Yesterday marked exactly seven weeks since I arrived in Kenya.
Time flies.
It’s hard to believe that tomorrow, Monday, I’ll be on a plane headed to the States. But not before we get a few more drives in! And this morning’s drive was one of the best.
We left at 6:00 AM: me, Danielle, and Stratton, with the goal of driving to town to get the spare tire fixed. (We got a flat yesterday. Again.) When 8:00 AM rolled around, we had no spare tire and were no closer to Nkoilale than we had been when we left, but with good reason.
First was the wildebeest kill. We ran into Tikki and Esiriwua on our way out, with a fresh kill from last night. We had a momentary panic attack when we saw only two cubs with them, but relaxed when we remembered she only had two to begin with. ;) Esiriwua was finishing off the wildebeest only a few yards from where Stratton stopped the car. It was too dark for pictures, but we enjoyed taking in the scene before continuing on our drive.
We were scouting for leopard on a ridge near camp, as we always do when driving by, when Stratton heard a warning call from a certain tiny antelope nearby. It could mean a leopard is close!
The sightings you have to work for are always the most rewarding. We trailed the antelope to some monkeys, also making warning calls, crossed a river, and were searching a completely different ridge, opposite of the one we started on, when we finally saw her.
But she was shy. And had no interest in the three humans in the car, straining for a sight of her. We followed her around the ridge, catching glimpses every now and then, until she finally came into an open spot in the trees and we were able to get some pictures. She was still far away…but we got enough to be able to identify her. :)
Finally we turned the tires towards town. We were all rather thankful…we went to a few rather rocky places that the vehicle had no business being in, especially without a spare tire. (The road was on the other side of the hill…oops.) But hey, what’s your last day in Africa without a little adventure? ;)
Editors note: Click here to see Stratton's Facebook post about the leopard.
Time flies.
It’s hard to believe that tomorrow, Monday, I’ll be on a plane headed to the States. But not before we get a few more drives in! And this morning’s drive was one of the best.
We left at 6:00 AM: me, Danielle, and Stratton, with the goal of driving to town to get the spare tire fixed. (We got a flat yesterday. Again.) When 8:00 AM rolled around, we had no spare tire and were no closer to Nkoilale than we had been when we left, but with good reason.
First was the wildebeest kill. We ran into Tikki and Esiriwua on our way out, with a fresh kill from last night. We had a momentary panic attack when we saw only two cubs with them, but relaxed when we remembered she only had two to begin with. ;) Esiriwua was finishing off the wildebeest only a few yards from where Stratton stopped the car. It was too dark for pictures, but we enjoyed taking in the scene before continuing on our drive.
We were scouting for leopard on a ridge near camp, as we always do when driving by, when Stratton heard a warning call from a certain tiny antelope nearby. It could mean a leopard is close!
The sightings you have to work for are always the most rewarding. We trailed the antelope to some monkeys, also making warning calls, crossed a river, and were searching a completely different ridge, opposite of the one we started on, when we finally saw her.
But she was shy. And had no interest in the three humans in the car, straining for a sight of her. We followed her around the ridge, catching glimpses every now and then, until she finally came into an open spot in the trees and we were able to get some pictures. She was still far away…but we got enough to be able to identify her. :)
Finally we turned the tires towards town. We were all rather thankful…we went to a few rather rocky places that the vehicle had no business being in, especially without a spare tire. (The road was on the other side of the hill…oops.) But hey, what’s your last day in Africa without a little adventure? ;)
Editors note: Click here to see Stratton's Facebook post about the leopard.