Safari

I just got back from safari, it was beautiful! The landscape itself was breathtaking. A vast expanse of land untouched by man. Mountains in the distance, and miles and miles of scrub brush alternating with stretches of brown grass. We saw the sunrise and the sunsets every day on our game drives.
We saw a fair number of animals: a leopard, two lions, tons of zebras, elephants, dik diks, baboons, giraffes, impalas, birds, warthogs, water bucks, and spring bucks. Eventually we saw so many zebras, giraffes, elephants, and baboons that we didn't even pause to take pictures when we came across them.
On our second drive we encountered somewhere around 100 elephants. William, our driver, joked that we arrived at the elephant conference. The road ran right through their 'gathering'. Ultimately we turned around, we didn't want to risk driving through their herd. Elephants can be dangerous, especially when they have their young with them. Our giant green vehicle would be no match for an angry elephant.
Our best sighting was a leopard though. Not only did we see a leopard but he was less than three feet away! He was just hanging out by the side of the road, and he hung around long enough for us to get some pictures. On our last drive we saw two lions, although they were fairly far away. Luckily they stood up, because it would have been impossible to spot them if they had been lying in the grass.
On one of the game drives we hired a guide. He was a wealth of information, we learned what the various groups of animals are all called. A coalition of baboons, a pride of lions, a sounder of warthogs, a raft of rhinos, a journey of giraffes, a clan of hyenas, a school of hippos, a harem of impalas, and a herd of zebras. My personal favorite is the coalition of baboons, they aren't strong enough to form a single party government; they require a coalition! (parliamentary politics joke). We also learned about various animals.
The dik diks might be my favorite (the picture of the dik dik is the little rabbit like thing in the road). They are tiny little creatures, about twice the size of squirrels. They bound along, nibbling on grass and seeds. The dik diks are endearing, aside from the fact that they are incredibly cute, they mate for life. If its mate dies a dik dik becomes despondent and dies shortly thereafter. This is in sharp contrast to the impala. Impalas travel in one of two groups, either harems or bachelor herds; and that is exactly what they are. Either groups of single males or one buck surrounded by a harem of females. Young males from the bachelor herds occasionally challenge the buck from the harem to unseat him as the head of the herd. Once a buck is unseated as the head of the harem he does not go back to the bachelor herd, he is forced to live a solitary life (and once he doesn't have a herd it is a short life, he is easy prey).
Seeing impalas, of course, reminded us of the song "Wanna be a Balla". We rapped "Wanna be a balla, shot calla/ 20 inch rims on the impala" as we bounced along the dusty roads. It was fantastic, and let me tell you, we can rap!
Today I am going to Kibera for the last time, I am sad to say goodbye but I am looking forward to coming home. I'll post any interesting tidbits from my time in Kibera.
Best,
Margaret