Capturing the Moment

 What a show! On our drive into the Mara on July 19th, we pulled into a river overlook to check on some hippo action. There were probably forty hippos in two groups hanging out in the river. That is when we noticed a small herd of wildebeest come to the edge of the cliff. Could we be so lucky as to see one of the famous crossings of the Great Migration? A large crocodile swimming silently in the murky water sure hoped so.    It looked like the wildebeest lacked the necessary bravery to attempt the crossing. Then a huge, loud fight broke out amongst the larger group of hippos. The water suddenly turned into a churning mass of whitewater and hippos running at and away from each other. Then, for some reason, the herd of wildebeest moved along the shoreline, much closer to the group of hippos, who were now quieting down again. Still looking like they needed an extra push, they got it when a second group of wildebeest came rushing over and down the cliff. This was the bravery they needed an

  It is often very easy to understand why people refer to the Masai Mara as the crown jewel of Kenya's wildlife areas. The Mara was our last stop on this safari. We had already seen all of the big cats (lions, leopards, and cheetah) and one small cat (caracal). Our big cat encounters in the Mara would bring our experience to a whole new level. Lioness carrying the head of a young wildebeest   We were able to see and spend time with three lionesses eating a freshly killed young wildebeest, and taking turns going down to the waterhole to drink. While they walked back and forth by our vehicle, Sean was scanning with binoculars and suddenly said, "there is a leopard in that tree!" So we drove away from the lions until we were right under the tree. Sure enough a beautiful leopard was lounging high in the branches, looking pretty nonchalant that lions were staked out nearby. We got some great looks and picture opportunities before continuing our drive.  Sean spotted this leopar

 Lake Nakuru always has a way of being a sleeper hit for safari goers. It is a rather small park, with a strip of land surrounded a large, but shallow soda lake in Kenya's Rift Valley region. It used to have millions of flamingos, but the drastic changing of levels of the lake has wiped out the flamingos food source, cyanobacteria, so now there are just a few thousand of the pink, long legged creatures left. They are joined by white pelicans, and more importantly, white rhinos calling the park home. Lions and leopards can also be found, but for us it was the rhinos that we really hoped to see here.    We set off after breakfast for an all day game drive in the park. Black and white colobus monkeys were our first big find. We had briefly seen them in the Aberdares but this was a really nice viewing of them up in a yellow fever tree. We entered the big open area next, with lots of flamingos and pelicans dominating the shoreline. Groups of buffalo also joined the fray near the shore,

  Even though the Aberdare Mountains have national park status here in Kenya, many safari goers miss out on a visit to this unique ecosystem. And those that do come mostly get a look at one waterhole and call it good. There is more than meets the eye in this park, and our group was up for exploring it in multiple ways.    After a hectic drive (even for us passengers) through Nairobi's infamous traffic, we made it to the Aberdare Country Club. Boasting an 18 hole golf course, spotted with wildlife, this gated area seems out of place on the outskirts of Nyeri town. The buildings are made of stone and carry a certain colonial vibe to the architecture. The lunch spread was quite nice, the view over the grounds even better, and colorful birds like fire finches and cordon blues played in the bird bath. Sarah B, Rod, Amy, and I went for a walk along the golf course after lunch to see what animals we could spot. The course was a bit overgrown and hard to follow numerically, but we managed