East Africa Day 4: A Loooooong Drive!

 On Day 4 we had to drive all the way through Masai Mara National Park, Through Kenya, cross the border into Tanzania, and then drive through Tanzania and MOST of the way across Serengeti National Park. 98% of this drive would be on bumpy dirt roads so it proved to be a long jarring day but fortunately there was lots to see. We started out the day checking out this Mama hippo and her adorable baby in the hippo pool in front of our camp. The baby was SO cute!

On the way out of Masai Mara we spotted a bunch of things, including a Leopard Kill in a tree! Check out my awesome safari crew:

 Cool hyena!

 Then just on the edge of the park we stumbled across a lion pride that was literally hanging out on the road. They were very close to the entrance on the far end of the park. Talk about a welcome party!

 Hmmmm.... those tourists look tasty!

After we drove out of the park we drove up and out of the rift valley:

 And after that we didn't get to see wild animals for a while but we did get to see real life in Kenya and Tanzania which was just as interesting!

The primary mode of transportation seems to be the motorbike and if you think that's an inefficient mode of travel because you can't carry a lot with you, then think again! They can fit an entire family on one of these 2 wheeled marvels!

 along with PLENTY of cargo!

 We passed through MANY different tribal lands. You could tell when you had changed into a new tribe's territory when the huts changed. We went from the square shaped, square roofed huts of the Masai to these round huts with round roofs.

 Then we passed square huts with round roofs:

A little village:

 I can't remember which tribe built which hut or all the names, but there were the Kuria, Luo, Nakuru, Zanaki, Ikizu, and many more. Sam told us the principal characteristics of each tribe. Some were hunters, some were herders, and there was one tribe for which Sam just said: "You know how in the USA Kenyans win all the marathons? Yeah well they're all from the Kalenjin tribe!" Wow! A tribe of natural runners! More huts in the distance:

The border crossing in Isebania was a bit dicey. The kind of place where you glance at your spouse and with no conversation needed, each of you grabs a kid and stays in physical contact with that child for the duration. We had brought 50$ each for the visas to get into Tanzania but the clerk told us that we owed $400 US. WHAT? Check out the fee structure he told us. Sure enough, we went over to the wall and there was a list of every country on earth with the fee $50 per person, with the EXCEPTION of the USA which said $100 per person. How do they get away with this?!? I mean what if the USA turned the tables on Tanzania and charged them and only them, double for all fees into OUR country??? We had enough for what we thought was our visas and enough to tip Sam and we had to give them ALL our USD which left no money for Sam. He was totally cool though and told us how we could wire money to his phone for tip. So we were briefed on how to do that and said good-bye and thanks and told him again how sorry we were not to leave him immediately with the tip he deserved. Then we met our Tanzanian guide Karato. Our new rig:

 Driving through Tanzania was looooooooooong. We ate box lunches in the car and used "natures restrooms" on the side of the road, ALWAYS making sure we stopped in an open area so we could watch for Lions. I seriously was not allowed to go behind a tree. I had to pee on the road behind the truck. Good thing I'm fast.....

 The kids were AMAZING considering we left Masai Mara at 7:30 am and got to our Lodge in the Serengeti around 6pm. They listened to music, read, asked questions, and just were generally GOOD on a VERY long drive!

 Finally we arrived at Serengeti National Park and we still had 1.5 hours to drive! At least it was through parkland!

As soon as we entered the park we were able to pop the top on the rig. It was nice to be able to stand up and stretch our legs after all that sitting!

We drove over a big river filled with hippos and stopped to watch them for a bit:

 Then we hit the herds! There were wildebeest and zebra as far as the eye could see!

Pictures absolutely do not do it justice. You can see some day 4 video by CLICKING HERE!

We stopped to watch the herds for quite a while. Then we turned off the plains into a little gully between hills and stopped to watch a very large baboon troop pass by. Their antics were hysterical!

