FUN-Travel: Masai Mara, Kenya – Safari – Day 3
July 31, 2019 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-Travel: Masai Mara, Kenya – Safari – Day 3
Game Drive 6:15 – Our guide Nickson receives call at 6:30…
…rhinos have been spotted and we tear out…
…barreling down the bush on the Safari Superhighway…
…arriving at 7 to relish the sight of Reggie…
…mama & baby retreated to thick bush…
…but he stands tall and regal…right out on the open plain!
- Then more good fortune…2 mama lions with 3 cubs…
…spotted sleeping and nursing in grassy bush…
…then for the grand finale and pièce de résistance
…Simba is spotted sleeping on savanna mound…
…who wakens and sits up…
…then ever so slowly saunters off.
Experience our first bush breakfast…then head back to camp.
- Opted to not take afternoon game drive…
…I wanted another massage…which was brilliant…
…as nice steady rain started dropping…along with distant thunder and lightning…
…and continued throughout the night.
FUN-fact – Had Goldilocks weather in the Masai Mara…not too hot and not too cold…just right. 🙂
Not so FF – There are only 40 black rhinos in this area.
FUN-Travel: Masai Mara, Kenya – Safari – Day 2
July 31, 2019 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-Travel: Masai Mara, Kenya – Safari – Day 2
1st Game Drive 6:15 – herd of 18 elephants with 4 babies…
…cheetahs from yesterday are mom with 3 cubs…
…out and about on the prowl…
…along with Leona the Leopard!
2nd Game Drive – same varying array of animals…
Barry the Buffalo
…plus first topi…
…feverishly in search of the…
…ever elusive Reggie the Rhino!
Tina the Topi
FUN-fact – They place hot water bottles in the bed at night!
FUN-Travel: Masai Mara, Kenya – Safari – Day 1
July 30, 2019 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-Travel: Masai Mara, Kenya – Safari – Day 1
1st Game Drive 6:15 – Exquisite Early Morning Movement!
…lions…cheetahs…elephants…buffalo…leopards…hyenas.
Simba Stalking
- Back 9:15 for breakfast & ask for twin beds pushed together. Luckily it’s an option!
2nd Game Drive 4:00 – herd of 14 elephants with 2 babies…4 cheetahs resting…
..warthogs…giant kingfishers…yellow billed storks…gray headed kingfisher…
…+ the usual suspects.
Mara River
FUN-fact – We saw the Big 4 today!
More FF – They call a game drive the “African Massage”…it’s free and guaranteed that every guide will give you one.
FUN-Travel: Masai Mara, Kenya
July 30, 2019 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-Travel: Masai Mara, Kenya
- Depart 9:30 for Kenya flight…arrive 10:30 Tarime, TZ for drive to border…
…experience typical 3rd World Customs Chaos & Immigration Extortion!
- Need yellow fever card (medical record proof doesn’t cut it)…
…so have to pay additional $100 + $100 for Visa fees.
Airstrip Gift Shop
- 2nd flight departs 1:15…arrives 1:35…on way to Entim Mara Camp…
…catch cheetah on high alert…lurking in grass ready to pounce…
…takes 3-day-old baby gazelle down.
- Rest of day relax and get deep tissue massage. AHH!
FUN-fact – Night Noises – Howard the Hippo howls + elephants trample + baboons grunt & hyenas stalk.
Not so FF – This camp only has queen size beds which ain’t cutting it!
FUN-Travel: Northern Serengeti, Tanzania – Great Migration – Day 2
July 30, 2019 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-Travel: Northern Serengeti, Tanzania – Great Migration – Day 2
- Repeat Yesterday…with added morning safari looking for other animals…
…see family of 14 elephants with 2 babies…pair of lions…and the usual suspects.
Then we hit the jackpot!
- Crossing #7 has 3 different lines of wildebeests…
…all jumping in at the same time…and lasts over 45 minutes!
- Sadly they don’t all make it…croc gets weak baby swimmer…
…adult breaks leg…swept downstream in fast moving current.
- Happy Hour…spectacular sunset around campfire!
FUN-fact – Incredibly Insane! Throngs of 1000’s of Wildebeest’s amass on the banks of the river and wait until one courageous wildebeest makes the first move—the first jump. Then they pour into the rivers like ants, leaping, bleating, calling—a crescendo of adrenaline and instinct.
One interesting study likened the wildebeest crossings to a type of ‘swarm intelligence’. From the outside, the crossings seem to be frenzied and uncalculated—almost like mass suicide—but the animals are, in fact, systematically exploring and overcoming the obstacle as one single unit—or swarm.