June 23 we drove to Nairobi (getting a better look at Gerenuks), had a tasty mostly Indian lunch at the Hotel Intercontinental, and then drove to Mountain Lodge near Mount Kenya, getting there in the evening. We watched wildlife at the waterhole, mostly Bushbucks and Spotted Hyenas. The highlight for me, though not photographically, was this owl.

The Mountain Lodge offers nature walks for a fee. That morning I got up early and told the desk clerk I was ready. Then I watched the Bushbucks and Waterbucks at the waterhole.

A young man came up to me and asked, "What size boot do you put on?" Since I'm taller than most Kenyans, I thought he was impressed by the size of my feet. ("They have been admired," said the Dean, complacently, "but seldom in so public a place, or after five minutes' acquaintance.") But when he came back with two pairs of green gumboots and told me to see which one fit, I realized the nature walk was about to happen.

This man, Benson, was the naturalist. We were joined by another young man in gumboots, a park ranger carrying a very big rifle in case of buffalo. We walked through the lush and muddy forest for over an hour. At one point we did hear buffalo about twenty or thirty feet away, which is much more exciting than getting that close in a van. Benson and the guard scared them away by throwing rocks and sticks—not at them, but close enough to make noise.

Benson pointed out many interesting birds, some of which I only glimpsed or heard, as well as leopard tracks, and Sykes and Colobus Monkeys. I'd been particularly hoping for the latter.

I got decent pictures through the foliage of only two things. Fortunately, one was the trogon at right. (The other was this sunbird.) The various species of trogons occur in forests in the American, African, and Asian tropics and subtropics, but in my trips to Mexico and Costa Rica I'd never seen one. I was happy to break the jinx.

Then we drove to Sweetwaters Game Reserve. While still in the forest, we stopped for this hornbill and later for these wagtails.