Sunday, February 14, 2016

Ghana Update #15 - Kenya

February 14, 2016

Happy Valentine's day to everyone reading this....or day after...or a few days after.....things here in ghana are going well....i am amazed at how fast time is flying....it's already been five weeks since coming back from holiday break.....and it has been fun around here....have made a bucket-list of must-dos before i leave at the end of the year and we have been crossing things off the list every weekend......but there is still a bunch to do both for fun and for school....but the light is definitely starting to show at the end of the tunnel.....

spring break is just around the corner....and i am headed to tanzania with my good friend wendy from antarctica....well, really from....ummmmm....many places...but at the moment utah.....so i decided i needed to get this update out from my winter break week in kenya....and wowowowowowow....what a trip it was....tanzania was also "crossed into", but i am not really counting it, as there is no stamp in my passport....this time next month the visit will be for real....my 75th country.....very exciting....i will probably hit one more in africa before the end of the school year....togo....our neighbor to the east.....anyway....on with the shots from kenya...hope you enjoy them as much as i enjoyed taking them....



i was only in nairobi for a day....but i loved these buses....the one i loved the most was called purple rain and it was blasting music from purple rain, it was completely purple and had prince from the 80s printed on both sides and was incredible....this one made me chuckle and fist pump as well.... interesting way to look at america.....


while in nairobi we also went to a place called ocean sole - a flip-flop recycling company that was set up to recycle flip-flops that wash up on the kenyan beaches....simply amazing....here's their link - http://www.ocean-sole.com/  even pope francis stopped in when he was in kenya....really, really cool things....in the picture above you can see some of the animals they have created....the giraffe are taller than me....loved this stuff.....you should check it out.....all made from recycled, washed up flip-flops....


then sandy, jeff and i were off to the maasai mara...one of the national parks of kenya and something that has been on my must-ssee list....this is the place where the maasai tribe calls home....although i do have to say that the maasai men seemed to be everywhere in kenya....they all wear the same traditional dress...and i learned that the cattle supplies are dwindling, and cattle is the basis of maasai life....so some men have gone in search of another way to keep families healthy and alive....the maasai women we saw were mostly in the mara region....on our drive to the mara we also saw herds of zebra.....just hanging out....by the side of the road....i was surprised to see them just wandering around in herds....outside of the park....


we stayed in a luxury tent in a camp that was overlooking the mara....this was our tent....only running water was for the toilet....everything else was in a bottle or brought to us for use...like a shower....from a bag that hung above the tent....really cool...power was generated from solar cells....waaaaaaaaaaay cool for this science girl :)


this was also in our camp....a splash pool built for 3-4 people overlooking the mara.....we should have gone in at that moment, as that was the last chance we had before it got chilly for the rest of the time we were there....or we were out on a game drive....it had an amazing view and i wish we had used it....i guess i will just have to go back :)


after arriving at the camp we had a few hours of chillin' from our off road experience before heading into the mara on safari....our first evening drive we saw four of the big five in 3 hours - cape buffalo...like this one...wallowing in mud....we learned it was how they killed lice that had gotten into their coats...it also kept them cooler...even though it was way cooler than ghana....BUT the flies....oh my goodness...they were crazy..... the mud did not seem to keep those numbers down....we also saw lions...but not close enough to snap a shot, elephants...again, not close enough to capture....but the one animal of the big five we saw that was mind blowing was.....


RHINOS!!!!!  can you see them...hanging with the topi (bigger version of antelope/gazelle animals)....just going for an early evening stroll.....CRAZY!!!!  i have never see rhinos in the wild....and there were three of them.....so this was a big deal....and there they are.....just chillin'....these were not the only ones we saw either....amazing.....


the next morning though was the start to an amazing animal day....it started off with two lionesses in trees relaxing and getting ready to hunt.....this one, who is looking right at me....was incredible....she was just hangin in the tree....would look up and survey the area every now and again for what she could hunt and then go back to sleep....wild....they have had a lot of rain in the mara and the grass is super high....because of this, lions are hunting from trees.....


we actually watched this lioness climb the tree....i wish i had gotten my camera out sooner....just to shoot the muscles rippling down her back as she climbed....just incredible....this lioness was literally just next to the truck....we were told we are not seen as food by the lions....as we are in these trucks....so they are not afraid of us...but they also do not rely on us for anything....we are just things that are around them some times....this is why on safari you do not need to deal with windows and such....the lions are not interested in you!!!! 


my hope for this day was that a giraffe would be literally next to the truck so we could hang out....i got my wish.....this animal was so close we could have reached out and given it a pet....no...i did not do that....even though i really wanted to.....


this is me with the entrance sign for the park....for the side we were on...which is known as the triangle....we were told by the guides and other folks that this was the BEST place in the park to see all of the big five....and on this incredible day we saw all of them...we started the day off with lions....then saw elephants, cape buffalo and rhinos again and ended the day with a leopard....yes...a leopard....

oh yeah....the leopard was in a tree....no joke....this was taken with my phone, as my camera was having issues.....so this animal is literally hangin' out next to the jeep...but i didn't even have a chance to zoom....as we had to take the shot and fly out of the park as fast as possible....this leopard was literally our last picture of the day....but man, what a day it was....all of the big five, and then some....it was outstanding!!!!!


