Thursday, Oct 27. A full day drive. Rough roads were even rougher. We drove west to the Mara River, which flows west to Lake Victoria. There were sleepy hippos in the river. We had a picnic at the turnaround point, consisting of rice, beef, chicken, etc. Flies were everywhere, so I finally put my head net to use. Eating was a bit difficult. During the drive in each direction we stopped for many birds, most of who never flew. I used a cool feature of my camera to capture the flights of some that did take to the air. Without the feature I’d have had no hope.

However, the day’s big story was sighting a leopard and several cheetahs. We were one of the first trucks at the leopard “viewing”, but were rapidly joined by a stampede of trucks from all corners, ignoring safety and “stick to the road” rules. The leopard soaked up the entertainment value, calmly walking through the fields, then walking through the parked trucks! Not a care in the world. Driver said this attitude was highly unusual. We also saw cheetahs before and after the leopard. In my opinion, the cheetah is prettier. Both species have respectable teeth.

We stumbled onto what appeared to be an hyena convention. If fact, we have now seen not only the Big 5 (the leopard being the fifth), but also the Ugly 5 (wildebeest, warthog, Hyena, and two birds). The lack of sharp focus in my photos has a lot to do with distance and waves of rising heat.

Learned about ant lions (which eats other ants), plus a variety of trees that protect agains malaria.

Tomorrow morning I take a $$$$ balloon ride. I had to sign a waiver that even included “operator error” in its list of things I must waive. Not too happen about that.