Breakfast in the Bush

Dec. 22 - Day 6

So much is happening it’s hard to keep track. We were awoken at 6am by a waiter with a tray of coffee. We downed a few cups as we dressed before heading out for our 6:30 game drive and picnic breakfast.

We’re headed for a Maasai village, but you can’t go anywhere without running into game. First up, a mother lioness and 3 young cubs, perhaps 7 months old. These are spotted and playful, and were very attentive as a rabbit darted from the brush.

 

 

We came across 6 elephants, 3 mothers each with a child of varying age. The youngest was about knee high, its ears still fuzzy, and its tiny trunk waving about haphazardly. They have over 100 muscles in their trunks, and it takes a while for them to learn to use them, like the way a human baby’s arms and legs wave about. It walked along in the shade under its mother’s belly.

Along the way there were eagles, jackals, a hyena, and various and sundry critters, like the tiny antelope dik-dik, and the 7- colored lilac breasted roller. (Gorgeous bird!) Too many animals to count, and I regret again that we don’t have a field guide to match and check off the various species.

 

At some point today, we also saw two types of mongoose, one banded, a saddle-billed stork, a malachite king fisher, a gorgeous little blue bird called a starling – basically there’s just life on all sides. I even spotted two turtles!
 

 

We stopped for breakfast on a bluff above a bend in the river. Below, half a dozen hippos frolicked, breaking the surface with grunts and blows, sometimes only their nostrils poking out. On the other side of the bend, a few more bathed.

Dominic set up a table and chairs for the four of us and we enjoyed a breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, bacon, sausage, bread, yogurt, banana, apples, fruit juice, and potato chips, along with coffee and tea. Around us, the ground was trampled with hippo prints. Dominic told us there were usually crocodiles along the banks, but we saw none.

Now on to the Maasai Villiage....