6/3/19
Long drive to Lake Nakuru, crossing the border of Kenya/Uganda at Malaba. It rained most of the drive. We're camping in a nice campsite, but in the mist. We had a very nice dinner with homemade vanilla ice cream.
6/4/19
Today we had a nearly full day game drive in Nakuru National Park. We visited some nice viewpoints looking down upon the lake. Highlights of animals included: a black rhino, many white rhino (~10-11), flamingos, hippos, tons of buffalo, zebras, eland, baboons, vervets, waterbuck, thompson and grants gazelle, impala, and rothschild giraffes. The big highlight was Elisha spotted a leopard! It was having a nap in a tree. Leopards are always so beautiful and such a rare sighting that it's always so exciting to see them.
It poured rain once back at camp, but still I went out in the rain looking for chameleons in the hedges. In the end, after a long search, I found 5 tiny ones. At night, we hung out by the fire that was under the cover of the open-air bar.
6/5/19
We drove with Xara to Mai Mahiu where we left Will and Denford and loaded in an extended Land Cruiser 4x4 to drive to the Maasai Mara. Our driver's name is Johnson. He was a fast driver, and we really cruised on the rutted dirt road that leads to the Mara.
After setting up our tents and having lunch, we did an afternoon game drive. We saw SO many animals. Highlights were elephants, banded mongoose, spotted hyena, black-backed jackal, 2 bat-eared foxes, several lions, and 5 cheetah brothers! Also, the wildebeest and zebra migration is in full swing. There were grunting wildebeest as far as the eyes can see. Simply amazing! Seriously. Hard to capture on camera and also impossible to describe. As we drive around, it's like sailing through a choppy sea, where every wave is a wildebeest. And they're not just sitting around. They're grunting, fighting, galloping, and prancing around. It was wildebeest as far as the eye can see, in every direction. Absolutely unbelievable and hard to fathom, the sheer numbers. Driving around was fun, and we had to make full use of the 4WD. It had rained hard and the tracks were muddy. Black cotton soil is slippery like ice! We were fishtailing all around. We had to continually go back and forth between steep gullies and creek crossings in search of wildlife, and these were quite interesting, b/c sometimes it seemed like we wouldn't make it back up, and sometimes we had to try a few times before we were successful. But Johnson was quite a good driver. On the drive home, we had the most magical sunset, classic African savanna sunset with acacias silhouetted black behind a fiery orange sky, which turned to blood red.
The Masai Mara is obviously in Maasai land, so on the drive back to camp we saw lots of Maasai in their traditional garb, as was as some Maasai warriors.
6/6/19
Wow!! Amazing day in the Maasai Mara! We started out seeing a big male lion mating with a female. Then we saw 5 cheetah brothers lying down relaxing. Then we saw a pride of lions with 4 cute little cubs. We then found a solo cheetah that was very close to us and got up and walked a bit as we were watching. We then went back to the 5 cheetah brothers who had moved into some bushes and were looking up at us. We then saw a few more groups of lions. As we continued driving, we saw 3 hyenas mucking around in a ditch and mud.
Of course a good chunk of the driving was through huge herds of wildebeest. We had lunch in the shad of a solo acacia tree. We then drove down to the Mara river where we saw some banded mongoose. We drove along the river and saw quite a lot of hippos and nile crocodiles. We also got to witness, at several points, groups of zebra and wildebeest jumping into the river to cross as part of their migration. We also noticed a few crocs around. One of the crocs had a wildebeest in its grasps that it had killed before we were there. We saw one group swim across and watched as a croc took down a baby wildebeest.