the next day we did an all day game drive....for all of the safari this was the jeep we used...and this was our guide...leshou...he is maasai and has been working for the company for 10 years.....he knew exactly where to go...it was incredible...and he knew all of the other guides and the park rangers...so really, he knew his stuff...and yes....i am in a long sleeved shirt....so i was lovin the weather, let me tell you...


so leshou asked us what we wanted to see....and of course we said cheetah....he said it was a goal to see one, but he was not sure if we would...and off we went.....well, as you can see from the shot above, he found a cheetah....and it was crazy...we were driving along and he just stops the truck....waits for a few seconds and then the next minute we are flying towards a tree...i had no idea what he saw....but when we got there...here he was....just chillin and watching the topi....we were the ONLY jeep hanging with this cheetah for about 15 minutes....we got him relaxin' and sitting up surveying the area for hunting and it was incredible....about 15 minutes after we first spotted him another jeep joined us and then we were flooded with people....once there were three jeeps...up he got and moseyed into the grass...not to be seen by everyone....sooooooooo lucky....


another animal we saw two versions of was the hyena...this was a lone hyena just relaxing in the grass....we didn't see more than one here...but there could have been more...it would lay down and then pop up and look around...and then lay down again...and pop up again....love the ears....


the other hyenas we saw were a bit more crazy....we actually crossed the border into tanzania....actually into the sergenti....but there was not border guard, so this was an easy thing to do....and as we were standing outside of the jeep looking around with herds of zebra a wildebeest around, leshou was scouting for other animals to see....because really, topi, zebra, impala, gazelle, wildebeest are really, really common....the next thing i know we are jumping in the jeep and flying across the serengeti....to who knows what....and then we came upon this scene...i hope you can see it better by enlarging the picture....but four hyenas had just taken down a topi....and this is RARE....hyenas usually get leftovers from lions or cheetah or leopard...they usually do not kill something on their own....but obviously the topi was all theirs....i could deal with them eating the topi...but the noise of them ripping it apart was gross....sorry, because you can probably now hear it as well....but it was incredible....the entire animal...hooves, horns, bones, meat, everything, was gone in ten minutes....and the birds of prey who showed up were crazy.....buzzards, eagles, hawks...simply amazing....i am headed back to tanzania at the beginning of march and i hope we get to see something like this.... 


this is the border between tanzania and kenya....and tanzania is my 75th country to visit....but i am not really counting it until i get the stamp in my passport...i know, picky, picky...but really...one must have rules for this trip of seeing the world.....one more continent to live on....many more countries to visit...but i will be in tanzania in less than a month....woot!!!!


once we got back into kenya we saw a bunch more beautiful birds...a pair of male lions...and this old elephant bull missing one tusk...man, did he stink...leshou told us he was looking for a mate and had sprayed himself to be "appealing"....not so appealing to the humans in the jeep...let me tell you....



as our final safari finished we headed back up to the camp and had sundowners looking over this view....simply stunning....this safari was not my first, but it has been my best thus far....we saw all of the big five - elephants, rhinos, cape buffalo, leopards and lions + giraffe, hippos, crocodiles, cheetah, hyena, cranes, egrets, herrons, zebra, wildebeest, topi, thompson gazelle, impala, mongoose (ricki-tiki-tavi) and a ton more birds i can't remember....it was incredible...and every animal i wanted to see we saw....what an experience....


i decided i needed to try on a maasai necklace....i liked it, but knew i would never wear it...they were beautiful, but a bit impractical...so i settled for a necklace....we did not go visit a maasai village...something to me just seems a bit forced and i am not really into that....i asked leshou a lot of questions and pretty much found out all of the information i needed....i also made a donation to a local maasai school...so it was an amazing trip....but of course one more thing had to happen.....


Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba [Here comes a lion, Father]
Sithi uhm ingonyama [Oh yes, it's a lion]
Ingonyama
Nants ingonyama bagithi baba Sithi uhhmm ingonyama
Ingonyama nengw' enamabala [A lion and a leopard come to this open place]
Siyo Nqoba [We're going to conquer]
Ingonyama
Opening lyrics to the Circle of Life from the Lion King at sunrise over the mara...oh.yes.i.did!!!!! it was amazing to just sit back and watch.....and sing!!!!!


on our way back to nairobi we needed to stop and deal with a tire issue...and while that was being fixed, sandy and i wandered a bit to find a bathroom....all of the businesses and many of the houses looked like this....why the wild, wild west theme???? we have no idea....but the buildings certainly were cool....


and of course i had to take one last shot of a topi with an acacia tree.....the iconic safari park shot....and they really were everywhere.....the topi and the trees.....simply awesome!!!!


the last shot is one of a very happy person having her sundowner, looking over the maasai mara from the camp....in long sleeves and jeans and having seen all of the animals mentioned above...this really was a trip of a lifetime and i am sooooooooo glad it happened....what an experience....and i hope to have an incredible experience in tanzania at the serengeti and ngorongoro crater and zanzibar....keep those fingers crossed....big thanks to my friends sandy and jeff for organizing and letting me crash their two-some....what a trip.....

until the next update...i hope everyone is having a great winter/summer season and enjoying the time with friends and family.....i have four months left in ghana and plan on enjoying all of them here and wherever else i head on trips....more soon....thanks for reading!!!!