At a safari camp, the staff wake you up around five thirty or six in the morning with coffee, hot chocolate and pastries. It is an early start, but it is worth it to see the active animals. We were pretty good about being in bed by ten o'clock at night. The anti-malarial medication we have been taking can cause vivid dreams. I have been the only one to possibly notice this. In the middle of one night, I was woken by a crash against the tent then heard a low groaning "zzz" sound. The camp at Tortilis does have an electric fence surrounding the property, but bush babies, monkeys, dik-diks and birds can easily move about. I asked several people about the noise and the conclusion was either a bush baby, an elephant in the distance or my medication. It scared me and I was too afraid to move. Otherwise, the only noises we really heard at night were birds.
Amboseli comes from an incorrectly translated word from the Maa language and means open plain of salty dust. The word in Maa is Empusel, but it was translated to Amboseli in English.
We saw the same herds of zebras every morning.
These are the street signs.
We say wildebeests, Kenyans say wildbeasts. They walk to the water during the day and then back to a safe place to sleep in the evening.
We always saw zebra with the wildebeests. They have a symbiotic relationship. Zebras have sharp eyesight and wildebeests have acute sense of smell and hearing. Zebras prefer the top tall grass and wildebeests prefer the lower grass shoots.
We were extremely lucky to come across this elephant, X004. He is a legendary "super tusker". His tusks weigh over one hundred pounds each. There was another safari jeep observing X004 from quite a distance. Our guide, John, was very familiar with this elephant (even though he is rare to see) and knew that he was friendly, unlike other super tuskers. We were able to get quite close. It was magnificent! I can't believe anyone would want to hurt these animals.
The pictures don't do X004 justice. This was one of my favorite memories.
Shortly after seeing X004, John saw lion tracks.
There were two lionesses resting on a hill scanning for prey.
We saw hippopotamuses!
A troop of baboons!
Monkey
I did bring hats, gloves and neck gaiters for chilly drives.
Elephant tracks!
We liked the ostrich mating dances.
We had a bush breakfast before returning to camp. When we arrived, the chef and staff were already set up. There were two other vehicles from our camp at the breakfast with us. On arrival, they had soap and warm water (poured from a pitcher) to wash our hands. The chef made custom omelets. There was also sausage, bacon, pastries, potatoes, yogurt, juice, coffee and mimosas. It was a feast!
They had a loo with a view! Harper, Ethan and I all used this.
This buffalo saw us.
We came upon vultures eating a carcass after breakfast.
A giraffe crossed the road in front of us on the way back to camp.
Alex and I wanted to nap after the morning game drive. The kids wanted to swim. I was sad that we couldn't see Mount Kilimanjaro from the pool like we were supposed to.
The water was freezing and I did not get in.
Going for lunch!
We had bow and arrow practice after lunch.
We loved all the weaver bird nests.
We went back out for evening game drives at five.
Amboseli is full of elephants! The babies always walk in the middle of the herd.
As the sun sets, the temperature drops quickly! It mostly got to the low to mid seventies during the day, but was low fifties at night. We went during the winter season for Kenya.
Even though they are huge, elephants can hide easily in the bushes. We were surprised a couple times.
We had to take a potty break. John drove to a place without lion hiding spots and Harper went behind the car.
We were lucky to see a couple bat-eared foxes!
On the way back to camp, we came across the carcass we had seen earlier. It was now picked clean and a hyena was working on the bones. Apparently, the hyena diet consists of so many bones, that their poop is white from all the calcium. Hyenas have the most powerful jaws and strong stomach acid to allow the consumption of bones.
We could walk around freely in the dark at Tortilis camp because of the fence. There were still guards at the entrances who would walk the perimeter at night.
We played Uno at dinner.
I kept our malaria pills very organized. We started two days prior to our trip and need to complete seven days after the trip.
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