Hot Air Balloon Ride , Lions, Hippos, Rhino and visit to Masai School

Well, it was definitely worth getting up yesterday at 4:15 am for our hot air balloon ride.  We were a little concerned early because it was raining as they were loading the baskets, but it stopped before we got off the ground.  We had a very experienced lady pilot, Ellie.  She gave us the softest landing of any of our 7 previous balloon rides..I will post her picture.  She currently has almost no hair.  She cut it all off ( it went down to her waist) in support of her best friend who has breast cancer and is losing her hair with chemo...

On our return to camp, we had a great game ride.  We saw a 12 ' crocodile, hippos galore and lions.  Grant also made an extremely rare sighting of a Rhino!  We even saw the kill of a leopard that had been hauled high into a tree to protect it...grant is getting really good at spotting the animals!!! Even the guide was impressed!

Our visit to the Masai School was awesome.  It was a primary school with 600 children, 300 of whom are boarders.  They built two dormitories 3 years ago.  The girls dorm has 50 beds with 100 girls!  That means two children per mattress and some don't even have mattresses.  We did get to see some of the classrooms.  One classroom has 100 students in it that are 6-7 year olds.  Our guide , Daniel, attended the school when it was just one room.  The head teacher that showed us around was his classmate!

I had publishing issues last night so I'm also going to tell you about today's game drive to the Mara River.  We spent a long time watching a small herd of Wildebeest decide if they were going to cross the dangerous Mara River.  They went to the edge three or four times, but never leaped.  They were spooked by two enormous crocodiles.  We did see  four female elephants cross the River with two babies.  One of the babies was too small and we thought it was going to drown.  The mother was frantic!  They all made it but I don't know how the one little guy did it.  The River was way too deep and swift for him!  All you could see was his little trunk going up and down as he was tossed around!

We saw tons of Hyenas several lions and a VERY curious young cheetah who came up to the back of another vehicle and started chewing the spare tire!!! We thought he was going to jump on t, but he was content to rip the tire cover!  We saw several GIGANTIC crocodiles!!! They were just so prehistoric looking it was unbelievable!  We did see the crocs feeding on a recently deceased Wildebeest who didn't make it across the river.  In addition to the depth (deeper then usual at this time of year because of the early rains) and the very swift current, there are large crocs just waiting for their dinner which makes it very dangerous for them!

 One of the MOST amazing things we saw today was two young male lions who started out hunting.  They hid beneath bushes thinking about a small baby Cape Buffalo as a meal.  They changed their minds, but the head of the herd saw the two lions and started to charge them!! Then the rest of the herd came running and they chased the two lions into a tree.  The Buffalo really tried to get them, but they were just high enough that they couldn't quite get them.  One of the lions stood on top of his brother for a short time trying to stay away from the Buffalo.  It became a Mexican standoff and eventually the Buffalo left.  The lions came down and went on their way.

We also saw a warthog eating a dead cow that wandered away from the Masai.. Warthogs are not meat eaters and our guide who grew up here has never seen anything like that before!  

We really had to hurry home this afternoon because big rainstorms were headed our way.  The problem is not getting wet, it's that the river we have to cross to get back to the lodge gets very high with rain.  It can get so high that we can't cross and then it takes 2 hours to go around the long way!  We made it before the river got too high!

We're off tomorrow for Tanzania. The game viewing here has been breathtaking..

When we go to sleep, it's not to the sounds of crickets and frogs, but Hyenas and grunting  Wildebeests! 

Cornered...

Great guide Daniel!

Hippos galore!!

HUGE croc!  Maybe 15 feet!

Baby elephants struggling to cross the Mara River!

Wildebeest who can't make up their minds to cross!! Two crocs scared them off..

Time for a swim.. Don't want to get sunburned!!

Note croc on bank on left. 

Guy who led charge towards the lions!

Curious Cheetah.

Topi playing king of the hill!

The school...

In the dormitory..

After balloon ride.  Ellie is waving!

The lodge loaned Grant this great camera and lens!

Rainstorm coming....

More hippos!

The Masai school...

Impala...

Up up and away!

Baboons..

Leopard resting in tree..

Leopard kill hauled to top of tree...

Magnificent sunset!

Tiny baby elephant...

Vervet monkey...

We crossed right after them!

Magnificent !

Elegant...

I think this catches you up on the photos I couldn't post before!! Enjoy!  And go Dolphins!! :)