WOW!!! THEY REALLY ARE HUGE!

 

FIVE STAR ALL THE WAY

Unlike the folks crammed in the small Nissan van, Blaine and Mary-lyn are in a much larger Toyota 11 passenger 4x4. In spite of the size difference, we were not about to mess with the water buffalo, 2nd only to the hippo on the most dangerous to get pissed at you. We had just witnessed a changing of the alpha guy, where the challenger stomped on the leaders knee, turning him into lunch for the carnivores. We were about the 50 ft seen here from the incident, and our driver slammed the van into reverse saying we'd better get out of there. We weren't going to argue the point just to get a few close-up shots. There were about 50 of these beasts coming to meet the new boss and we were in the way. This was a clear signal to us that we were not in a game park -- we were in the wilds of Africa and this is the home of the beasts that we were privileged to see.

 

Aah, this is much better, the warthog, the Irish Setter of the Serengeti. They see the predator coming and run. Then they forget why they are running, so they stop to become cat food.

 

We learned that cheetahs take their kills up into trees, and this one likely had an antelope up there.

 

 

There are so many names and sizes of antelopes and gazelles that I cannot possibly recall which this was. The small one in the picture is a Thompson gazelle, one of hundreds we saw both still and on the run.

 

This baboon caught and is eating a baby Thompson, an unusual occurence since they are normally vegetarians. Evidently once they get the taste for running food it is the preference. In the tree there, perched an  eagle waiting for an opportunity to grab a bite when a crow, on the ground, strode up fearlessly to grab his morsel. They are pictured later.

 

                                        This one just wants to watch us.

 

 

I'm glad this 15ft crocodile is on the other side of the Mara River hiding behind a log.

And we kept a safe distance between us and the hippos. Hippos are herbivores and their diet consists mainly of grass and some water plants. Hippos do most of their eating during the night, while during the day hippos spend most of their time basking in the sun on a sandbar or floating lazily in the water with just their ears, eyes, and nostrils, and perhaps their back and top of the head, exposed. Just don't bug them.

If you squint really hard you will see a young Black Mamba who's not quite ready to kill people.

 

  

While we were down at the river, these and a dozen more monkeys kept trying to steal our lunch, managing to head off with the banana cake. . Ha! We should feed them to the cats, and that we have a few.

 

                                                            

  More cheetahs, with warnings from the reserve patrol not to go too close.



 

 

 

  "And a leopard in a bare tree"
When one of the guides spot this elusive cat you see vehicles rushing in from all parts of the savannah.

 One of the top five animals on "the list" ,  but one that not everyone has the opportunity to see .  We missed him until he was pointed out to us.

 

 

 

                                                              And LIONS, lots of LIONS!
 These are early morning views.  They soon sauntered off to find a spot away from day's heat.  

 

 

                                                                A PRIDE PARADE!

 

                                

                                                                    Wee-um mum awayyy!

 

All these cats love to run, and play with their food when they catch it, though they are not really fussy eaters, as long as it's mostly vegetarians. Among their favourite dishes are...

 

 

  The Impalas and other gazelles are really fast, so they tend to be cheetah bites.

  But old stupid is always up for grabs

For those long lazy dinners...

And the big family picnics...

 

 

Any leftovers are claimed by the scavengers

                                                                   

 jackals

                                                                       

vultures

 

 

 crows

 

 

and eagles to name just a few.

 

The scavengers tend to be more camera shy than their suppliers and their meals, whereas these guys are not so timid...and some could care less.

 

 

 

No. I am the walrus.

Alas the old men of the pack are left on their own.

As we moved through the reserve there were areas of empty grassland lulling one in to believing that one was passing through farmland, and then -- the heads of the giraffes 18 feet above the ground signalling a grazing area of zebra, antelopes, gazelles and such

 

                                         What is the plural of Mongoose?

 

 

The bushbabies live in the rafters of the hotel and come for feeding every afternoon.

OH!!! I nearly forgot! The favourite treats of the crocodile...slow Zebras and wildebeests!

 

 

 

 

What else is gnu? 

                                                                                ?

By the time we culled over 3000 pictures to the few hundred we decided to keep, and further hand picked those to put into this blog, almost a year has flown by. I don't suppose it will help if I ask you to act surprised, like this is recent. "The sand got in my brain and clogged it up."
One of our English speaking channels, CNC (China News Channel) has been running ads featuring many sports and other celebrities pleading with people to stop buying endangered animal products such as tiger skin, elephant ivory and rhino horn. "If we stop buying, the poachers will stop killing." Having said that, our last pictures are of white rhino. We saw one very rare black rhino, but were unable to get a picture. Every few weeks we get another news story of more poachers in Kenya and other countries flying in, getting their tusks etc, and zooming off to West Africa to sell them. On the Safari we were impressed with the respectful attitude that the guides had toward the animals and the envionment where they were living.

                                                

    Grazing at Lake Nakuru Park

                                                 Then it was all gone.

                   

When the termites are done the snakes move in

         
                        

     These ant hills really are huge!