But the best animals we saw today were two very large male lions!!! It took a while to find them, but they were well worth the hunt! As soon as we spotted them, they laid down hidden in the long grass. But no worries, our driver wouldn't be deterred! He pulled off the road to within 8 to 10 feet of where the the lions were! It was fantastic! But they were just laying there, so the team tried everything from a gentle call to loud banging on the side of the van to get their attention! Finally tired of us, they rose and started walking right towards us!! They passed within a foot of the van!!! Alan managed to catch all this on video, except for a brief shot of the roof of the van when the team panicked and tried to pull him in! (The van was equipped for safaris with a roof that lifted so you could stand up and look out - with enough space for a lion to stick his head in!!) Needless to say, this ended our exploration of Kenyan wildlife on a major high note!! We all left the park in a very euphoric mood!
Well, we had a early start to the day! We headed out to the Nairobi National Park, at dawn, so we could see the animals in their natural habitat, later in the day they are hiding because of the heat! And did we see animals!! We saw: wildebeests, water buffalos, giraffes, millions of zebras (are zebras white stripes on black or black strips on white?), ostriches, gazelles, one monkey, impalas, something that looked like a small deer, many varieties of very cool looking birds - the crown bird, hawks etc.... But the best animals we saw today were two very large male lions!!! It took a while to find them, but they were well worth the hunt! As soon as we spotted them, they laid down hidden in the long grass. But no worries, our driver wouldn't be deterred! He pulled off the road to within 8 to 10 feet of where the the lions were! It was fantastic! But they were just laying there, so the team tried everything from a gentle call to loud banging on the side of the van to get their attention! Finally tired of us, they rose and started walking right towards us!! They passed within a foot of the van!!! Alan managed to catch all this on video, except for a brief shot of the roof of the van when the team panicked and tried to pull him in! (The van was equipped for safaris with a roof that lifted so you could stand up and look out - with enough space for a lion to stick his head in!!) Needless to say, this ended our exploration of Kenyan wildlife on a major high note!! We all left the park in a very euphoric mood! To cap off an already great day, we drove into downtown Nairobi to meet Stephen and Rosemary Mbogo, the couple instrumental in the beginnings of Tumaini Primary School, and very good friends! We were joined by Tumaini's board chair, and our agent in Kenya, Johnstone and his wife Esther. We had lots of conversation and laughter! It was a day filled with hilarity, terror and good fellowship. A day not to be forgotten by any of the team!! Tomorrow is another day.......
2 Comments
Jill Stewart
7/21/2011 02:18:00 am
I'm so proud of my 3 girls! Hope you are all having the experience of a life time. Thank you for the blog updates - they are fantastic!
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Angela and Andrew
7/22/2011 02:29:31 am
Hi Carolyn, just read the blog, sounds so amazing...we have to go someday. Thank you so much for all you do. Great blog, Angela and Andrewxo
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