The first morning drive from Camp Bateleur was greeted by a stunning sunrise. And then we came upon elephants, quite likely the same ones we saw last night. Except this herd absolutely glowed in the morning light.
The common zebras also glowed. There are no Grevy’s zebras down in Masai Mara; instead they are found only in small sections of Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia. These zebras liked to walk along the road (it is easier going), but unlike the Lewa Conservancy zebras, the Masai Mara ones we saw wouldn’t clear out quickly as our vehicle approached.
Instead they would continue ambling along, and then just barely get out of our way, as though a couple more steps would be an imposition. It was amusing to watch.
Zebras are glorious. A friend had warned me that the first day on safari we would get all excited about seeing zebras, but by the end, we’d be pretty blase about seeing them. They are the most plentiful animal we saw in all three places on the trip. In our group we joked about A.F.Z.s, which (approximately) stands for “Another Zebra.” But it was good-natured kidding, as, well, speaking just for myself, never got tired of seeing them.
At Lewa, we saw, on the way back from a lion viewing, a lone jackal. I jokingly said it’s “The Night of the Jackal.” On this drive, we saw a brilliantly sun-light jackal, which I immediately observed that it’s “The Day of the Jackal.” I never saw the movie, as I was not quite eleven years old when it came out, but the title of the movie carried a lot of credibility with my fellow students and I when it came out in 1973
But, I always assumed a movie about an assassin with a cool title like that means the jackal is a ferocious killer. You look at them and they appear to be a half-step from being a dog.
Then there was the terrorist “Carlos The Jackal.” I suppose he went with that nickname because they are resouceful and cunning.
They are one of the few species of mammal who mate for life and are quite vocal, although I did not hear their screaming yells and yapping (I may have, but just did not know it).
Robert covered a lot of ground, past herds of wildebeests and impalas. (The “Wildebeest” would make a great name for an SUV.) Good news: I just learned this, that wildebeests are what used to be called “gnus.” We watched giraffes contentedly munching away at the tops of trees. The amount of wildlife is pretty significant at Masai Mara.
After a while, Robert pulled us into an open field (Editor: Well, that’s descriptive – 90% of Masai Mara is open fields. Some have animals, but many don’t) and set up breakfast. He quickly made pancakes, eggs, and had other breakfast food for us. Again, it was nice being outside of the vehicle for a while.
We came upon a monitor lizard, and then an even more massive wildebeest herd than we saw earlier. By a watering hole, there was a solitary hippo with their eyes barely above water, as well as many different water birds, including herons.
Then we saw several breeds of eagles in trees. So it was a pretty darn good start to the morning, before it got even better.
No comments:
Post a Comment