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Once we decompressed from our adventure climbing Mount Kilimanjero we started on safari in Tanzania and Kenya. We continued to be amazed by the contrasts we saw, every day...poverty (along the road with most of the people, it seemed) and wealth (our safari lodges were the most gorgeous places we've ever stayed), black and white, dry (desert-like landscape, even in wet season) and rainforests, and places filled with people and their domestic goats, sheep and cattle contrasted with the spectacular national parks filled with amazing wildlife.

We started at Lake Manyara in the beautiful Rift Valley that runs south through most of Africa. Our hotel sat on the escarpment of the Rift Valley, with a view right into the National Park.

The first day in the park was amazing--our initial sightings of hippos, elephants, dik diks (tiny antelopes that are always in pairs, sometimes with a baby), Thompson and Grants gazelles, impala by the bucketload, giraffes, zebras--everything we wanted to see-- we thought!

How silly of us--there were endless kinds of antelopes, giraffes, still had all the wild cats (and we got some great photos over the 17 days), and the birdlife was equally amazing.

After two nights at Lake Manyara we moved onto what I thought was one of the most spectacular places on earth--the Ngongorongorong Crater.

Our lodge was (again) perched on the rim of the crater with a spectacular view of the inside that we would explore the next day.

Here's the life of a lion pride after a kill--they were so full they couldn't move at all.

It almost seemed safe enough to get out of the van...but maybe not.

Here was the next pride we encountered, who had just been chased off their wildebeest kill by about 25 hyenas.

This was the van in front of us, but other lions in the pride were sitting just under our van too!

The next day we moved on to the Serengeti National Park--another iconic African park. We made a little detour from our planned path to see the great migration at the south end.

2.5 million wildebeest, accompanied by zebras and the predators...what an amazing sight to see!

Unfortunately for us, without our knowledge, we were also being watched by predators and had about $1000 in various denominations stolen from our bag somewhere in this couple of days--either from a hotel safe or on this particular day where we were travelling to the next hotel. The guide assured us we could leave our bags in the safari vehicle while we climbed a hill to see the migration from above--which was the only time we left the bag unaccompanied with enough time for someone to go through it and take some monies (large bills) from various envelopes, leaving partial amounts there so we didn't recognize the loss for 2 days. Be warned, if you travel in Africa--we thought we were being secure but obviously not enough.

Well, we didn't want that to be a damper on what was otherwise a fantastic experience--so on we went, seeing our first (and almost last) cheetah--what a beauty! He couldn't care less about us, wouldn't look at us (like most of the cats, they just ignored us!)

Then, more lions, elephants, antelopes, buffalos and giraffes right close to our hotel...the list goes on!

This guy had an interesting head-dress!

And it wouldn't be a full description without talking about the local tribes. We visited a Masai village and had a good look at their colourful clothing, their traditional huts made of wood covered with cow dung, and roofed with grass/straw. No sanitation, or power, needless to say. Shocking living conditions for us Westerners, not to mention the multiple wife situation, the missing and rotting teeth, the lethargic babies, the desparate look in their yellowed or red eyes.

I thought I might like to paint some, but I came away saddened by the experience so I'm not sure I can do that.

The other exceptional experience we had in the Serengeti was seeing two leopards close together in one day--very unusual, according to the guide. And then, one of them actually got disturbed by the rain and came out of its hiding place up high in the tree.

Wish I had my wits about me, and had the movie setting on my camera! Anyway I got a good shot of it in the tree.

Next stop was the Masai Mara, in Kenya, where we had a night in a deluxe tented lodge. Each hotel seemed to get better and better--we could hardly believe it--and arriving at Lion Camp in the dark, after a very long day on the road, just having discovered the theft, somehow helped us start to recover.

Kenya had more wonderful parks to discover--we were wondering by this time what more we could possibly be impressed by. Then we saw the lion pride attacking a couple of buffalos who had strayed from a large herd. Five of them were hanging off the back of one of them when part of the herd came to chase them off so all the action was very exciting.

Meanwhile some of the same lion pride were putting on a road show for the rest of the viewers! This particular safari vehicle was wide open, and the three people inside were definitely not leaning outside to see what this little fellow was doing!

We visited Lake Naivasha, known for birdlife (350 species) and growing flowers that are shipped to Holland's flower auction every day, crossed the equator 4 times before lunch on another day, and loved Lake Nakuru National Park, known for its white and black rhino population.

On the morning we were leaving, we spotted 22 rhinos, again before lunch!

Then north in Kenya, closer to the Somalia border, where there are some places that are a little risky for tourists to be. We had to drive the long way around to Samburu National Park because one road had been closed to tourists for a couple of years--due to bazooka-carrying bandits (purportedly Somalians) who take no prisoners, apparently. One more issue in East Africa that shocked us naive Westerners--the recent (last 5 years) of violence, tribal wars, and lack of effective enforcement, to add to the poor infrastructure (a "Kenya massage" is given by the roads while driving--they are so rough!) and corruption of governments. The unrest is expected to worsen later this year as there are general elections.

But we had beautiful places to see, and yet more and different wildlife too. My husband and I just don't get tired of looking for animals, and the deserts of Samburu National Park provided some new species including the desert oryx (from my sketch), which looks like the gemsbuck that we saw later in South Africa.

This one is standing behind a Thompson gazelle, which I have also sketched, below.

And I should also note that the local Samburu tribes, related to the Masai but not so well known, and seemingly a little more advanced, gave us a warm welcome and provided some of that colour I was looking for without the desparate poverty. Or maybe I was just getting used to it by then??

They all seemed quite healthy--as actually did most of the Africans.

Funny, we didn't see any obesity, very little overweight people, everyone walked along the roadside. There were very few cars (except in Nairobi), and lots of happy looking kids along the road, waving at us, smiling and looking quite happy. Even 5 year olds tended their herds of 5-10 goats, cattle and sheep, carrying big sticks and keeping (mostly) off the road. We noted that there were no MacDonalds, only a couple of KFCs in Nairobi itself, and no other fast food chains in East Africa. Wonder if there's a connection?

With those photos, I think it's time to end that chronicle of our adventures in East Africa. Next it's off to South Africa, and then on to Europe.

Who has time for painting??