Safari Day4 Hippos & Elephants & More, Oh My!

I think the final day of my Safari was the best one. It was only Robert, the guide, and I and we had a bit more time, so he decided to take me closer to the central part of the Serengeti. We had been more in the east part. He knew where we could find some Hippos which I had wanted to see. We got to see so very much more!

The first animals we came across were a family of giraffes, Mom, Dad and Baby.

Next was a family of Baboons, mostly hiding, but I got to get a picture of this Alpha Male on the run.

We drove for another hour or so on crazy bumpy roads only seeing animals way in the distance. But then we came around a corner and found a female leopard just sitting on the side of the road, as if waiting for us to show herself off. She showed us both of her lovely sides then sauntered right in front of our jeep, through the tall grass to climb high into the tree where she could hide from us.

Down the bumpy road again for about a half and hour and we saw jeeps clustered ahead…. that always means there is something good to see.

This, I think, was the most amazing and thrilling part of my whole safari. We came across an extended family of elephants, as they many times travel that way. But this time, the family included over 30 elephants of various ages!

Its hard for pictures to really show the majesty of these animals who are both huge and lumbering, but surprisingly graceful at the same time.

We stayed to watch this family for at least 30 minutes and many times the animals were so close to our open air jeep that we could have touched them. We were able to closely look them in their eyes.

The Mamas stayed close to the babies and little ones a kept their distance but I was able to get a photo of one of them.

We saw two adolescent males sparing with each other for quite a while.

The elephants were mostly quiet, surprisingly so, while we watched so closely. However, after a while, one of the elder Mamas and lead males started to make “harumphing” noises, so we decided it was our cue to move on.

Back to the bumpy roads and towards the “Hippo Pool”.

On the way, we came across this guy. The Crocodiles share the ponds and rivers with the hippos.

Lastly, we found a large “Bloat” of hippos, funny name for a group of fat hippos and appropriate.

Hippos are quite territorial, especially when young are around. And, I was surprised to learn, despite their obese bodies and short legs, they can run faster than a human! You do NOT want to get close to one on dry land. The are some of the most dangerous creatures in the Serengeti.

They are also rather stinky when they are in these big “bloats”. We didn’t linger long.

Back the bumpy road to Nanyukie, my lovely home for a few days.