August 30 - Amboseli National Park, Kenya

We were up very early for our morning safari.  Our jeep has a pop-up top so we can stand up to see animals if we want.  However, we are the only ones in the vehicle so we can open windows as needed and move from side to side. 

We were up early enough that we got to see the rosy sunrise reflected in a lake.

We were quite fortunate to see some lions not long after leaving the lodge.  They were rather far away but we could observe them for a time before they disappeared into the reeds and brush.  Only one other vehicle made it there before the lions disappeared.

We saw many of the same animals as the previous day.

Thompsons Gazelles

Wildebeests

Masai Giraffe

Waterbuck

Zebras (they often traveled in a line...especially in the morning and evening when going towards shelter for the night and then out to the plains to graze during the day)

Hippos

Spotted Hyenas

Warthogs

Grants Gazelle

The number of birds we saw was very impressive.

Ostrich (female)

Kory Bustard

Yellow Billed Storks

Spoonbills

Squacco Heron

Fish Eagle

Pink Pelicans

Goliath Heron

Lesser Flamingos

White Faced Whistling Ducks

Grey Crested Cranes

Just as we were about to enter our lodge a herd of elephants joined us on the road, going counter commute to all of the tourist vehicles.  They passed us very close, you could almost reach out and touch them…they owned the road.

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Video of elephant walking
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There were some very tiny elephant calves so that made it really special.

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More Elephants
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Video of elephants 1
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Video of elephants 2
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We saw a lot more elephants later in the day.

We also came across a lone very little baby elephant.  Kevin was worried that the mother wasn't around and that something might have happened to her.  Just about then Mom popped up out of the brush.  She had been laying down taking a nap.  Relief all around.  We got to see the baby nursing. 

We had the rest of the morning and afternoon off and didn’t head out again until 4:00.  This safari drive was very uneventful.  

The animals were very quiet and we really didn’t see much…up until near the end.  Kevin had gotten a communication of some hyena’s fighting over a kill so we headed off in that direction. 

It turned out that some lioness’s had made a kill (it was in the brush so we really couldn’t see it) but the hyena’s were circling and trying to see if they could grab some of the kill.  We could see one lioness in the grasses.  After the hyena’s got too close she put out a call for reinforcements and they came out to deal with the interlopers.  Kevin thought there were probably more in the brush protecting and feeding on the kill.

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Video of Lionesses
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Eventually an elephant family came along.  It included some very small calves and the mothers took exception to the lions being about.  So they roused the lions, the hyena’s took advantage and stole bits of the kill (turned out to be a zebra), then the elephants would move away and the lions would go back in to protect their kill…then the cycle would repeat. 

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More Lion Hyena Stand Off
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Video of elephants walking toward lionesses
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Kevin said it was extremely rare to be able to see this kind of interaction with 3 species of dominant animals so we were again really fortunate.

Notice the white bird in the video below that you sometimes see riding on large animals.  They ride along and when hungry hop down to eat insects and other things stirred up by the animal walking.

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Video of elephant eating
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Two days in Amboseli and this is the best shot we've managed to get of Mount Kilimanjaro.  Most of the time we can't see anything...not even a faint outline.  Too bad.  This is supposed to be a beautiful mountains.  If you look reallllly closely you can see the "Snows of Kilimanjaro".  There are small clouds right at the top of the mountain but there is also some small patches of snow.