An early start, but earlier for John. Once again, he’s the caged animal. As he’s not allowed to go for a run outside the gates of the lodge with the lions, cheetahs etc, he was reduced to running along the fence line of the grounds of the camp here, several times, and then round and round the soccer pitch (also several times) and by the time he had breakfast he was giddy.
Today’s animal encounters were: wildebeest, banded mongoose, Thomson gazelles, impala, elephants (yes, I did take more photos, and yes, they are worth it), hyenas, jackal, a beautiful crane, a cheetah devouring a kill, giraffes (took more photos but the light was bad so you’ll never have to see them), lion and lioness on honeymoon (see below for the details), another jackal scavenging a carcass, a blue (as in the colour) lizard, zebras in migration proportion (amazing photos below), a Roller bird, another leopard tortoise crossing the road, hippos galore (nothing endangered about them here), and finished the day with a lioness and her cubs in the shade of a tree. Phew.
We chilled out by the pool after that and John taught the boys how to do bombs, eggs and gutsies. He clearly had a misspent youth at the Harold Holt pool. Then it was the customary hour or so looking through our photos while we watched the hippos over the balcony here at the lodge, surrounded by others staring at their own digital devices and marveling at what a day with wild animals can be.
Our biggest disappointment is that the migration is late this year. There is one group of wildebeest that has arrived, but there are thousands to follow. Given the location of the leading animals, the zebra, they will not make the river crossing for another few weeks. so we are now officially “not lucky”.
Here are some of our highlights today:

These are some hyenas we saw having on feast of antelope. Hovering around was a jackal,  looking for the scraps.

This is the first group of wildebeest to arrive. I wish we could have seen even more.

We came across this crane. It’s the national emblem for Uganda. We saw this one, the male, and also the female.

Here’s the cheetah we saw feasting on what we think was an antelope of some sort. She was right beside the road.

Well here’s the honey moon couple! That’s the way William describes them. While we watched these beautiful animals, we learnt, and observed, how they mate. It happens every 7 or 8 minutes for 2 weeks. No typo. And Fergus got it all on video. They now know what “hooshmakundi” means! And below, is the look (wish you could hear the roar) as the male expresses himself.

This is a sausage tree, because it grows………fruit shaped like sausages. And you thought I was going to say it grows sausages, didn’t you?

Check out these amazing lizards! The one on the left is the male. They were mating too!

Nice view for a Magpie fan!

Now this was worth coming here for. There were zebras as far as we could see, and in a few days the wildebeest will arrive. This is officially nowhere! There is an area between Kenya and Tanzania that neither country owns. So we can add “No Where” to our passport stamps. (I was surprised that they actuall missed the opportunity to stamp us out and back in.)

Here’s the lilac breasted Roller Bird. (I’ve become quite the ornithologist)

Oh, and did I mention there are hippos in the river over the deck of the restaurant here? We really are having the best time here in Africa.

As open and deserted as the plains of the Mara look, the reality is quite different. No one is allowed to be in the reserve, except for the tourists’ safari vehicles. The Masai people get a few designated areas to graze their cattle within the reserve. So it’s fair to say you’d expect it to be deserted. But looking at this photo, you’ll see there are times when it’s positively peak hour.

If a guide finds something “good”, meaning lions, cheetahs, rhino (we’re still waiting for the call on that one) etc, he gets on the radio and tells all the other guides, and before you know it, vans and 4WDs pop up in all directions. The herd mentality takes over, and if there’s a gathering of cars, then others will follow.

And on further discussion with William, he tells us there can be hundreds of cars crowded round an animal. So perhaps I shouldn’t complain! We came at this time because it worked for us (between races, and covered school holidays), and as it happens now is when the migration is on, as thousands of animals move north from the Serengeti in Tanzania to the Masai Mara in Kenya.

And as for isolation, my mobile phone will commonly drop out between Torquay and Anglesea, but our guide will get regular calls, and chat away on the open plains here, miles from anywhere! And below is the reason! Here is a picture of an African mobile phone tower. Nice touch heh?

Below is a picture of a lady we met back in Botswana. Her name is Precious (yes, it is) and she holds her grand daughter Chloe. It’s highly likely she will whip out a mobile phone at any time.

I’m sure there are real roads here across the plains, but probably no maps. Our guide, William, just seems to turn in random directions through the maze of tracks wherever he thinks we might see some animals. I asked him how he knows where he’s going, and he just smiled and said he knows where he needs to end up. What a relief.

We’ve noticed that there are very few Australians and Poms here at our lodge. Since we’ve been in Kenya, it seems all the other visitors are European, Scandinavian, and Japanese. It’s quite a contrast to Zambia and Botswana.

Oh, and our afternoon safari drive was close to fruitless. That must mean we will have a good day tomorrow when we head to the Mara river and hope to see the “crossing” of the animals across the Mara and Sand Rivers from Tanzania.

I hate getting up in the dark, but it’s so worthwhile when you get to do morning safari. Our first treat was cheetah! We first saw one to the right of our vehicle, and then it walked right past us and wandered through the long red oat grass. Fergus thought it was Christmas!

