We Found Simba !

Sun., Sept. 26, 2010 -- Happy 15th anniversary to us.

We left Samburu today and flew to the Masai Mara. The flight from Samburu to the Mara was longer than our flight from Nairobi to Samburu . . . but a lot less bumpy. We landed at FOUR different camp air strips to drop off other passengers before reaching Olonana Camp. There's so much less bureaucracy here. You land, your driver is waiting to pick you up at the plane, and he comes directly to the plane and off-loads your luggage from the plane, and you're on your way within 5 minutes. No waiting on runways or in terminals!

Once we flew over the Mara, we immediately saw "The Great Migration" of thousands of wildebeests grazing along the Mara plains as they make their way back to Tanzania from Kenya. The grasslands have almost been exhausted in the Mara, so their go to the Serengeti in Tanzania for new grasslands. After the March rains in Kenya, the wildebeests and zebras will make their way back to Kenya again.

On our way to the Olonana Camp (which is beautiful), we saw a mommy warthog with three babies. They're so cute. They look like baby piglets, but black. Our "tent" is right on the Mara River with several hippos popping their heads in and out of the river. The surroundings at Masai Mara are so much different than Samburu. Samburu was a hot, dry, dusty savannah; and Masai Mara has regular rains, so it's much more green and lush. There is supposed to be a lot more wildlife there than in Samburu because there are more grasses, trees, water, etc.

On our first safari in the Mara this afternoon, we saw a male LION with a big MANE!! The lions that we saw in Samburu were beautiful, but they have short manes. Besides the lion at the Mara, we saw the rare rhino from a very long distance and could see him only with ur binoculars (thanks, Katie). We saw another leopard and lots more elephants and giraffes. Kenya is very conscientious about energy use. The hotels, resorts, and camps all turn off the electricity from 11:00 - 6:00 during the day, and 11:00 p.m.- 6:00 a.m. So every night we've rushed to get clean after dusty safaris before the electricity goes off.

Another day without spotting the elusive cheetah! There is one other couple from England touring w/us and "Sarah" wanted to see a rhino up close because there are supposed to be only 9 rhinos left in Kenya. We saw it from a distance, but I told her that I was sure we'd see one tomorrow.