Left on safari after breakfast today at 7. Pretty chilly so layers were the order of the day!! And, oh, the sights!!! Our first sighting was a pregnant giraffe who will give birth standing up and the baby will be 5 feet tall! We encountered the hyrex on the same rock as yesterday! Hyrex have a gland on their feet which allows them to cling to a rick without falling for a while. He actually looks like part of the rock. Saw some Cape buffalo and our guide told us not to let them lick us---VERY rough tongue!! Also they have a very good sense of smell but very bad eyesight.
After a VERY hazardous but successful crossing of the creek, we saw a croc sunning and then he slipped into the water. He can live for a MONTH without eating! Vitamins from the sun and a gland function keep him strong. Met many hippos loving the Rapids! Saw many Thompson's gazelles (bigger than Grant's gazelles and with a dark stripe) and impalas cavorting together. Then more hippos in the Mara River. Across the river, a topi antelope lying in the grass. Like impalas, topi are the only antelope with their own tribe. This is because of a gland (shown as a black patch on the back of the ankle). Saw a mixed group Impala (male , female, and baby) traveling together. More large crocs sunning themselves on the rocks.
At 9:45 we crossed over a seasonal creek to see even more of everything. With one very special sighting. The seasonal readiness of the wildebeests for migration to begin in a week to ten days. There was a line of wildebeests that had no end, all walking, ambling, running in the same direction! Some zebras were with the, a hyena was checking them out. Absolutely AWESOME!! We were surround by wildebeests, 360 degrees of wildebeests, some nearby basically ignoring us, some in the distance, ALL moving in basically the same direction. We'd been in the vehicle more than 3 hours so, for a break, we got out and did some yoga for the animals!!!
On the way back we saw giraffes, Cape buffalo and a matriarchal society of elephants (all females and babies). The day has gone from chilly to quite warm and lovely. And by this time we were pretty hungry!! It was Bea who spotted the rolls of toilet paper on a tree! And next we saw a picnic all set up with tables, chairs, plates, silverware, tablecloths, wine. All set up as a surprise for us by the Sayari staff. The TP was by our "bush bathroom" which was a hole behind a tree. Great lunch and we arrived back at camp "bushed" about 2. Some relaxed, some checked out the curio shop at the camp, some went to the pool, some snoozed.......I shopped and went to the pool where last week a staff member found a hippo frolicking. Fortunately it wasn't there with me today! Today it was pretty hot there!
Refreshed, we all met for our last dinner together, told stories, laughed a lot and ate an "African feast" of grilled meats and veggies with many side dishes. Dessert was a fabulous African donut. Weirdly, it had started to rain. We hadn't seen any rain since a sprinkle in Amsterdam. So we were escorted back to our tent under an umbrella. Tomorrow we leave for Arusha and say goodby here to 5 of our group who are going from here to Rwanda to see the gorillas.
1 comment:
Safe travels home. Thoughts & prayers w/you, Suz & all.
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