Kenya 2024 Day 6

Today we packed a bag for a one night safari and were told to be at Aaron and Dama’s at 7am. The safari vehicles were going to meet us there. We arrived to their house and didn’t even make it inside the house before we heard the vehicles pull up. We had a van driven by Charles and a Land Cruiser driven by Dixon. Mike, Margaret, Tucker, Rudy and I rode in the van while Aaron and his family rode in the Land Cruiser. I think we drove about 2 and a half hours before we stopped for the restroom. The place where we stopped was a planned tourist trap stop. It was a nice place that had food, drinks and souvenirs. The only vehicles there were safari vehicles. Tucker, Rudy, and I were all feeling the same while we were there. It was odd to be around so many white people. We were pretty sure most were from Europe due to their language and/or accent. Charles told us we would be there about 20 minutes for coffee and the washroom. It was an African 20 minutes because I think he actually ordered and ate a meal. At least he was siding down in an area that looked like it was for the drivers and he took his time when we were ready. He could have just had coffee or chai. I am not really sure.  Amana ended up coming with us for the rest of the drive. We were told it would be about 30 minutes to the park entrance and about 2 hours to the hotel, but that depended on how often we stopped to look at animals and for how long. When we were checking in at the entrance to the park, a guy came to our van and was talking to us and having us try on hats. He was very social which worked in his favor. Then he tried to sell us hats saying we needed them. He was also saying Mike needed one because otherwise his baseball cap would fly off, but the hats he was selling had strings that could be tightened. Tucker bought one and then Margaret decided to buy one for Mike. Tucker was good at bartering. I think I need him to help me next time I am at the market in Uganda. I believe someone asked the guy if he was married and for how long. He paid (or is paying) 17 cows for his wife. They have been married for twenty something years and he has only paid, I think, 6 cows so far as they are expensive. Next thing I knew, he was asking me to marry his son and said he would pay many cows. I said no and Tucker and I pointed out to him that he can’t afford cows as it has been over 20 years and he is still paying for his wife. These situations are always so awkward, but I try to roll with it as best I can and not act as uncomfortable as I feel. I don’t think I act that well though. He finally gave up after I kept telling him there are people in Uganda that are ahead of him in line. He asked if they would pay many cows and I told him yes. After a couple minutes and convincing him well enough of this, he finally left to sell his hats to other people. That was about the time Charles walked back and we were able to enter the park. Dama told us the first one to find an animal gets chapati. Rudy and I were all for that and looking hard. Also, we were not counting the birds. There were some green bushes and trees, but the land was much more dry than Murchison falls in Uganda. With how dry it was, I did not know if we would see many animals. Sadly, I was not the first to find an animal, but neither was Rudy. Margaret found a small herd of elephants off in the distance on her side of the car. Rudy and I had been looking at the wrong side at that moment. We were both disappointed. Margaret also found the next animal too. I believe it was called the Goliath gazelle. The most amazing part of the drive was that we saw a lion. There were a few cars pulled on the side of the road. Charles told us it was a lion. Not just that, but when we stopped she was laying under a tree resting with a fresh kill. I was so surprised to see a lion so fast and so close. We stayed there for awhile watching her, but she just laid there. We were told later she was guarding the kill and the other lions should have been near in the bushes. Next we saw a bunch of zebra. I was so excited because there are not any at Murchison falls part. It is fun to see how they stand facing different directions so they can watch for danger. The next thing we saw was probably my favorite. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the lion, but I love elephants more. The was a herd of elephants (and a hippo) in a waterhole. The elephants were having the time of their life. When we pulled up, they made sure the baby was in between them. They were just splashing around and side flopping in the water. We watched them come out of the water and walk behind our other vehicle. Charles drive away at this time and we learned at lunch the elephants had given themselves a dust bath right after we drive away. Tucker and Rudy really wanted to see giraffe. We saw a few in the distance during the drive, but were also blessed with three if them walking toward our car. They got pretty close before they turned. We still had a long way to drive to get to the lodge. We saw so many animals and many of them were zebra. I was not expecting to see so many. 

When we finally arrived at the lodge, we went to our rooms really quick and then went to lunch before it closed. The dining was outside and they had a little watering hole there not far away. There were so many different birds at the watering hole as well as Henry the hippo. I learned from one of the employees that Henry lives in that watering hole. Every few weeks he has a girlfriend join him from water somewhere else. She usually stays for 7-10 days. He does leave sometime, but usually she comes. After lunch I relaxed in my room until it was time to go on our safari drive. It was fun to be able to look out the window and see animals. I saw elephants playing in the other part of the watering hole from Henry, so I knocked on Tucker and Rudy’s door (as they were next to me) and had them look. They could not see as well from their window, so we opened our connecting door and they looked through my window. Then it was time to leave for our drive. We switched vehicles because there was more room in the Land Cruiser for full grown adults than the van. Maybe about three to five miles into the drive, we saw a group of cars. That usually means they are looking at one of the cats. There were two female lions. I could tell the front one wanted to cross the road, but did not want to because of all the vehicles. She went back the way she came, so all the vehicles started to drive that way. We had lost track of the second lion by this point. Dixon started driving where the other vehicles were going, but we had him stop because she was coming back. It was a trick when she moved. She stopped and sat so close to our Land Cruiser. After a few minutes, she walked in front of us and crossed the street. We had Dixon stay because we saw the other lion again and she was coming to the same area. She also crossed the street. From there we moved on. There were so many elephants during the drive! I enjoyed it so much! There were also a lot of baby elephants. The last thing we did on our drive was hunt for a leopard. A couple vehicles saw a leopard, so we went to find it. We never did find a leopard. We did see the two lions a couple more times in different areas as they were moving to where they were going to hunt. The drive seemed to go by very fast. I think it is because we spent so much time with the lions. Before dinner, I saw giraffe walking in the distance, so I knocked on the adjoining door so the boys could look, but they were pretty far away. During dinner, we got to see Henry come out if the watering hole and walk around for a little bit to graze. That was so fun for me! I struggled to fall asleep, so I video called some friends. It was good to talk to them.