Blogs from Masai Mara NP, Rift Valley Province, Kenya, Africa - page 16

The opening photo just about sums up the day - lucky sightings all day. We opted for an early morning drive and late afternoon. We had been tempted by the hot air balloon flights but it was very expensive, rather cold and in the end we very glad we stayed on the ground. We started off by seeing elephant and all sorts of gazelle impala topi etc. Our first lions were sprawled out by the side of the road obviously having had a good meal last night or that morning. As they finally decided to amble off across the road the scavengers who had been waiting at a distance moved in . Jackal and vultures first, followed by the hyena who won the day for the bones as Tamsin's photo shows!! We had been watching ... read more

ANIMAL SPOTTINGS Morning Tour:  Pride of 10 Lionesses  Lionesses with cub lying the grass  Elephants  Three Cheetahs in the distance  Herd of Buffalo  Three Ostriches  Hyenas  Wildebeest  Topi  Thompson’s Gazelle  Grant’s Gazelle  Jackal chasing an Impala  Two Hippos in the river adjacent to our hotel  One Crocodile in the river adjacent to our hotel Evening Tour:  Spent most of the evening looking for a black rhino  Elephants  Buffalo  Giraffe  Warthog  Impala  Waterbuck ... read more

Thanks to Parasar's relations with Emirates, I got hooked up with a discounted ticket to Nairobi, via Calcutta and Dubai. :) Just when I was starting to get a fondness for trains, busses and bumpy roads... I wasn't planning on coming to Africa but ended up coming here on a whim. Actually, what had happened was I came across an internet ad for a flight from Kathmandu to Nairobi... and i thought, "Hm... Nairobi...interesting...Why not?" So I guess internet ads do work, at least in an inspirational sense. It took me a while to peel myself away from Nepal, but after bumming around, drinking, dancing, partying for a week and a half, post-wedding, I knew it was just a matter of time (self-control?) before I had to bid farewell to all this fun. I found ... read more

ANIMAL SPOTTINGS Evening Tour:  Elephants  Lion & Lioness/Two Lionesses  Three Cheetahs  Buffalo  Giraffes  Zebras  Wildebeest  Hyenas  Vervet Monkeys  Baboons  Black-eyed Eagle  Warthogs  Impala  Hartebeasts  White-bellied Bustards (bird)  Storks  Ostriches  Topi ... read more

Well our journey in Africa begins...... The first day of our tour started with a long and very bumpy journey to the Masai Mara National Park. We travelled throught the Great Rift Valley and the scenery was spectacular! We went on our first game drive into the Masai Mara and were lucky enough to spot 3 of the "Big 5" - Elephant, Buffalo and Lions (which included a pride with three cubs!) We also saw zebra, gazelles, giraffes, warthogs and many more. Following this we went into a traditional Masai village to learn how the locals live. It was fascinating to learn that their stable diet consists of milk, blood and meat from cows! The men have many wifes and the going rate for a wife is ten cows - so my dad could have quite ... read more