There were lots of lion encounters.
And now that we've shown you both females and males, you probably want to see some cubs.
These cats were hanging on a hillside with a great view of a water buffalo herd and a wildebeest herd, which are the black dots in the background.
We also got to see the animals we see commonly, like the zebra, do things we hadn't seen before. Who knew zebra's liked a good dust bath so much...
... And the young zebras, with brown stripes that turn black as they mature, nursing from their mothers.
Not often are the hippos spotted fully on dry land.
These hippos are getting ready to head out for dinner, after a "stressful" day sitting in the water. A common consensus among guides, and tourists as well, is that hippos really have the good life. They hang out in the water all day and maybe play with a family member, they have no real predator, except humans, and their only challenge is finding a good spot to sleep at night when they come onto land. They are actually very vocal as well. If we could post audio clips on the blog we would, because it is really fun to listen to them groan and grunt to each other.
With our trip to the Masai Mara over, it was time to head to Tanzania. In the morning as we left our hotel, our guide told us that the hotel had run out of fuel before he had a chance to fill up. We stopped at some other "nearby" locations, but they were also out. So we headed out hoping for the best, with our driver no longer feeling a desire to go slowly. Keep in mind our previous post about quality of the roads and African massage. At some local village, our driver begged a motorcycle repair shop to sell us 10 liters (2.5 gallons) and the fuel was delivered in plastic water bottles, looking like it had been siphoned. Now on our way, our driver was concerned about timing and really sped things up. Well, in his haste he managed to get us stuck in the mud two times, requiring help from others. We finally got more fuel, started driving faster and eventually got a flat tire. But, he did have a working spare. And then finally, we arrived at the border, a couple of hours late, anxious to meet our next guide for the Tanzania portion of our safari. We thought we were happy to be here after 5 hours of driving adventure, but in reality, the true "adventure" was just beginning.
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