Africa: The Migration (6) - Various Animals

One of the pleasure of the migration safari is the opportunity to see again some of the favorite animals, who now cohabit in the Masai Mara with the migrating animals (mostly wildebeests and zebras and some of the antelope family). As I've written, the numbers are amazing, but even as we observe the usual residents, there are some unexpected delights. And sometimes a frightening surprise.

For example, on one of our early morning game drives, we came upon a group of spotted hyenas, all very comfortable and relaxed and one of whom was not at all nervous about being right next to the road where we were driving. These guys weren't looking for breakfast (a not-unusual situation during the migration, as I've said) but they seemed particularly self-satisfied.

Then our speculation kicked in, for down the road a ways (as you can see in the first picture of the Migration Safari - Various Animals Album) we saw a stalled vehicle. As we approached, after we had left the spotted hyenas, we could see that the car had a broken axle, with the front wheels totally askew. So of course the wicked imaginations of the Great Four Safari Team kicked in, and for quite a distance we had considerable conversation about the possible sequence of events: a broken axle early in the morning, hungry animals wandering about looking for breakfast, inexperienced tourists (probably on a self-drive safari, not recommended) getting out to survey the damage.... You get the picture.

But we saw no signs of struggle and eventually decided to get the conversation back to more realistic comments, and spent the rest of the morning looking at a vast array of animals. And finding some unusual ones. This one-horned hartebeest, for example. Much speculation about why he has only one horn. A fight with another animal? A birth defect? An accident of some sort (and if so, why so evenly cut off)? Lots of things to speak about on safari. And of course always continuing to be amazed at the numbers of animals. So many animals enjoying the good grass!

Africa: The Migration (2) - The Four Best Head Out

We've taken to calling ourselves "the four best," since we like to think our our little group as The Four Best African Friends. Not sure it works, 'cause I have so many best friends in Africa that it is difficult for me to decide who are "the best."

But no question about it, these are the people I hang out with most, and we have our fun.

What we're calling ourselves connects, I suppose, to the phrase used by many people who come to Africa to go on safari (and it's how we came up with it, as we thought about what people look for on safari). It's traditional to make a big deal of looking for "the big five" (African buffalo, African bush elephant, leopard, lion, and rhino). Why not? It's not a bad idea to have some focus for your search as you ride about looking for wildlife. Still, there is so much else to look for that it seems a little gratuitous to give so much attention to just five animals.

The Four Best's Migration Safari began last Friday, a big day in Kenya. It was a national holiday, and since it seemed a good idea to be away from all of the crowds in Nairobi, we chose that day for beginning our migration safari. I wrote about the migration phenomenon in the last post, so won't go into detail about the Great Migration now, except to say that it was a great excuse for taking off and heading back to Masai Mara, the huge game reserve some of us had visited before (a safari described in lots of posts back in May - click on "May" in the archives list to the left).

But we couldn't just leave our patriotism at home, so when we stopped for petrol, we saw a display of little flags and decided we had to have one attached to the car - Charles's job! Lots of fun, attracting attention both at the early morning hour and after we got into the game reserve.

This safari was a little different, as this was to be my first tent safari. Not a bad way to do a safari, and certainly a pleasant way to get to meet other people, since most campsites have several tents in the compound and campers share a common dining tent for meals (some photos are here). Nice conversations and getting to know new people around the big bonfire before dinner, that sort of thing.

Once again I was the only muzungu in the crowd, a distinction that seems to elude me here in Kenya, but afterwards I'm always surprised (and pleased) when the subject comes up and I realize that none of us even thought about it. Kenyans just don't worry about such things, and certainly our little group is now so tight-knit that we have many other subjects to discuss.

Like all the animals we saw. Stay tuned for more (and more photos).