LYNNE LEAKEY

Born in Southern California, the earliest memories for Lynne Bailey Leakey took place in the Griffith Park Zoo (now the Los Angeles Zoo), where she had all of her early birthday parties and spent every free minute of her young life. Holding the hose on the baby elephants (Grandma knew the zookeeper) was her first childhood memory. When the film "Born Free" came to the theaters, Lynne watched it at least a dozen times and vowed to grow up to marry a game warden in Kenya. A few years had to elapse before she came close to doing just that.

After a short time spent working in the Hollywood film industry, Lynne traveled to Europe for a proposed one-year excursion. There, she joined an Irish show band to entertain the U.S. Army and Air Force troops in Germany and Turkey. When Incirlik Air Base in Adana was closed, Lynne was evacuated to Ethiopia. At the Kenya Embassy in Addis Ababa, Lynne met a university group that was willing to take on another person. Ten days and many miles later in Nairobi, group members went their separate ways, planning to reconvene in two weeks‚ time. Lynne never reconvened. To this day, thirty years later, she is still in Kenya, the home of her heart.

Lynne's early intention was to meet Dr. Louis Leakey who was assisting young women in the field of primate research and join the research team working with Jane Goodall in Tanzania. But before that could happen she met Philip Leakey and ended up with Louis as her father-in-law instead of mentor and working with 2-legged  primates instead of 4-legged ones. Lynne‚s marriage into the well-known Leakey family was short-lived but started her on a long career of observing and studying the wildlife and ecology of East Africa as well as the tribal life of its people. She lectures regularly on topics such as the social behavior of elephants, the Maasai people, and the national parks. She also gives presentations on responsible tourism and conservation and has been very involved in social work providing bursaries in various schools, finding markets for Maasai beaded handicraft to support a womens project located behind the famous "Out of Africa" Ngong Hills, sourcing medical supplies for bush clinics in Kenya, Zanzibar and Victoria Falls and supplying much needed food and starting small libraries in various IDP camps and orphanages. Through many long lasting friendships with her clients, she has been able to direct much of their generous donations directly into needy areas and provide updates and photos to keep her overseas friends connected with the people and wildlife of Kenya and beyond. Lynne‚s extensive travels have taken her to many destinations worldwide where she has hosted special departures to Antarctica, Ecuador, Indonesia, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia ˆ as well as her home base in Kenya, East Africa.She holds a Silver Label Professional Safari Guide qualification and has joined two Abercrombie & Kent Private Jet Around Africa safaris as part of the guiding team.

Lynne spends part of her time in Sedona, Arizona where she is involved in animal rescue and fostering with Tara's Babies animal shelter in N. Arizona (http://www.tarasbabies.org) and enjoys hosting safari reunion parties and welcoming friends to her home "Out of Africa meets the Southwest". Her hobbies include writing, wildlife photography, Scuba diving and ornithology. At home in Kenya, she accompanies custom safaris as a free-lance naturalist guide for Abercrombie & Kent, Frontiers Int, Maniago Safaris and South African Journeys Inc. in East and Southern Africa and can be contacted on lynne_safari@ hotmail.com or through your Travel Agent.

http://www.LynneLeakey.com