 We also saw a large herd of Impala:

 Finally we arrived at the Serengeti Sopa Lodge. Not sure what is up with Ted's weird "I'm gonna bite you" face. Too much wild-life viewing apparently...

 We got there just as the sun was setting but we still got a brief view of our home for the next 2 nights.

 We settled in and had a great dinner. Tomorrow we would explore the Serengeti!

East Africa Day 3 - Masai Mara

                     Day 3 VIDEO HERE!  (Includes Cheetah hunt!)
On Monday we got up early and headed out the door to breakfast. We had to meet Sam at the truck at 7am so we could get out there and see some animals as they were just waking up.

Sam was an amazing guide and he was very well liked by all the other guides so as soon as anyone found anything they radioed us which was awesome. As soon as we headed out someone called him over the CB radio to tell us about a lion sighting.

We went tearing across the savannah and soon came across another BIG pride of Lions. There were no small cubs this time, but a large group of young lions - about 4-5 females and a young male. We thought the male was the leader of the pride but Sam said no way, that lion was much too young. We kept looking. Sam knows his stuff. We found the real pride leader in the bushes eating a fresh warthog hill. I guess he thought there was only enough for one because he was keeping that warthog all for himself. We watched for a while and then I guess he didn't appreciate that too much because he picked up his warthog and walked away with it.

Sam knew that I really wanted to see a cheetah. But cheetahs are really hard to find. This is how awesome our guide was. He had put the word out that we were on a cheetah mission. While we were at the lions the radio started crackling in swahili. Sam turned to us and told us that a cheetah had been spotted elsewhere in the park. "Cheetah trumps lions!" we said, and we tore off to find a cheetah. Cheetah's are hard to spot! (because they're already spotted. Ha! I make joke..)

 Trying to keep lots of spotters looking in all directions!

REALLY hard to spot. We drove all around for over an hour with binoc's etc trying to find a cheetah. We saw amazing animals, beautiful herds, and a very pregnant lioness that had gone off alone to give birth. Pretty cool stuff.

 But we still couldn't find a cheetah. Sam got on the radio and found the person that had seen the cheetah earlier. Told that guide that they needed to stop what they were doing, bring their truck-full of clients, and SHOW us where the cheetah was. Love him. So the other truck comes. And we head up a grassy hillside with no animals in sight. And almost ran those cheetahs over before we saw them. Man are they hard to see! We would never have spotted them on our own!

These 2 cheetahs were just hanging out in the grass. Then like Melissa and Jeff on vacation it went down like this:
M - You hungry?
J - Not really. You?
M - you know me... I could eat.
A few minutes pass...
M - Ok, I'm getting a snack. You want something?
J - Nah
M - You sure? Because I'll get a big snack if you want some. But if not you're not eating it.
J - Yeah I'm sure....

So the Melissa cheetah walks off and the Jeff cheetah watches her go. Wonder what he was thinking?
The hungry cheetah walked to a little termite mound and posed on it like a safari advertisement. She scoped out the scene. Saw a nice herd of Thompson's Gazelles and took off running. I was waiting for that cheetah to really get up to speed and all stretched out in a sprinting cheetah stride. But that cheetah never even broke out of a light jog. She was on the herd so fast and almost stumbled over a baby gazelle just sitting in the grass. She had her snack in seconds and walked away with it still kicking. The other cheetah watched the whole thing but the Melissa cheetah took her prize to a different patch of grass and started munching away there so she wouldn't have to share. We were close enough to hear crunching bones.

 Fast food:

 Hey! What are you lookin' at?

The saddest thing was that the whole gazelle herd moved off kind of freaking out and highly agitated but you could tell exactly which gazelle was the mama. She kept coming back and looking for her baby and then other gazelles would convince her to move on but then she would come back again and gaze in our direction. So cool to see a cheetah kill but then also very heartbreaking to see this mama pining for her little one.

