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| Mt. Kilimanjaro |
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| Sunrising over Amboseli |
Our second day began early in the morning (6am) as we were both eager to catch a glimpse of the elusive Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa at just under 20 000ft. Although we were extremely tired and the morning was quite chilly, the view we got the second we opened our tent was truly magnificent and made us forget everything else. The camp ground we were staying at sat directly adjacent to the extinct volcano of Kilimanjaro with its ever receding glacier shimmering in the light of the rising sun. As we prepared for our long day of game driving we were even more pleased with our decision to rise early because the clouds had already begun to obscure the peaks of the giant. Upon entering the park on day two we are met with a little humour. As we approached the gate, Marlene was attempting to put in her eye contacts, Mike being the comedian he is, decided to have a little fun. As the locals approached our van to attempt to sell us some crafts, Mike opened his window and said something in the local language. Suddenly all the women came over to Marlene's side of the van and began to stare intensely. Some of the women stood there for several minutes with looks of awe and disgust. Meanwhile Mike is just killing himself laughing in the front seat, he turns to us and says "I told these ladies to look at the foreigner, she's putting in her eyes!". Nothing like a little early morning humour. As we enter the park we are greeted by large herds of zebra followed by many gazelle and giraffe. We were beginning to realize that all this hype of animals in Africa was reality...I mean we expected to see animals but we didn't realize they would appear in such great numbers and in every corner of the park.
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| Hippos and Elephants with foothills of Killi |
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| Stalking Cheetah |
We had started out on a different path today toward the swamp lands of the park in hopes of viewing some hippos but about 1 hour into the drive our driver Mike's ears perked up about a transmission over the CB radio. We quickly turned around and started heading back to where we had seen the lions yesterday. Before we reached the lions Mike spots it...its a cheetah! We watched the Cheetah from a fairly close distance as it attempted to cross the road to reach the cool shaded area on the other side. As it proceeds to make its way toward the trees it decides to have a little fun with the nearby zebra...the zebra take off in a cloud of dust even though the small cat is no threat to them.
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| our guide estimated this elephant was about 1 month old |
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| Hyenas trying to get in on the lions kill from last night |
Just a few meters from here is where the lions are now guarding their zebra kill from the hyenas who have shown up in numbers today. Some of the hyenas are attempting to get the lions to chase them in hopes that while the lions are distracted the other hyenas can steal some of the zebra meat. But the lions are obviously too smart for this and don't play into the games. This one small stretch of road is Africa at its finest. On one side of the road we have 3 female lions and a male lion guarding their food from dozens of hyenas while zebra, gazelle, wildebeest, and giraffe all attempt to cross the road in order to get to the watering hole which lays directly behind the occupied lions. A few hundred feet beyond that there are elephants, more giraffe, and ostrich all grazing in the plains...we could have easily spent all morning there watching all these animals!
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| Killi quickly disappearing behind the clouds |
In this part of the park, all the animals return to the forested hills around Kilimanjaro at night, and then head back towards the watering holes in the day time...the road is strategically placed between these two biospheres. It was just surreal to see all of this happen at once, all within about 1 sq. km. We eventually proceed to the swampy areas so that Marlene could see her favourite animals, the hippo. Once in the swamps, we quickly came across a few hippos, but they are hard to spot as they are submerged, however as we continued along the road we eventually came across a pair of them that were out of the water, they sure are massive! These animals are not particularly comfortable on land and quickly retreat to the safety of the reeds when they see us coming. In these swamp lands there are also a significant amount of white and pink flamingos which are happily feeding in the receding waters of the park...there are also pelicans, ducks, and storks amongst the flamingos. So much wildlife everywhere you look.
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| view of the welands |
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| Flamingoes |
Today we brought a packed lunch which we enjoyed atop of a large look out point where we had an excellent view of both the wetlands and the plains...and of course the mountains around killi. It is explained to us that without the glacial runoff and rainwater from Kilimanjaro and the surrounding area which travels to Amboseli via underground rivers, this park would be a desert. All runoff from the mountains flows this way and thus sustains life in the park. The rest of the afternoon was spent viewing hippos and elephants in the surrounding marshes. We returned to our campsite for some R&R at around 3pm. We had a long drive ahead of us...tomorrow we head to the Kenyan highlands.
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| Bright and Early to see Killi! |
We had started out on a different path today toward the swamp lands of the park in hopes of viewing some hippos but about 1 hour into the drive our driver Mike's ears perked up about a transmission over the CB radio. We quickly turned around and started heading back to where we had seen the lions yesterday. Before we reached the lions Mike spots it...its a cheetah! We watched the Cheetah from a fairly close distance as it attempted to cross the road to reach the cool shaded area on the other side. As it proceeds to make its way toward the trees it decides to have a little fun with the nearby zebra...the zebra take off in a cloud of dust even though the small cat is no threat to them. 
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