We had an early day this day... Can you tell? Hee-hee! We were all really excited though so all of us was able to wake up early enough!!! We're going to be flying over the mara on a hot air balloon! I, was very excited since it's my first time to be on a hot air balloon!!! =D One of my friends has been on one before, but she said this was a little different... We got on the basket while it was still tipped over! It was hilarious trying to get all of us in the basket!
What a gorgeous sunrise! It was a little chilly that morning but once the sun started rising, the temperature was just perfect!
There were two balloons leaving that day from the company we went with, and this is the other balloon. Our balloon colors are the same, by the way, except that this one is a 16 person basket and we were on a 12 person basket.
The views from the balloon was just amazing! Here, we saw a herd of cape buffaloes! We also saw a pride of lions, antelopes, giraffes! It was good we brought along our binoculars! Although, our pilot would sometimes swoop down so we can get a closer view of the animals!
Can you see the giraffe heads peeking above the trees?
Here's some topi.
Here's the other balloon swooping in for a closer view of the masai giraffes!
After the balloon ride, we were served champagne and breakfast, right there in the bush!!! Can you see the trucks parked? That's where we had our breakfast! They had tables setup complete with linen and chairs! What we thought though when we got there is, there's too much food for the cats here! (Zebras and wildebeests! Hee-hee!)
After the wonderful breakfast, we were off for a game drive right by the mara river!!! It's the circle of life once again... There was like, 3 types of vultures hanging out here by the carcass!
So, we were hoping to see some action here like on those nature programs... You know, the crocs trying to bite wildebeests while they are crossing the river... Alas, we would be not so lucky to see that. We did see a lot of crocs there! Can you see the croc in the photo above watching a wildebeest carcass? Our guide said that it is letting the wildebeest rot so it would be softer to eat! So I guess the crocs biting the wildebeests is not really to eat them, but to kill them and eat them later!
More hippos!!!
This looks promising!!! A lot of wildebeest is amassing at one side of the river... At this time, we were just waiting patiently to see if they will cross!!!
There they go!!! This is what we have been hoping to see on this trip!!! The wildebeests crossing the river!
And guess what, it wasn't just the wildebeest crossing!!! We saw some zebras crossing with the wildebeest too!!!
Look at how many have crossed so far! And they told us that this is one of the first wave of the migration! Amazing!
We saw another tawny eagle!
Here's a lioness resting, and a lion a few feet away from the lioness! The great part here is we were maybe 7 feet away from them!!! This is the closest we've been to the lions!
This is one of the hilarious part of that game drive... So we were all just you know, taking photos of the cats, observing them, chilling, when the lion suddenly got up and went towards the lioness... Before we knew it, the lion was on top of the lioness!!! At that point, all of us were hysterical, trying to get our camcorder, our cameras, what nots... Of course, with my luck, I ran out of space on my camera!!! Luckily my friend has an extra card handy and of course I was able to take a photo of what was happening.... =D
Before we knew what was happening, the lion roared and walked away from the lioness!!! Our guide told us that it was mating season and what we witnessed was their sort of wedding! We're all impressed with the lions! Our guide told us that they mate 40 times a day for a week during mating season! Of course, each session lasts for only 4 seconds... Hee-hee!
Here's one last glimpse of the lion and lioness! =)
It's amazing here, we saw so many lions!!! Male lions, simbas!!! Here's another one!
We actually saw a pride up close! A little bit scary though, because when we saw the guys above (young males), when we turned around, what do you know, there was more lions! Luckily they decided not to jump inside our vehicles!!! (Our vehicles were open!)
After our morning game drive, we stopped by a Masai village. Here the men was performing their jumping dance, similar to the Samburu's dance. Very interesting tribe. Their houses are also made of sticks and cow dung but is a little bigger than the Samburu's and it is a square shape. They walk everywhere! They can run really fast too! There was a Masai at our lodge who was smitten with one of my friends and asked her, how many days walk to her village! Hehehe!
After the Masai village visit, we went on another game drive. Here's some zebras showing what else, but their best sides to us! Aren't their stripes really well defined?
Despite the tall grass, we saw this secretary bird!
Here's a crested crane. Isn't the bird colorful?
We haven't seen a giraffe there bent down like this!!! =D
Aren't giraffes just cute?
Cute or ugly? hehe!
Another view of zebras! We have not seen them drinking water before... hehe!
For the life of me, I can't remember the name of these birds... hehehe! They are colorful though!
Another beautiful end to a wonderful day of animal sightings! Gorgeous!
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