We then drove to the sand river where we walked into the Serengeti National Park and into Tanzania. We heard on the radio that there was a leopard not too far away. We drove off quickly to it, but when we got there it had come down from the tree it was lounging in and disappeared into a ravine. We searched a bit, but couldn't find it. We were all kind of disappointed. We were driving back to the entrance to end the day, when another call came over the radio that there was a leopard near the road. It was a ways away and in the opposite direction of home, but Johnson decided to go for it. He said "hold on!" and off we went at high speed, on a rough roads, dodging wildebeest. We made it in time! We got a really good look at the leopard as it walked along. So beautiful!! It was the cherry on top of an amazing day. We then had to rush at high speed back to the gate to be back in time before they close the gate and issue fines.
The sky was beautiful with the sunset and rain showers in the distance. Johnson was really good: fast and good in the mud. He also seemed to chat and shake hands with every other driver we came upon. He also had 2 guys that he was always talking to on the radio (Mambo and Moi) who seemed to be mafia or something because they seemed to always know where potential leopards and other cats were. It was so fun (and funny) to be driving so much (and often at high speeds) through the giant herds of wildebeest. Sometimes the wildebeest would mock charge the vehicle, and all the time they are making these funny grunts. As we drove fast, it was fun to see them sprint at full speed away from, or alongside the land cruiser. Highly entertaining!
The rains came late this year, but the wildebeest came early. So very lucky for us! Part of the fun of game driving in the Mara is all of the back and forth on the radio. And when something is spotted, the fast, crazy driving to get there. Then there is the jockeying back and forth to get as close to the animals as possible. Then there is the ever present nervousness of the drivers that a ranger might be near ($100 fine for driving off road).
6/7/19
We had an early morning game drive. We saw a nice family of elephants, some hyenas, ostriches, and millions of wildebeest. And of course the usual other herbivores. We also saw a pride of lions where the little cubs were crawling up on mom. We also watched a male lion walking amongst the wildebeest, but not too interested in them.
After the game drive, we drove back to Nairobi. We did our laundry at camp. As this segment of the trip is ending, we went out for a delicious Indian dinner. Will is the only one leaving the trip, however. I gave a little speech, Reg Guy style, when we gave Will and José their tips.
Long drive to Lake Nakuru, crossing the border of Kenya/Uganda at Malaba. It rained most of the drive. We're camping in a nice campsite, but in the mist. We had a very nice dinner with homemade vanilla ice cream.
6/4/19
Today we had a nearly full day game drive in Nakuru National Park. We visited some nice viewpoints looking down upon the lake. Highlights of animals included: a black rhino, many white rhino (~10-11), flamingos, hippos, tons of buffalo, zebras, eland, baboons, vervets, waterbuck, thompson and grants gazelle, impala, and rothschild giraffes. The big highlight was Elisha spotted a leopard! It was having a nap in a tree. Leopards are always so beautiful and such a rare sighting that it's always so exciting to see them.
It poured rain once back at camp, but still I went out in the rain looking for chameleons in the hedges. In the end, after a long search, I found 5 tiny ones. At night, we hung out by the fire that was under the cover of the open-air bar.
6/5/19
We drove with Xara to Mai Mahiu where we left Will and Denford and loaded in an extended Land Cruiser 4x4 to drive to the Maasai Mara. Our driver's name is Johnson. He was a fast driver, and we really cruised on the rutted dirt road that leads to the Mara.
After setting up our tents and having lunch, we did an afternoon game drive. We saw SO many animals. Highlights were elephants, banded mongoose, spotted hyena, black-backed jackal, 2 bat-eared foxes, several lions, and 5 cheetah brothers! Also, the wildebeest and zebra migration is in full swing. There were grunting wildebeest as far as the eyes can see. Simply amazing! Seriously. Hard to capture on camera and also impossible to describe. As we drive around, it's like sailing through a choppy sea, where every wave is a wildebeest. And they're not just sitting around. They're grunting, fighting, galloping, and prancing around. It was wildebeest as far as the eye can see, in every direction. Absolutely unbelievable and hard to fathom, the sheer numbers. Driving around was fun, and we had to make full use of the 4WD. It had rained hard and the tracks were muddy. Black cotton soil is slippery like ice! We were fishtailing all around. We had to continually go back and forth between steep gullies and creek crossings in search of wildlife, and these were quite interesting, b/c sometimes it seemed like we wouldn't make it back up, and sometimes we had to try a few times before we were successful. But Johnson was quite a good driver. On the drive home, we had the most magical sunset, classic African savanna sunset with acacias silhouetted black behind a fiery orange sky, which turned to blood red.
