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 Lynne
Leakey
When you are born in “beautiful downtown
Burbank,” you have to go somewhere! The first place
that Lynne Bailey went was 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.
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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 Turkey. When
Incirlik Air Base in Adana was closed, Lynne was evacuated
to Ethiopia. At the Kenya Embassy in Addis, Lynne met a university
group that was willing to take on another body. 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, she is still in Kenya, the
home of her heart.
Lynne’s marriage into the well-known
Leakey family 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 unique safari presentations
on responsible tourism and conservation. 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 –
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
N. Arizona (www.tarasbabies.org),
and enjoys hosting safari reunion parties
and welcoming friends to her home “Out of Africa meets
the Southwest”. Her hobbies include wildlife photography,
writing, ornithology and SCUBA diving. At home in Kenya, she
accompanies custom safaris as a free-lance naturalist guide
for Abercrombie & Kent, Baobab Expeditions, Frontiers
Int’l, Lakani Global Tours, Maniago Safaris and South African Journeys, Inc.
in East and Southern Africa.
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