22 October 2017 Sunday – Flamingos, looking for Rhinos, Cheetahs ~ Day 13
Today we went out searching for rhinos, but unfortunately didn’t find any. Thus, it turned out to be a very slow day, at least compared to the previous few.
We got up very early—5:30—and left by 6:00. We headed south. The first thing we saw was one of those secretary birds. We got a much better look at it this time.
We
saw another beautiful sunrise.
Then
we drove to one of those flamingo lakes. In the peak season, there
might be millions of flamingos in this lake. But because it was
off-season, there were only a couple dozen total. It made for some
good photo taking though.
I
didn’t know this, but the flamingos aren’t normally pink. They
get their pink color from their diet. In this case, their diet did
not include the pink stuff, so the flamingos we saw were mostly
white, which was odd.
After
we left the flamingo lake, we started looking for rhinos. We saw a
pack of hyenas.
We
saw plants, shrubs and trees, like the “candelabra” tree.
We
visited a small park office in a rhino area. They had a bunch of
information about the rhinos and what they’ve been doing to protect
them. One of the officers gave a talk about the place.
Next,
we came upon a couple young male lions sitting on a huge rock
outcropping.
They
seemed like buddies. Maybe they had recently been kicked out of the
pride, which often happens. The males become more solitary and only
rejoin the pride from time to time.
One
of them seemed interested in checking us out, so he came down the
rock to have a closer look.
Next,
Eki took us to a cave where the Maasai people from a hundred years
ago used to make paintings on the walls. The paintings weren’t that
old, though. You could clearly see the shape of a bicycle and such.
But it was a well-known place for them.
Next,
we went to a well-known place called “ngong” rock, which stands
on top of another large rock outcropping. Yes, the “n” is
intentional. This rock has a peculiar characteristic: If you hit it
with another rock, it makes a metallic clanging sound. Eki said they
don’t exactly know why it does that because it’s clearly made of
granite, not any kind of metal.
As we walked up there, I was a bit nervous, because lions obviously liked to lay around on high ground. Eki said they once surprised a lion up there, and fortunately, they both went running. So today, he makes noise to scare off any lions that might be hiding in the area.
Kathy
had to give the rock a try.
We
ate our boxed lunch on the rocks, then piled back into the range
rovers to look for rhinos again.
We
saw some hippos out wandering on dry land, which was weird. They were
pretty far away.
We
also saw a rather large herd of Thompson’s Gazelles.
Then
we saw a male lion trying to get some sleep under a tree.
Next
we saw a big mama elephant and her toddler.
We
saw some female lions, also lounging around under a different tree.
They
were cuddling and looked very cute.
We
also came across some baboons with a tiny baby, trying to hold onto
mama.
Then
we saw a group of cheetahs. There was a group of wildebeests and we
thought we’d get to see the cheetahs hunt them. In the end, though,
they decided not to. They laid down in the grass. It’s funny how
they almost disappear in the grass.
We
spent a long time taking photos of the cheetahs.
Finally,
we headed back to our Serengeti camp. Kathy took some photos of the
toilet in our tent and the shower controls.