10:08, Saturday, 18 June, 2011

Yesterday morning we came upon a cheetah right at the get-go. They are so beautiful (don’t worry Sam, I said it over and over in my head this time instead of aloud). It is odd to see a lone cheetah walking before sunrise according to Dave.

We spent the morning helping Dave with his ungulate census. He is doing a project looking at their distribution, hoping to find a connection between spacing patterns and carnivore distribution or general ecological variables. We saw at least thirty elephants over the course of the census. There is truly nothing better than an elephant. The poor old girl the other night must have been scared of the tarp, because these elephants (as most) didn’t mind our presence in the least. However, one of the babies did lift its trunk and flare its ears at us, in the most adorable little mock pre-charge. Too bad for her, she was anything but intimidating.

On the way back to camp, one of the passing tourist vans told us we had a flat tire, so we pulled over to the side and got out to put on the spare. We didn’t have the correct wrench to remove it, so we called Meg and she brought us one from camp. We went to view the hippos above their pool while we waited, and I saw my first CROCODILE!!! It was beyond exciting, although I never would have expected a crocodile to be so skiddish. It flew into the water at lightning speed when it saw us, stirring up the hippos.

Returning to the car, we learned how to change a tire. While we were going about our business, a giraffe decided we were very interesting, and kept watching us and creeping closer until we left. I would like to have stayed with it and watch its reactions.

Zac taught us to drive the stick-shift hilux research vehicle yesterday afternoon! I thought it would be disastrous, especially given that driving is done on the opposite side of the road here. Luckily, Zac turned out to be one of the most patient and calm teachers I have ever met. I only stalled three times after a long drive over the savanna roads, and that includes some pretty sticky mud puddles. It was crazy and dreamlike that I had to watch out for warthogs and fuzzy brown zebra foals crossing the road. When I was practicing my reversing, we got out by the Mara and looked down over the bank to see four more crocodiles. They are enormous! One was completely up on land, just lying there with its mouth open.

While out on the road, we drove up to the Mara Simba Lodge to get water to supplement the collected rainwater already in camp; the jerry cans we were using had been chewed up by lions and hyenas passing through camp. The lodge is the only sign of civilization that is remotely close to camp, and its staff is a delightful bunch. Lia and I went off to investigate the rock hyraxes, dwarf mongooses, and numerous lizards hanging out in a clump of bushes beside camp. I got some really fantastic pictures of the hyraxes, who let you get fairly close. Such odd little animals, but SO CUTE. And who knew that they can climb trees?

The splendor of the view from the lodge made my heart ache. The tree-lined Mara River snakes gracefully across the savanna, mountains framing the endless stretch of tall, red-oat grass. I would have been happy to gaze at it for another few hours, but we had to get back to camp for night obs.

Lia and I rode with Meg and Zac out to Happy Zebra. The cubs were nowhere to be seen, similar to everything else except for several black-backed jackals and topi. And, Joe, I saw several Kori Bustards!

Back at camp, we waited in eager anticipation around the lighted table for dinner. It was tamu sana (very delicious): chicken with a Maasai barbeque sauce. We all had to make ourselves stop eating, lest there be a “line of headlamps to the choo” all night long (compliments of Zac).

It was our first clear night since being on the Mara, and the stars twinkled numerously between the trees. They were stunning, and I stood and watched them for awhile. Then it was off to bed, but very soon I had to make a trip to the choo. That will be the last time I make that trek in the dark. While I was finishing up, a hippo throatily bellowed from the closest edge of camp. My blood ran cold; I didn’t know my heart could beat that fast. I walked swiftly back up the path, thoughts running through my head for what I should do if I came face-to-face with a hippo, the most dangerous animal in Africa (judging by the fact that they kill more people than any other animal in Africa). Should I yell for everyone to wake up and come help? No, that would probably scare it even more and cause it to run at me. Should I leave my headlamp on so I could see, or turn it off so the hippo couldn’t see me? Should I run behind a bunch of trees and just stay there, or zig-zag? I honestly wasn’t sure if I was going to make it back to the tent alive. Thank the Lord nothing happened, and I collapsed into bed shaking all over. It was terrifying! Lia was still up writing, and she said that she was very worried for me when she heard the hippo, which even sounded close from our tent. Perhaps peeing next to the tent isn’t so terrible after all. WOW! I can’t get over how marvelous an adventure it is to live amongst such amazing animals.