In the game park

Hello,

As we moved into the game park the driver turned on a CB radio. There was quite a bit of talk, in perhaps Kswahili, when he said, “This is important I must listen to it.”

We drove on following those instructions and soon came to two cheetahs feeding on something. We watched for quite a while when they picked up lunch and moved it more into the shade. At that moment we could see that it was a male ostrich. Our driver told, “It was probably a young one because ordinarily two cheetahs would not be able to catch a mature adult.” He added, “I have not seen a cheetah in a long time. You are very lucky to be here now. They are shy animals and hide most of the time.”

We saw many of the same animals that we had seen before, but now we could add to the list: hippo on land, elephant, hyena, lions, warthog, crown crane, waterbuck, cape buffalo, and ostrich running around and not some one’s lunch. Because we were there late in the evening the animals were heading to their bedding down places. It was quite fine so see so much movement by so many different species.

The Land Rover had a removable top so Leroy and I could stand, see, and take pictures without obstructions getting in the way. Even though much of the land was dry there was what they called a lake. I would have named it a swamp or marsh because of all the green that was growing in it. Also when the animals walked in it they did not disappear from sight unless they lay down.

We went back, took a shower to wash off the dust, and had a great supper complete with cloth napkins. Even though we had been told by health care workers in the US that we needed to take the malaria pills on safari we did not see many mosquitoes. We did take the pills and had no ill effects from them. There was a mosquito netting on the bed so we used bug spray the first night, but not the second.

In this dark place the stars were brilliant and both of us wished that we had done a little research about the southern sky because we did not know any of the formations.

Paula

http://picasaweb.google.com/psbradway/AmboseliNationalGamePark#