Would You Like To Fly In My Beautiful, My Beautiful Balloon

Up, up and away in my beautiful balloon.  We were picked up at 5 am, and took some mighty difficult dirt roads to make it to the launch point.

And it was well worth it.

The ride was to be Sanjiv and Meena’s maiden voyage.  It was our fifth – two different years back when my dad lived in Arizona, one over Bagan, Myanmar, and then earlier this year over the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.  I must say, growing up, I never expected to ride in a balloon, much less twice in the same calendar year!

If you haven't been ballooning before and the opportunity presents itself, take it.  The feeling of quietly soaring above the area, in this case grassland savanna, small forests, streams, and African wildlife is one of wonder, peace, and joy.

Bagan was a stunning place for a balloon ride, Egypt was awesome, and of course, the desert outside of Phoenix is exquisite.  Africa, however, tops them all.  

They hustle you to the launch site, check you in, and then you wait for the balloon to go from flat to upright and full of hot air.  Then you climb in, and when our pilot, Ernie, was ready, the crew let go of the lines and we floated up, up and away.

The goal of a balloon ride in Africa (besides not crashing – no power lines to worry about here) is not to go very high up, but to actually be about treetop level (unless there actually are trees, than the goal is slightly higher than treetop).  It’s great for animal viewing.

From the balloon, we saw giraffes, a lion, gazelles, zebra, hippos, a crocodile, hyena, impalas, a waterbuck, cape buffalo, and more.  Here's some pictures:

Pro tip: Don't walk into the

flame. You are welcome.

Always get a picture of

the inside of the balloon.

Meena and Sanjiv, excited

for their maiden flight.

Our pilot, Ernie, is an outgoing fellow.

Plus we lived, so that's important too.

A Lion King sunrise.

Impala.

The hyena ignored us.

A view to the east.

A regal waterbuck.

Stream headed to the woods.

Spying on a cape buffalo.

Elephants on the move.

Hippos crossing a river.

Lots of Hippos.  It has a WWII documentary

feel to this picture, flying above the enemy fleet.

Always get a picture of

the balloon's shadow.

Crocodile on the prowl.

Don't take just one

balloon shadow photo.

An obstinacy of Cape Buffalo.  Also

can be called a herd, gang, or troop.

But I'm going to be obstinate and 

stick with the word I picked. 

Another elephant.

A couple of lions. . .lying around.

The most plentiful animal we

saw in Africa -- the zebra.

Zebra on the run.

Singular trees make

awesome photos.

Hungry, Hungry Hippos

On our way from the serval sighting (well, by me, not Carol or Sanjiv heh, heh, heh!) we passed by a couple of different species of African eagles.  It was past sundown, so my photos didn’t turn out well.

We pulled up to the river where two safari vehicles were already doing sundowners (drinks at sundown in the savanna/bush).  Robert broke out the sundowners for us as well – we were bummed that Meena wasn’t there.

Walking over to the rocks above the river, it was enthralling to see the hippos much more active than the other two times we’ve seen the massive creature.  And there were more than just two hippos, there were at least five.

After watching them for a while, we headed back to Bateleur for dinner.  

One of the eagles.

Moments earlier, they went into

a frenzy scarfing down marbles.

Yawning hippo.

When a hippo yawns, it is a warning sign. Hippos yawn to display their jaws and long, sharp teeth. When the hippo feels threatened, it spreads its jaws wide and adopts an aggressive posture, attacking anything who enters its area or gets too close to its young, even crocodiles.*

*Source: African Safaris Ltd.

Now You See The Serval, Or Maybe You Don’t

After a late lunch and a quiet afternoon of relaxing at Camp Bateleur, our late afternoon drive provided us with a challenge.  Meena had to stay at the Camp to participate in a Zoom.

(Editor: That was the challenge?  Writer: No. Well, we missed having Meena with us, but be patient, I’m getting to the challenge.)

We went through the gate entering Masai Mara and up ahead on the main (still dirt, always dirt) road, we saw some safari vehicles pulled over, a sure sign that something interesting was there.

Okay, so here was the challenging part.  Although it wasn’t very challenging for me (heh, heh, heh; they read this, I know Carol and Sanjiv are exclaiming expletives at my expense.)

(Editor: Exquisite alliteration. Writer: Excellent!) 

Robert got word that a serval was right there in the tall grass by the side of the road.  Neither Carol nor Sanjiv could see it.  Oh they sometimes thought they may have seen it, but they couldn’t confirm it.  On other wildlife, particularly far away, I was usually the last of the four to see it. 

On the other hand, using my fantastic, yet relatively inexpensive camera that was recommended to me by a professional Hollywood photographer(how’s that for a humble brag?) for travel, I was able to find the serval.  My lens zooms from 21 to 1365, so it’s got quite a range.

