Best for Last?

If you aren't tired of the bush by now, I am, so this is the last one and then it's back to the Arabian peninsula where the weather is finally gorgeous and I am scheduled to learn to drive my Jeep in the desert. After seeing the Big 5 within 24 hours, I thought that the balance of the drives would be repetitious. The wonders of nature did not disappoint as the latter drives with Fred were very exciting .

The morning drive included watching a long procession of hundreds of buffalo making their way across the savannah. The oldest member of the herd is customarily at the front and each herd knows exactly who occupies that slot.

Note the bird. It's not a freeloader. It is picking at all the blood-sucking ticks and keeping the buffalo healthy.

After the long rains from March-June, the Mara has meter-high grass that compels millions of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle to return from the Serengetti, where they migrated from the Mara in October of the previous year. The last of that annual return to the Serengetti was in effect during my stay, which includes crossing the Mara River, with crocodiles in wait.

We drove to point on the river where hundreds of zebra had been huddled for days and saw a crocodile waiting for the first opportunity to make a move. It seemed very fatalistic to be watching the zebra deliberate en masse as to the appropriate moment to cross, knowing that there may be a sacrificial price to pay for the greater good.

We witnessed ostrich mate. As in most feathered creatures, the male is the brightly-colored one that has to woo the female into the act of procreation. This male started flapping his wings (the ones that don't permit flight - the only bird with wings that can't fly) and doing a bit of a dance to signify that he was ready. The female ran off to force a chase and flapped her wings as well to indicate eventual willingness. It was not long before the male caught up and the deed was done. This particular female will now lay 15-40 eggs. The male will search for another female and when they've finished their business, the female will lay her eggs in the very same nest. This goes on with a few females and they will eventually all take turns (male inclusive) protecting the nest - especially from the lion that love to find a full nest and gorge on an impromptu raw brunch.

And on the drive back to camp as dusk was approaching, we watched a family of elephant move along the savannah and caught a lone hippo munching out of the water.

One of the last tales we heard was about the runway for the landing strip. The gravel was dug from a patch of land that collects water and the grass therefore stays greener; it looks a bit like a golf course feature. Elephant grazed on it at dusk. The windsock in the background demarcates the air strip, from where I departed for Nairobi the next day.