52 elephants
Trip Start
Sep 04, 2008
1
4
18
Trip End
Oct 13, 2008
Masai Mara,
Kenya
Monday, September 8, 2008
I am like a little kid catching up and have a grin from ear to ear seeing the animals for the first time. First we see 3 giraffes. I spot them first, "giraffes at 11 o'clock" no one had seen them. the walk quietly across the road in front of our truck, about 10 meters away. We seperate from our other group (we are in 2 vans) and see Gizelle, Kongoni and birds. Next I see 3 elephants straight in front of our van. We slow and pull up about 30 meters from them. We all stand and poke our head at of the top of our and van and count another 8 elephants just beyond a small hill. They are within 100 meters of us. We snap away with our cameras and whisper to each other. It is very exciting to have already seen my 2 favourite animals.
Our First Elephants
We cross a very steep mud pool and cheer on our drive. He was going to find another way until a fellow passenger said " I think we can make that" so that was ebough for the driver to give it a go. We weren't too sure once we were at the point of no return... but down we went and up the other side.... to slid back down again into the mud. He backs it up again and this time revs the van as much as possible, we all lean forward (like we thought it would help) and we make it. We continue around towards one of the 4star safari lodges for a toilet stop and come across a male lion and his lioness. after watching for about 10 minutes he decides it time for some action 'to make babies' apparantly we have witnessed something rare. The other group didn't have as much luck as we did and didn't beleive we saw our 11 elephants.We stopped for our pre-packed lunch beside the Mara River. This is the place that is the most dangerous for the annual wildabeast migration as they have to cross the river to get from the Masai Mara, Kenya, into the Serengetti, Tanzania. The crocodiles have a lovely feast every day. Anthony gets to see his first hippos, so he is finally happy. After lunch we then head to the Hippo Pools, where there are about 20 hipps lazing around in the muddy water. We go for a water with a soldier and a big gun. When I ask him if he has used it he simply replies "Of course" the locals are more scared of hippos than of lions or elephants
Crossing the Creek
.We drive around and around the game reserve and see so many more animals. We come across about 20 giraffes all staring the in the same direction. we follow their gaze and see a lion relaxing on a raise mound of dirt. We loose count of elephants when we round a corner and see about 30 of them heading into a green/water area. We think we have counted 52 on our first full day. To top of the day on the way out we see a single buffalo. and I spot a tortoise.
So far: 3 of the Big 5: Lion, Elephant and Buffalo.
Still to see: Leopard and Rhino.
