Let's go on Safari! Y'all, this was one of those bucket list things that I'm so excited to check off! It was amazing!! I'm not going to narrate much because if you saw my last post you know. We were in Samburu National Reserve in the middle part of Kenya. It was much hotter, flatter, and less populated than the other areas we'd been in. The drivers who had been driving us around all week took us on safari, which was really great because we were already comfortable with them and could continue asking lots of questions. Plus, we had just grown to like them. Lawrence was the driver we stuck with toward the end of the week and he was a boss finding animals and getting so close to them. He was hired by ZOE to drive us, but usually he is taking people on safari, so he knew what he was doing.
"The Big Five" on safari are lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos, and Cape buffalo. We ended up seeing 3 of the big five: lions, leopards, and elephants. Rhinos are really hard to spot because they travel alone and are skittish of people because of poaching. Cape buffalo don't live in the area we were. When you go on safari they tell you to keep your arms, legs, everything inside your vehicle (which seems obvious...but we know the crazies are out there) because the animals see the van as one entity. If it stays like that and the animals are not antagonized they have no reason to flee when they see the van, which means you get to see lots of animals.
We got to the park in the afternoon and the resort we stayed at was several miles inside the park.
Monkeys all around the grounds of the resort.
Each tent looked out over the river and animals would come get water every once in a while (we were told). We only saw a small gazelle and some birds.
After we checked in and had lunch and a nap, we went back out later in the afternoon until it got dark. Then, the next morning we got up early and went out right as the sun came up. Ok, enough with the talking, here's what we saw:
Look at those eyes!
This mother oryx had just given birth. If you look closely you can see blood on the back of her legs. The baby hadn't gotten up yet after being born. We witnessed it wobble to its feet and stumble around a little bit before thwumping back to the ground. When it was walking we could see the umbilical cord too which is how we realized it had just been born probably within the hour that we arrived. So amazing!
The rare Anna Sink sighting!
This is the same lion family we saw the day before. When we saw them this morning they were all just waking up. The cubs started playing and wrestling...so cute. This was like watching the real-life version of The Lion King.
Bone remains
This bull elephant tried to charge us. He wasn't happy about us being around. When we saw him start to trot toward us and stick out his ears we knew it was time to get outta there!
If you ever have the chance to go to Africa and see these magnificent creatures, GO! I will gladly come with you : )
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