamunyak, a lioness who adopted oryx calves. The park is very dry and dusty and the elephants cover themselves with the red sand. This gives them an overall red appearance leading to them being termed ‘Red elephants’ of Samburu. The park gives the best opportunity to view Elephants, Gerenuks, Reticulated giraffes, and Dik-diks as these are found in plenty within the park. It is a unique park with many animals not seen in other parks and also less tourists!

Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington national cemetery is the second largest of the 130 national cemeteries in the United States. It is located in Arlington county, Virginia, directly across the Lincoln memorial in Washington, D.C. with the Pontac river in between. It has an area of 624 acres, and has more than 300,000 people interred there.

Hippos – mother and young

Crescent Island is an island in Lake Naivasha, Kenya. This is a place where wild animals were introduced to make it look like a game park. There are no predators. So this little place is teeming with wildlife especially antelopes, giraffes, and zebras. The lake is a haven for birds of all kinds and also the massive hippos who hide under the water like icebergs.

Christmas in New York

    Christmas is probably the most wonderful season of the year for me. And it’s all the more fun when you have snow and there are decorations outside every door. In 2010 New York had the worst snow storm in decades. But all that snow was fun because it was Christmas.