Kenya is coffee, fast runners, safari and a country full of colours, from the red soil to masai culture. In my 4 days and 3 nights safari trip, Milton has been my private guide throughout and i now call him "Milton the Kenyan Wikipedia". I am always very interested in learning about the places I go to. There is a difference between guides that are just doing it by routine and those that walk that extra mile to accommodate to do a bit more than just your job. He is also one of very few men that has not once during 4 days asked me why I am travelling alone and not with my husband and children nor interested to know my work. He is interested to know about Sweden. That's Milton!

He also knows everything about Kenya, its culture, traditions, the people, customs and of course the animals. Things he tought me that I didn't know before:

• Tsavo East game reserve is the biggest national park in Afrika and has 18,000 elephants
• Cheetahs only eat freshly caught food. if its older than one hour it wont eat it.

• Female elephants are clever enough to know which month it´s time to get pregnant as they can calculate if it´s going to be enough food in the nature for the baby by the time the baby elephant is born. If the wrong month and the male will "get on her" she will eat bugs living in the acacia tree that work as contraceptive.

• The smallest animal in the antelope family is the dik dik. This animal lives with his/her partner for all its life. If one dies, the other one will go and try to find another single dik dik to live with - male or female it doesn´t matter  (modern family even in the animal life). If he/she cannot find one, it will die of loneliness.

• Many animals are polygamic, for example the impala male can have up to 20 females. If a male impala doesb't have any females, they live with a group of bachelor boys. The strongest bachelor will challenge the male with all the females and the winner gets the females. The longer the male has many females the weaker he gets as it is high maintenance accommodating all the females (well at least something in common with human beings) so unlikely that he will win the fights.

• Female ostriches are beige/brown.

• Hippos are the most dangerous animal on the savan as it is very territorial, can run fast and have very sharp teeth. It spends the days in the water doing nothing as skin would crack otherwise and it can die.

• Leopards live on their own and don't share what they catch unless it is a mother with her baby.
• Rhinos followed by elephants are endangered.

Some info about the parks I have visited:

• Tsavo East: savann with some vegetation which attracts all animals except from those living, or spending a lot of time in the water such as hippo. A lot of impalas.
• Amboseli: hardly any bushes and trees but a lot of wetland. Easy to spot the animals. Also, this makes it very rich in bird species, hippos and elephants but doesn't attract a lot of giraffes as they eat from top of the trees.
• Tsavo West: very densed vegetation and slightly harder to spot the animals since they can hide in the grass or bushes.

I highly recommend safari if you like wildlife, nature and loooong trips on bumpy (now we talk bumpy) roads. Make sure you get a jeep 4 wheel drive and not a mini bus as not only will your bones in your body change place, you will most likely get stuck in muddy water.

There are different types of resorts so pick what your budget allows you to get but there are some amazing places with the animals right outside.

I am reluctant when it comes to seeing these animals in zoo parks as I think they should be left in their natural habitat, but on the other hand I believe in raising awareness for wild animals which you do by keeping them in zoo and giving more people chance to see them.

Just get in touch with me if you want more info on the safari i went on.

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