My favourite part of Masai Mara National Reserve was the lions. My favourite lion was Lefty—I call him Lefty because of his sore paw. The first time we met up with Lefty he was snacking on a giant hippo. The hippo had been in a fight and died. The rangers knew Lefty was having a hard time getting around, so they put a rope around the hippo and dragged him near Lefty. The Rangers wanted to make sure Lefty didn’t go hungry. The second time we saw Lefty he was out on the grasslands, limping along, looking for water. Our driver made sure he didn’t come too close to Lefty. Lefty had another idea. He lay down by our safari vehicle and started drinking from a puddle. Lefty was so close you could hear his little grunts and the sound of him lapping up water. Before we headed to Nairobi this morning we got a report on Lefty. He is back in his hiding place, enjoying his yummy hippo, and doing well. How close do you think you would want to be to a wild lion? You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom.
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We have seen over seventy different birds since we arrived in Africa. Let’s test your bird watching skills. Can you identify theses four birds from their descriptions?
Grey Crowned Crane I have a huge crest of golden feathers on my head I have white cheek I have blue eyes I like swamps and grassland Ostrich I’m taller than Ray My body is mostly black but I have very long pink legs I can run very fast Secretary Bird I have very long legs to walk through grass—I look like I’m wearing pants I’m mostly grey and white but I have a little red around my eye I have a few black feathers on the back of my head called a crest Southern Ground Hornbill I have mostly black feathers I have a patch of red skin around my eye and on my throat I like hanging out in the grassland and eating snakes Six of us headed off in our small boat to search Lake Naivasha for hippos. It wasn’t long before we found our first bloat (that’s what they call a group of hippos). The hippos looked like they were having a refreshing swim, but they were probably walking along the bottom of the lake.They have to come up for air every five minutes. They look like rocks popping out of the water. Hippos are considered Africa’s deadliest land animals, so I was happy when I found out our boat could travel faster than a hippo. A little further around the lake we found another bloat snacking on grass—they are vegetarians. They look even bigger when they are up on land. How many Kilograms of grass do you think hippos have to eat everyday to get that big? You are Always in my prayers. Love Mom. The equator is an imaginary line around the middle of the earth. We live on the north side of the equator. If you live in Kenya the line splits the country in half. So, sometimes we are on the south side and sometimes we are on the north side. We have crossed this imaginary line four times already. Ray is doing a little dance with one foot in the south and one foot in the north.
Finally we saw a fully grown rhino in Lake Nakuru National Park. .I only got a picture of his behind, but my new friend Dave said I could share his picture. This is a southern white rhino. It is not as rare as the northern white rhino. There are only two northern white rhinos left in the entire world. Did you notice what colour the “white” rhino is? You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. When game hunting was big business in Africa, hunters chased after The Big Five. Elephant, leopard, lion, cape buffalo, and rhino were considered the biggest challenge. These amazing animals are no longer hunted in Kenya. Now travellers hope to shoot them with their iPhone or camera. As of today we have seen the Big Five—sort of. #1 We were driving through Samburu National park when Ray spotted a leopard crossing right in front of us. We were able to follow it for about ten minutes. #2 Samburu National Park had so many elephants that we started saying—just another elephant! My favourites were the mothers with their babies. #3 We saw a male lion in the distance driving through the park. I’m going to count that even though I didn’t get a picture. Hopefully we will see another. #4 Well, it wasn’t EXACTLY in the wild, but we saw a baby black rhino at the elephant orphanage. I going to count that for now, but I still trying to see a wild one. I’ll keep you posted. #5 Last but not least is the water Buffalo. We are currently staying at the ARK in Aberdare National Park. At the Ark you can’t leave the building but the animals come to you because they love the nearby waterhole and salt licks. We have beeb watching cape buffalo all evening. Mission accomplished, we have seen the Big Five. Did you notice which animal in Ray’s video is part of the BIG FIVE? We are going to try to get to sleep. The staff at the Ark buzz your room if anything exciting comes to the waterhole during the night. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. During our lunch stop at Trout Tree restaurant we made a new friend—a colobus monkey. They have someone that scares them away so they don’t snatch food off your plate. But after you eat you can go for a little walk to see them. So, you can add another monkey to your tally! Entering Samburu National Park one of the first animals we found was the Grevy’s Zebra. They have longer ears and narrower stripes than the common zebra. One of these pictures is my Gevy’s zebra pitcture and one is a common zebra. Can you tell which is which? We are staying in tents right on the Uaso Nyiro River—check out the video. Pretty fancy tents, right? We have electricity. They shut off the generator overnight, but otherwise it works well. You are Always in My Prayers. Love Mom. A short flight from Rwanda brought us directly to Kenya. We miss Rwanda, but Kenya has already been super interesting.
In the morning we hung out with the baby elephants at the Sheldrick Orphanage. Ms.B from NP2B sponsored two elephants when she visited last summer. We were able to see Taroha and Mokogodo and they are doing well. They are still being bottle fed. They actually drink baby formulate. regular milk gives them a tummy ache. Taroha and Mokogodo will eventually be reintroduced into the wild. In the meantime they are having a blast playing in the mud with their other elephant friends. We also visited the Giraffe Education Centre in Nairobi. The Rothschild giraffes that live here will never live in the wild again. They are endangered and are kept here for their protection. Ray fed pellets to 12 year old Edd. He said their long black tongues felt both soft and like sandpaper. How long do you think a giraffe’s tongue is? You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. Off to Kenya, but we will miss the Rwandan people we met along the way. Can you find Diane in the band?Start a tally—we’ve seen our first monkeys. It was a muddy hike, but we finally reached the Golden Monkey Kabatwa troop. Their monkey family is named after the hill they were found on and has a little over 100 Monkeys. There are more Golden Monkeys than Mountain Gorillas, but they are both endangered. We hiked through potato and bean fields until we reached the bamboo forest. The monkeys love to feast on bamboo shoots. They are pretty quiet, but if you stand quietly in the bamboo swamp you can see them snacking or swinging through the trees. They like playing. They are much smaller than gorillas, but they seemed pretty big. They can weigh up to 15 kg (33 lbs)! I loved how colourful they were. I can’t decide which I like best, Mountain Gorillas or Golden Monkeys. Which is your favourite? Loving Rwanda. You are always in my Prayers. Love Mom. Volcanoes National Park is home to about 600 endangered Mountain Gorillas. Gorillas divide themselves into families. There are about 13 families of gorillas that you can visit in the park. Trackers headed out early to find our assigned family—the Kwitonda. We geared up in our bright blue gators, grabbed our walking sticks, and headed up the steep trail. When we came close we could hear the grunts of the Silverback Akarevuro. We knew there would be many gorillas nearby. Around the corner, we found six gorillas napping and grooming each other. We weren’t allowed to get too close to the gorillas, but the gorillas didn’t know the rules so they came very close to us. If Ray stretched out his arm he would have been able to touch them. That was just the beginning. We managed to see about 12 of the 28 Kwitonga gorillas. My favourite was the baby who pestering his older brother. His brother would swat back and the baby would somersault and then try bugging his brother again. Sometimes they even looked like they were laughing together. So, now we can check mountain gorillas off our list. Enjoy the video. Which part is your favourite? You are always in my Prayers. Love Mom. |
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