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Tuesday, January 2, 2001We saw the Amboseli sunrise this morning. We got up at 6:00 for an early start on a game drive. Wildebeest here are territorial and don’t migrate so we see lone Wildebeest standing out in their “space”. Elephants are interspersed in the terrain. The longer tusks are visibly evident here. Many of these are old animals. Because there have been folks studying the elephants here for 30 years I think there has been less poaching and the numbers are bigger. Sometimes one tusk is shorter than the other. They will favor one (like right or left handedness) and wear one down. We saw three jackals and one that just kept barking. It appeared to be upset over something. We’ve been driving through saltbushes.. the water here is somewhat salty. The elephants here are light colored again. Masked Weavers nests and birds are in the reeds. We saw a large herd of buffalo. They really are pretty ugly critters and DIRTY. They have a ferocious reputation and are the most feared animal in Africa. All the zebra we have seen are Burchell. The Grevy’s zebra is about 500 pounds heavier and the stripes are thinner but you have to go further north in Kenya to see them. We saw an immature fish eagle coming back into the lodge as a new “find”. Many trees have no leaves on them and make great perches for the birds. We’ve seen some big ones here along the road coming back toward the lodge. We arrived back about 9:15 for breakfast and then were pulling back out about 10:00. On our second drive we found a group of about twenty-two Great Crowned Cranes. We drove out to the “knob” on the horizon for a hike up and a vantage point of the park. There was a staff up there preparing lunch for a big group. We could see several different large herds of elephants up there. We passed a total of eleven different groups on this drive. Some were crossing over to the marsh or river. Some were on a “mission” and moving along. Some appeared to all STOP at the same moment and freeze in place and then all start walking again. I am just fascinated watching everything! We saw several varieties of mouse birds…. Blue Napped, Speckled and White-Headed. Gray Rumped Swallows were new ones. This is not that big a park. We were back at the lodge again at noon and lunch was at 1:00 so some folks got a dip in the pool. Shirley was doing wash. Sherry and I neither one had taken a suit. After all I’d read about water I didn’t expect there to be any swimming. I’m writing and reading now and we will head back out at 4:00. I feel sure some folks are napping! We haven’t had three game drives in a day before. This afternoon we saw warthogs again. They have a face only a mother could love but their comic qualities make them loveable looking. When they trot or stroll briskly across the savanna their tasseled tail sticks straight up. They always make us laugh. We watched one confronted by a herd of elephants and one elephant in particular thought this little guy should move over. Question for today is: Is a zebra a white animal with black stripes or a black animal with white stripes? Ancient Romans called them hippo Tigris (horse tiger). Hippos are like the tip of the iceberg. The alert head of the hippo is all we ever got to see but it was attached beneath to as much as an additional 7000 pounds of river horse. They have always been in large groups in deep pools. They are aquatic most of the time… all day for sure and they usually only graze at night. Those heroic yawns denote aggression rather than fatigue. The male’s lower canines may reach 12-15 inches or more and make formidable weapons. Our afternoon game drive included impala. There are always lots of elephants. We actually ended up watching the same groups of elephants go home later that we had seen moving out early this morning. The babies are so cute. We found a stream full of catfish and made a lucky find of a cheetah. This does appear to be the Land of the Rainbows. This is our last evening safari. By far this was our best drive here. We got to see the sunset and that light on Kilimanjaro. The clouds parted enough several times for us to see it today but not ever for long. It wasn’t till the end of the day that it cleared up on top. We got lots of pictures. Andrew had an interesting talk with our guide that of course we get to overhear in the car. We all got to chat awhile today when we had a section of the drive without many animals to watch. Andrew was sharing his conversation he had with a teaching couple from Melbourne. He is making connections everywhere. The woman had some ideas for him for his thesis and he is getting stoked about the resource. He plans to catch back up with them tonight in the bar and chat some more. It’s just about dark now and the Night Jars have started. I’m wearing earplugs tonight because they make racket ALL NIGHT long. Andrew and I walked up to sit in the bar lounge (open air) before dinner. We saw a Copper Spitting Cobra on the way up the walk. It looked to be about five feet long. There is an owl nesting up in the roof of this lounge area. Neat place for him! We are all feeling the end of the safari… hate to see it close! Jane Wojecki |
Tuesday, January 2, 2001 Went on an early morning game drive. We saw a lot of the same animals we had seen in Tanzania. We did not see any predators during the drive. Came back to the lodge for breakfast. Went back out after breakfast and viewed more animals. Parked right next to some elephants. One was within meters of the van. Preston told us about a Masai man that attempted to milk an elephant during the drought since he was so hungry. The elephant discovered him and while he was not killed he was critically injured. We had some great views of Mount Kilimanjaro during the game drive. Amboseli National Park is located right at the foot of the Mountain. We got some great pictures with elephants in the fore ground with the mountain in the background. We went back for lunch. Some went swimming again and others just lounged around. After lunch everyone took a nap. Headed out for our afternoon game drive. Saw a lot of elephants up close. Rusty vehicle saw another cheetah. Had a beautiful sunset and saw the two summits of Mount Kilimanjaro. Took some great pictures. Went back to the lodge for dinner. The Hazels
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