We watched the cheetah eat and the mama gazelle look for her baby for a while and then.... RANGERS! We saw them moving in our direction with their white trucks. We did not have permits to drive on the grass.... only special film crews get that. And we were waaaaay on the grass, off the dirt tracks that we are supposed to stay on (although Sam never did because he always wanted to get us close to what we were seeing). We all took off. Tore across the grass in the other direction to the first dirt track we came to and then tore away down that road with the rangers in hot pursuit. We hit a crossroads and headed straight to a big group of trees that we thought we could lose them in but them disaster.... the road we chose was a dead end that simply looped around the trees and then returned to the cross road. We had to drive back sheepishly to the crossroad where the rangers were waiting having already caught 2 of our partners in crime. So busted.
Sam said they would probably fine us about 100$. Which was totally worth the cheetah experience we just had. But they all talked at the trucks and then we all drove away and we never did hear any more about it so who knows what happened. Knowing Sam he just convinced them that he HAD to go on the grass because the cheetahs were awesome.
We headed back to camp and had a nice time chilling out before lunch. We ate a beautiful meal, swam in the pool, and relaxed. It was a hot day, even at an elevation almost a mile high and that pool felt amazing after rattling around like a marble in a tin can all morning.

   We met Sam at 3PM and headed through the park, looking at all kids of animals....

 ...and spotting ANOTHER LEOPARD!

It was waaaay tucked into a really dense tree. Good hiding dude. We headed out of the park to visit a Masaai village but first we had to hit a bank to get some USD because we were headed to Tanzania in the morning and we needed money for our visas. We got to the bank 22 minutes too late. This was an EPIC fail because there was no civilization between us and the border. We were thinking we would have to now drive waaaay out of our way to get to an ATM in the morning which would have added many hours to an already long travel day. Then Sam went and talked to the people closing the bank and they RE-OPENED THE BANK FOR US. Who had the best safari guide ever?? Umm.. US! And can you even imagine this happening anywhere else on EARTH? In a BANK? Jeff got us some cash and we were off to visit the Masaai.

 Masaai town:

A word about the Masaai. They believe that God gave them and no other people on earth, all the cattle in the world. This is a cool idea. You just grab something and claim ALL of it. I am so doing this with chocolate. It's all mine people.... if you have any, start boxing it up lest I come club you over the head and take it from you by force. That's pretty much what these guys have done throughout history. So they are polygamous because you kill off a lot of men when you run around declaring war on anyone and everyone that owns cows. The remaining guys have to marry lots of women each just to make it all work. A Masaai village is one guy, all his wives, and all their children.

 It's a lot of people. But here's the thing.... they don't run around declaring war and getting killed off all the time anymore. And yet they still each marry about 8-12 wives each. You and I both know that doesn't pencil. Either you gotta kill off the surplus guys old-school like they used to do OR you have to come up with false greivances against most of the 18 year old males and shun them and boot them out of your community like the Fundamentalist polygamous Mormans do. So where ARE all the left-over Masaai men? No one was able to answer this question satisfactorily people. A Masaai mystery.....

 The adults drink a mixture of cow milk and blood every morning and they say they are very healthy because of this. I will stick to coffee thank you very much. A steaming hot cup of bloody milk just doesn't do it for me in the am. They eat tons of meat, and not much else. They live in a big fenced-in surround in little huts made out of cow manure mixed with mud. And those huts smell like they're made out of cow manure too. Wow.

   We spent a bunch of time in the village, toured a hut, did some singing. Attempted to make a fire with traditional materials (epic fail... they claimed wet wood. Seriously Masaai dudes, I have seen Survivor contestants light better fires than that!) and tried on some Lion hats.

   On the way back through the park we saw a whole bunch of Giraffe and stopped for a while at a pool with TONS of hippos! Sam let us get out of the truck for once to watch and they were amazing, calling to each other, snorting water, and playing around. We followed some other animals and watched the sun go down. They we FLEW back to camp as we were not supposed to be out after dark. Sam is such a rule-breaker...

We had a wonderful evening over a good dinner and nice conversations with people at camp. Tomorrow we were heading to Tanzania!
Hanging out with John again...

 Keeping a daily journal:

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