Maasai Mara - Lions & the Wildebeest Migration across the Mara River

Maasai Mara - Cheetahs & Lions

We watched a pride of lions and a cheetah stalking and hunting today at Maasai Mara. As you can see, the lion was successful, the cheetah not so much. Predators are of course feeding like crazy on the hundreds of thousands of wildebeest coming through on their annual migration.

Maasai Mara - Wildebeest Migration

We are in Maasai Mara watching the annual wildebeest migration. This is a shot of the wildebeest chilling at the end of a day of running with the zebra who guide them to their destinations. There were literally thousands, and to capture them, we would need to show a 360 degree view. We saw a pride of female lions stalking them, with one chasing a couple before giving up.
It's an amazing sight.

Samburu

We visited the Samburu village near our lodge and met the chief and many other members of the village. The layers and layers of beads worn by these two young girls indicates that they have not married yet. The one on the right is 15 and about to get married. They are standing in front of their house made of found materials. Normally they would use cow dung but most of their cows were lost in the drought.

The leopard above is yawning because we woke him up.

Amboselli Porini Camp

We finally got internet again! Our first stop in Kenya was Amboselli National Reserve, which was full of different types of animals, and probably the best place we have been in Kenya so far. We camped out for two nights in luxury tents with solar electricity, bucket showers, and really good food. We had sundowners, night game drives, and lots of opportunities for photos. However, the most memorable part of Amboselli was probably our semi-scary run-in with a rogue elephant (see him below). We were on a walking safari with two Maasai warriors who were fully equipped with spears and swords. We stopped at a watering hole when all of the sudden the elephant came out from behind a bush, about 20 feet away from us. The elephant made a warning noise, put his ears up, and lurched towards us. Our warrior guide said, "Run quickly!" and we ran straight into the forest. Thankfully the elephant did not follow us, but it was definitely memorable. Amboseli was beautiful, and one of the best places we have been so far.

We also got to meet and interact with a real Maasai village, and it was a beautiful experience.

Musanze Market

Amahoro Orphanage

Posted by Diana:

After trekking, we asked our driver to take us to an orphanage in Musenza that has kids ages 2-17. Each of us brought a suitcase of clothes, school and athletic supplies to donate. We did not anticipate how amazing the kids would be. We spent the afternoon with 30 kids singing, dancing, playing soccer and just hanging with them. The teen girls LOVED talking to Saxby about her life and her boyfriend Cooper. They grabbed the cameras and took these photos. This orphanage is privately run and looks after kids that lost their parents in the genocide and subsequent rebel wars or through diseases like AIDS. You can send donations to this place directly without worry that the funds will be confiscated at: AIDP Africa, PO Box 124, Musanza, Rwanda. Or go to www.amahoroproject1919.org

More Photos

Days 2 & 3 - Gorillas and Golden Monkeys

When we finally arrived in the Kigali International Airport on Tuesday night, we were welcomed with the fact that one of us was missing a piece of luggage! We continued on though, and our driver, Abi, drove us up a windy mountain road for three hours until we reached the small town of Ruhengeri (roo - hen - jerry), where the Gorilla Mountain View Hotel is located. The hotel is run on a generator that is off over night, but the hotel has amazing hospitality and they made us a warm fire, and gave us hot water bottles for our beds. We got three hours of semi-sleep, waking up at 5:30 am to trek to the mountain gorillas.

The walk was easy - for the first hour, and then about half way through we started a steep incline that would lead us up a mountain to nearly 9,000 feet. However, we did not completely do the trek alone...we would have never completed it without the help of porters, local Rwandans who carry your bags up the mountain and help you whenever you need it. We at first hired porters as a way to support the employment initiative, but soon realized they were an imperative part of making it up to the gorillas (they literally pushed and pulled us at times). We finally spotted a gorilla, and it was shocking and breathtaking; more so than we even anticipated. We got to spend a little over an hour with the Sabinyo Gorilla family, and took amazing shots of these creatures who share 97% of their DNA with humans. When we got back from our six hour adventure with the gorillas it started to heavily rain, and we all conked out from lack of sleep.

The next morning we woke again at 5:30 am, but had a lot more sleep the night before! We made our way through fields and fields of potato plants, and then spotted our first golden monkey after only an hour. There were dozens of them leaping from tree to tree, and making funny and loud noises. We spent an hour with them then reluctantly made our way back through the fields of agriculture to our cars, looking forward to our next adventure.

photos to come once we have better internet!

Day 1 - Traveling

All four of us got to the airport on time this morning in Nashville on time (well maybe a couple of minutes late). However, the adventures started quickly when we found out that our flight to JFK was completely cancelled. So, we proceeded to discuss flight options with the weirdly cavalier woman at the gate desk. After going through many unavailable options we finally got booked on a flight to Philly. There was bad weather all the way from Baltimore to upstate New York, but the flight was actually really nice! However, right when we stepped into the Philly airport, we heard “Flight to Brussels now boarding”. We booked it. We ran/walked so fast, and definitely got a workout. Once we were at a full sprint, I could finally see our gate in the distance. We were some of the last people to make onto the overseas flight to Brussels. So here I am, cozy on the Brussels flight, eating complimentary mac n’ cheese. The grand adventures have already started and we are not even in Europe yet, much less Brussels. More to come!

P.S. Diana acts crazy on Ambien.

Added travel note: Once we were boarding our final flight of three in Brussels, we found out that our spots on the plane had actually been cancelled by American Airlines who just assumed that we cancelled our whole trip because they cancelled the first leg of flight to JFK. That was another adventure. It’s a full flight but thankfully they got us a seat! We are now flying over the Black Forest according to the GPS map on board, and have about 7 hours and 20 mins to go. Hot lunch and drinks now....

Primate Tours

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Namibia 2010