Here’s our first cheetah sighting.

This male ostrich has a really pink neck which means it’s ready for mating. A female was just nearby.

This grand lion was one of three males we saw this morning. He was sitting in the middle of the track.

And check out those teeth!

Isn’t this a great pic? I love to see the animals in their own environment.

And I couldn’t resist at least one elephant photo for the day. I just love them.

Our man for the whole of our Kenya trip is William. He is a great guide, and seems to know the obligatory mountain of information required for these safaris. You can tell when they are just winging an answer – they begin with “well, it depends”.
We start this afternoon’s safari around 4pm, and enter the gates of the Masai Mara National Park, which is right next to our lodge. Before long, we see a group of at least 20 giraffes spread across the open plain, right near a Balonite tree. William tells us it is unusual to see such a large group of giraffes and thinks we are in for a lucky safari.
Fergus is yearning for a lion sighting, and I come up with our first lioness very soon after the giraffes. With just a head popping up over the long grass, she is hard to see well.
We move on and see more new animals for our visit to Africa: wildebeest, gazelles, ostriches in the wild – both male (black) and female (grey), hyena and new antelope species we haven’t seen before.
The countryside here is so very different to the Chobe area we went to in Botswana. It is open, with few trees. The name “Masai Mara” means dotted plains. The dots being the Balonite trees that stand alone across the vast open land.
We see a group of other safari vehicles gathered near some trees and join them to see what it is they are all watching. Well OMG, OMG – it’s a lion devouring a zebra. Wow, wow, wow. Every person watching this was in awe of the spectacle. The lion was so exhausted after feasting on the zebra, it was puffing. Check out the pics below. None of us will ever forget this afternoon.
William said we were VERY lucky to see this!
We meandered back through the park, and saw large groups of wildebeest, zebra, impala, gazelle and several buffalo and elephants. It’s quite surreal to see all these wild animals quietly cohabiting the countryside.
Then we found the lioness. She had reappeared from the site we had first spotted her, and was downwind of her prey. She was watching zebra in the distance. But alas, we had to exit the park gates by 6.30pm, so left her to hunt in peace. More tomorrow!
Here are some of our memories for today:

This is one of my favourite giraffe photos. And I have many!

Just half a dozen of the many giraffes we saw on the plain.

OKay, so the giraffe photo tally might start to rival the elephant photo tally.

Kissing giraffes!

And time for a neck rub.

A male ostrich and a muscly antelope (can’t remember their name right now)

A typical view of the plains, with some zebra.

Impala, zebra and elephant – all in one!

And here’s the majestic lion tucking into a zebra. He didn’t care that there were about 15 vehicles surrounding him.

You can even see the black and white stripes on the leg of the zebra.

Then he went looking for privacy.

He was a gnarly old thing, with lots of scars and old war wounds.

He sat down right here for a while, puffed out from his feasting.

The lioness looking for dinner.

The lioness was really hard to spot, and can’t be seen at all if she sits down.

A female ostrich.

Haven’t had a bad sunset yet!

We left the smog of the city early this morning. John had his morning run first, and thinks his running prowess has catapulted to dizzy heights just because he passed some Kenyans also out for a run!
After the smog, it was the morning fog. We rose up to 2100m elevation where it was pea soup thick, and the taste of diesel at the back of your throat is diluted, minimally so.
We passed the slums of the outskirts of Nairobi, mixed with some impressive buildings. Commerce is alive and well in any third world country. Some signs of local traders I liked we’re: “Good Hope Dry Cleaners” (keep your fingers crossed), “Blessing Butcher” (bit late now for the beast), “First Born Christians” (was there a second born Christ that I haven’t heard about?), and the “You and I Bar”.
We have reached the open plains of the Rift Valley now, where the Balonite (need to check the spelling on that one) trees stand tall with their flat topped foliage – you know, the classic photo of Africa. Everything is lush and green. It’s a huge contrast to the dry and dusty landscape of Botswana and Zambia. There are huge fields of crops of maize and corn, and herds of cattle being moved around to drink at dams.
Another sign: “Miracle fashions”. Speaks for itself really.
We have left the main road, and the blue sky has finally appeared from behind the overcast gloom. We just stopped the car to let a Leopard Tortoise cross the road! Photo below.
Now the road turns to dirt, and for the next two hours we endure a bone rattling drive over the plains to our lodge. The landscape has lost its lush green vista, and returned to dry and brown. We pass a multitude of Masai people in their traditional clothing (it seems they wear this anyway, and not just for the tourists) herding mainly goats and some sheep and, to a lesser extent, cattle. The government is discouraging cattle as they are hit harder by times of drought.
There are so many villages of Masai people, and we constantly see them walking the countryside. We saw one car parked outside a village. They leave these bumpy (and I use the term loosely) roads to the tourists. Smart move.
We arrive at the lodge and after a late lunch head out for an afternoon safari. We are now at 1640m elevation, and one degree latitude. So the equator is about 100km away, but it isn’t that hot, or even humid. I guess the elevation takes care of that. We have travelled 240km from Nairobi, and it took 6.5 hours. That tells the story of the roads here.