Impala Sacturary in Kisumu

We've been here in Kisumu for nearly a year now and finally went to the Impala Sanctuary. We'd seen it... even stopped once before we had our resident alien cards. But we could see they'd done some fixing and improving and indeed, it was a nice treat. It had been designated as a 2010 tourist destination site and so they'd done a lot of improvements. We thought it was just impalas, and we did see those. (Do you see them walking behind me?) But we also saw Lions and Cheetahs, oh my! And we saw a desert Patas monkey and Duikers and black backed jackals-- that looked like dogs to me.

and a spotted hyenas. The Hyenas is big and dangerous looking up close. Not quite like the Lion King variety.

We had a young man on "attachment" with us. This is like an unpaid internship. He was training with the Kenya Wildlife Club and was quite knowledgeable. So we got to hold hands with a blue monkey... the baboon was not so friendly. And pet the Cheetah....

the lions were definitely not so friendly. Tom was so pleased to see the cheetah slip to the ground and start purring. However we were careful to stay well back from the teeth!

The lionesses looked well fed... and a bit bored.
The lion was kept separate from the females. He is from a different family and they said he would not breed with the lionesses as they only mated within their families.
It was a lovely day with a beautiful view of Lake Victoria behind.

At night hippos come up on the land here to feed. We, however, were safe during the day. The snakes in the forest seemed to mind their own business, too.