Masai Mara

Our safari ended with a few days in Masai Mara. We saw many animals we were hoping to see, animals we weren't expecting to see, and many animals we (or at least I) had never heard of. So....this is essentially going to be a post with gratutitous pictures of animals.

Starting with the Giraffes. I think this was one of my favourite animals this trip. They look so tall and elegant--but apparently they are actually quite clumsy. They also run with both legs on one side of their body going forward at one time (i.e., both right, then both left) contributing to their clumsiness. Predators can hunt them by surprising them and making them fall, and because they are falling so far, they usually break bones.






We saw a parade (?) of baboons, including this one with a young baboon on it's back. I don't know if they are called parades, but we saw a whole line of baboons moving through the grass......certainly looked like a parade to me (minus the floats I guess).



And ostriches. This is one animal I hadn't realized grew in Africa.....looking at that sentence I'm thinking it should be "lived in Africa", but the botanist in me just won't quit.


We saw lots and lots of elephants. Many big groups, as well as a few on their own. Hmmm...interesting elephant fact......they have a gland beside their ear that secretes a fluid when they are happy or excited. We saw a few elephants enjoying a good meal, with large wet spots beside their eyes.


Here's me with an elephant. After France, I sure became a fan of the long-arm shots.



And more hippos! I guess I mean more hippo ears and eyes! There were probably about 30 in this river. Hippos that is, 60 hippo ears and eyes.



And wart hogs! Although they may not look cute close up, these animals are fantastic. Matt and Nile and I loved them--running around with their tails in the air like little flags telling the others where they are.


This warthog family didn't seem to want us to leave. Everytime we went to go, one of the kids would start doing something crazy (chasing it's tail, jumping over it's siblings, rolling over and over), but as soon as we would stop to look, it would stop. It happened at least 4 times before we finally left. I guess if I was a warthog, that's a fun game I would play with tourists too.



Topi, and baby topi (Topilet?)


And the big cats. We saw quite a few lions.....mainly sleeping. But some awake.....

And some just waking up.

A dik dik--especially for Matt. They're the smallest member of the deer family.


A black rhino. They're very rare, so we were extremely lucky to see it. Even more lucky, because we saw three of them that day!



On our last morning there we got up to go see the sunrise



We were lucky enough that morning to find a pride of lions feeding on a Topi. We had heard the kill the night before, and so went out to find it. It was really special to see, and pretty amazing.



One of the things we found really interesting (being the biologists we are....or at least some of us are) is that surrounding the lions there was almost a food chain. There were a ring of Jackals around the lions (some of them had some meat--our guide told us that the lions will sometimes give them some meat at the beginning, just so that they leave the lions alone), surrounded by a ring of Hyenas, and mixed in throughout were vultures. All of them were waiting for the leftovers--which weren't all that much. It's amazing that all the scavengers can survive with so little food.


So the animals were absolutely amazing. But, perhaps even more amazing, although likely only for me, was the landscape. I always knew I was a prairie girl but.....wow! It just blew me away. Everytime I saw a single tree on the horizon, or the endless sky of the prairie, I'd start to smile....