Oh, it wasn’t easy.  The serval blended in very well to the grass.  It’s a tawny colored cat with black spots – almost like a small, muted colored cheetah. The serval eats field mice and Nile rats.  The serval are quite common, but rarely seen.

I’d find it, and then, trying to direct Sanjiv and Carol with how to find it, and then I would lose it again.

Even when I was taking pictures of it, the serval ended up not showing in the photos because the camera focused on the rows of tall, tawny grasses between me and the cat.  I did eventually find a longer green (instead of tawny) grass, and could follow that back a few feet.  I saw eyes a few times, as well as ears, but my camera was defeated.  All but once. Even then, the pictures isn’t very clear.  

See if you can spot it.

It's there.  Click on the photo 

to enlarge the picture.

Lion In The Thick(et) Of Things

Unlike James and the Lewa Conservancy guides, Robert had an old school radio that the guides used to trade information about sightings.  

Now the trick is that the guides all talk to each other in Swahili, so their clients can’t follow what’s happening.  That’s fine by me – it heightens the anticipation when the radio crackles or we get flagged down by a ranger.

And the latter is what happened after we had turned back into Kenya.  The ranger told Robert that a male lion had been spotted at a nearby stream crossing (it wasn’t big enough to be a river, but not small to be a creek).

(Editor: Can you define the difference between a stream and a creek?  Writer: One starts with “s” while the other starts with “c”?)

We followed the ranger, and a few other safari vehicles, crashing through the stream, bouncing along the rocks to the other side.  Up the dirt road (they are ALL dirt roads), and then left into the field next to the thicket at the stream. 

Getting there just in time to see the lion before he disappeared into the thicket, we then doubled back to the other side of the thicket.  He popped through the thicket still on the same side of the stream that we were on.  Then he went down, forded the stream and popped up the other side.

Figuring the lion was going to do this, Robert doubled back across the stream crossing and popped up in time to watch the lion show, and then disappear.  There were multiple crevices, so Robert couldn’t follow the lion any further.  Still, it was beginning to seem like lions are everywhere in Masai Mara.  They are more plentiful in Masai Mara than in Lewa, for two reasons – more rain means more green grasses for their prey to eat, and the great migration goes through Masai Mara, so lots of targets of opportunity.

After tracking the lion through the thickets, we did a pretty good drive around, as we didn’t need to be back for breakfast.  We had already had breakfast on the grasslands, expertly cooked by Robert.

The King.

An Undisclosed Location On the Kenya-Tanzania Border

The landscape at Masai Mara looks a lot like the Serengeti, primarily because the two adjoin each other and there is no difference between the two.

The line between the two parks is the border of Kenya (Masai Mara) and Tanzania.  The land is quite striking – as is every bit we saw of Kenya and Tanzania.  Carol had fun stepping between the two countries, hopping one footed between each country.  

There are markers (see photo below) every 50 yards or so, with the occasional sign that you are not allowed into Tanzania without the express written consent of the NFL (that might not be the exact wording, but you get the idea).

It was fun to be in two countries at once.  And the land is beautiful.  It’s grassy plains with the sudden upthrust of hills every so often.  There appears to be plenty of water holes for animals, although we did see lions at several of the watering holes, so that would make your average zebra or gazelle kind of jumpy.

The dirt road zigs and zags along the border for quite some time.  I’m not sure we saw another vehicle there at all.  

It was pretty neat to be the only people in view on the border.

At the border.

We are all standing in Tanzania in this pic.

Well, we did have Tanzania visas

for our next third location.

There are an unusually number of carcasses

along the border.  I suppose having to wait

in the immigration line makes it easier for

predators to pick-off their prey?

Sanjiv would have joined the order of the

 Cape Buffalo if he had been on the Flintstones.

Baby warthogs might be the

most fun animals to watch. 

The lion does not need the whole world to fear him, only those nearest where he roams.*

Suddenly Robert drove off-road, and we saw some other safari rovers in the distance.  Sure enough, there was a singular male lion drinking at a small watering hole.  

It took a while for it to finish drinking water, which was great to watch.  This male lion had a more impressive mane than the ones we saw at Lewa.  I read that the bigger and more colorful the mane, the more powerful the lion.  It is said that the darker, fuller manes are more likely to attract female attention.

After a short stroll, the King of Beasts plopped down like a dog.  One difference is our dogs immediately go to sleep.  Meanwhile the lion stayed up for a while, surveying his kingdom.

(Editor: I notice you almost always break out lion sightings into separate posts, even if relatively short.  Why?  Writer: Because of their magnificence, The King of Beasts deserves no less.)

* Quote by A. J. Darkholme, Rise of the Morningstar 

No captions needed for these pics.