On our way to Tanzania, we visited a typical Masai village,  living in the traditional type of society they have continued for centuries

Men are leaders in this culture,  and women are the caretakers.    The chief’s son was our guide and spoke quite good English.   The children now have mandated education and so they don’t have to walk the 8 km to the school,  the 5 local villages have built a school.   Our Monetary gift to visit is used for the schooling and community.

The Men demonstrated lighting a fire with 2 pieces of wood, 1 hard and 1 soft, and a bundle of dried grass.

They also danced for us, demonstrating their jumping skill. After we tours the village, the women also sang for us.

We brought some gifts for the children and some colored pencils and pens for the school and a small gift for the women.

We traveling into the Masai Mara Triangle to see more of the herd of wildebeest or Gnu on the migration.   The grasses are green enough however so none were crossing the river.   The only disappointment of the trip is that the animals weren’t crossing while we were near the Mara River

You can not explain the scope of the scene .  It’s impossible to capture the expanse of the animals,  but here is a panorama from our vehicle

Saw other animals in the Triangle too.  Zebra and some antelop also migrate.  We saw beautiful family of elephants and several birds

Some water lilies and birds

Amazing! They said thanks for the long stay! We were here 4 nights!

One of those experiences that you can’t put into words! 

The view from above is spectacular

After skimming the plains and flying high,  we landed, celebrated surviving, thanked the team, and enjoyed a champagne bush breakfast

Defined years ago as the 5 most dangerous in Africa, the 5 that you must kill on the first shot or they will hunt you!

Early safari gets the cats!

Our quest for the day and our 5th of the big 5

Serendipitous sightings are wonderful. These 2 brother Cheetahs were resting, then went after a topi, an antelop, but missed

We didn’t video the sprint, they are quite fast! But it was spectacular to watch.

Alas…. another miss

And this young male lion was just chilling

And costumes

Scenes along the road  between the parks are a snippet of African daily life. Our 150 mile drive took over 4 hours, and most were paved 2 lane roads, main highway that runs from the port of Mombasa all aross the country to Nairobi and even to Kampala in Uganda.

Inside each park, the safari trails vary in width and ruggedness.

This next week is the heart of the great  migration, the 7th wonder of the natural world!  1.5 million wildebeest and Zebra travel from the south of the Serengeti in Tanzania up into Kenya following the green grasses. they cover an area of 6200 sq mi. 

We arrived yesterday to our lodge,  the oldest in the Mara, the Keekorok Lodge.  We already had a game drive on our way into the park.   Animals roam the grounds,  mostly Zebra,  but there are hippos in the local pond.   We are escorted at night to protect us.  

The mara is a haven for the lions following the great migration of wildebeest and Zebra as well as several species of antelop.  We were fortunate our guide was able to situate us for some spectacular photos of this lion pride enjoying the nights kill.     

There were over 40 vehicles that arrived during our few minutes viewing the kill.

Antony kept us on the road,  as going offroad disturbs the animals, especially as they are eating a kill like this 1.  it is prohibited, and most those vehicles could be cited.   We were also in the best position for photography!

We visited the Mara River, and even tho no wildebeests were crossing, there were  animals to see,  crocodiles and hippos.

We had a guided walk by a range,  a masai man, who showed us several places the migration crosses the Mara River

We will go about on safari (swahili for journey or travels) at least 6 hours a day, sometimes in 2 sessions. Antony keeps us aware of any leopard sittings and when the animals begin moving toward the river crossing. So stay tuned.

This evening drive we found this elephant family

We had an hour and half boat trip out onto the lake today, but the rest of our day is a leisurely relaxing one.

Our captain showed us many gorgeous birds, even feeding the fish eagles

Many sea birds

Our lodging is another Sopa Lodge, the Lake Naivasha. The Amazing thing is that wild animals wander between the lodge in the garden! And a view of the Lake.