Masai Mara Continues...

We were very fortunate to see cheetahs twice in the same day. We saw one in the morning, and one later in the afternoon. The afternoon cheetah posed for pictures before making an attempt to kill.


Matt's favorite animal, the dik-dik. There were a couple that lived right near the gate. They are very shy, so it's hard to get a good picture.


Did you know that wart hogs eat on their elbows? Matt does that too.


Elephant shirt, elephants in the background.


And what better way to end the day than with a rainbow leading to a pride of lions?

Massai Mara Day 2

Last night it rained a lot. The sky was pretty impressive.


We entered the park through the Talek Gate not far from our camp


It was a really beautiful morning.


These are the chickens of Africa.


We took a break and had the opportunity to step out of the car and get a closer look at some of the plants.


We were very fortunate to see two black rhinos today.


The ostrich are the fastest running bird.

In some parts of the reseve the grass is very green.

We also saw a tortoise.


The thompson's gazelle have tails that constantly go like windshield wipers.

Masai Mara: Day 1

Our first full day in Masai Mara started early; we were so excited we woke up at 5. We had a hearty breakfast, packed our lunches, and were on the road by 7:30.


For our trip, Russell and John brough huge lenses that were the envey of everyone.



Hyenas love to sit in the mud. Some of the best mud is on the road. Elephants like mud too.


This marker is the border between Kenya and Tanzania. We had to drive in to Tanzania to see the Mara River and its hippo pools.


We love hippos. It's not often that you see them out of the water in the day.



The Mara River is a crossing point for the Wildebeest during the migration. Many die in the river from crocodiles or hippos. Their carcases wash down to a few points where they collect like this one. These storks have been living off the carcasses for 3 months.


After the carcasses, we stopped by this tree for a nice picnic.


Ariving back home we saw a new born calf.

Africa Starts!

It takes about 2 days to travel to Africa from the West Coast. We had a layover at the Heathrow Airport in London. Russell bought scrabble so we'd have something to do.



Our journey began from our hotel in Nairobi. The 9 of us packed into a big, modified, Land Cruiser with a trailer.

After about 4 hours of driving, we reached the park near sunset. In only a few minutes traveling through the park to our campsite we saw a number of animals.



Wildebeest and the Crowned Prince bird.


Guinea Fowl and Jackal

Water buffalow is the first of the "big 5" we saw. Also, Zebra



Ostrich, and number 2 of the big 5, elephant.



Giraffe, and walking right down the road toward us, a lioness. This is number 3 of the big 5.



Water buck, and as we pulled in to camp, a beautiful sunset. We were very lucky that night. We've already seen 3 out of the big 5. All that is left is the leopard and rhino...