The Masai Mara is obviously in Maasai land, so on the drive back to camp we saw lots of Maasai in their traditional garb, as was as some Maasai warriors.
6/6/19
Wow!! Amazing day in the Maasai Mara! We started out seeing a big male lion mating with a female. Then we saw 5 cheetah brothers lying down relaxing. Then we saw a pride of lions with 4 cute little cubs. We then found a solo cheetah that was very close to us and got up and walked a bit as we were watching. We then went back to the 5 cheetah brothers who had moved into some bushes and were looking up at us. We then saw a few more groups of lions. As we continued driving, we saw 3 hyenas mucking around in a ditch and mud.
Of course a good chunk of the driving was through huge herds of wildebeest. We had lunch in the shad of a solo acacia tree. We then drove down to the Mara river where we saw some banded mongoose. We drove along the river and saw quite a lot of hippos and nile crocodiles. We also got to witness, at several points, groups of zebra and wildebeest jumping into the river to cross as part of their migration. We also noticed a few crocs around. One of the crocs had a wildebeest in its grasps that it had killed before we were there. We saw one group swim across and watched as a croc took down a baby wildebeest.
We then drove to the sand river where we walked into the Serengeti National Park and into Tanzania. We heard on the radio that there was a leopard not too far away. We drove off quickly to it, but when we got there it had come down from the tree it was lounging in and disappeared into a ravine. We searched a bit, but couldn't find it. We were all kind of disappointed. We were driving back to the entrance to end the day, when another call came over the radio that there was a leopard near the road. It was a ways away and in the opposite direction of home, but Johnson decided to go for it. He said "hold on!" and off we went at high speed, on a rough roads, dodging wildebeest. We made it in time! We got a really good look at the leopard as it walked along. So beautiful!! It was the cherry on top of an amazing day. We then had to rush at high speed back to the gate to be back in time before they close the gate and issue fines.
The sky was beautiful with the sunset and rain showers in the distance. Johnson was really good: fast and good in the mud. He also seemed to chat and shake hands with every other driver we came upon. He also had 2 guys that he was always talking to on the radio (Mambo and Moi) who seemed to be mafia or something because they seemed to always know where potential leopards and other cats were. It was so fun (and funny) to be driving so much (and often at high speeds) through the giant herds of wildebeest. Sometimes the wildebeest would mock charge the vehicle, and all the time they are making these funny grunts. As we drove fast, it was fun to see them sprint at full speed away from, or alongside the land cruiser. Highly entertaining!
The rains came late this year, but the wildebeest came early. So very lucky for us! Part of the fun of game driving in the Mara is all of the back and forth on the radio. And when something is spotted, the fast, crazy driving to get there. Then there is the jockeying back and forth to get as close to the animals as possible. Then there is the ever present nervousness of the drivers that a ranger might be near ($100 fine for driving off road).
6/7/19
We had an early morning game drive. We saw a nice family of elephants, some hyenas, ostriches, and millions of wildebeest. And of course the usual other herbivores. We also saw a pride of lions where the little cubs were crawling up on mom. We also watched a male lion walking amongst the wildebeest, but not too interested in them.
After the game drive, we drove back to Nairobi. We did our laundry at camp. As this segment of the trip is ending, we went out for a delicious Indian dinner. Will is the only one leaving the trip, however. I gave a little speech, Reg Guy style, when we gave Will and José their tips.
1 comment:
Interesting account of your fav. place in Africa.
Enjoyed your blog.☺
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