Kenya Pictures 2003

• Kathleen on the edge of Rift Valley - This was taken during our drive in from Nairobi
• Rift Valley - Another view from our drive in from Nairobi
• Our living quarters - Where we are staying for our 6 weeks in Kenya
• Just to give you an idea of what Masai Mara looks like, here are two pictures of the general landscape (Picture 1, Picture 2). In the first picture, you can see the safari vans that we drive around in.
• Here you can see our whole group in our safari van. The driver got out and took the picture (there weren't any lions around). The vans looked like they'd fall apart, but they were suprisingly sturdy.
• Kathleen and I stayed at the Masai Mara Safari Club. It was very nice--voted one of the top 500 hotels in the world by some hotel magazine.
• There were lots of zebra running around (even outside the game park). Here are some more zebra.
• We also saw some giraffes. They look like they do in the zoo, but it seems a lot stranger when they are out in the open and running around. As you can see, the vans can get very close to the giraffes. The eerie thing is when you look out on the horizon and you see their long necks sticking up above the tree line--it feels kind of like Jurassic Park.
• The sad thing about the giraffes is that lions like to eat the giraffes. When you see this sort of thing up close you realize how wild this place is. I didn't post the pictures of the vultures picking at the carcass and also flying around above the site. There were also a number of jackals running around trying to steal some of the meat.
• There were only three rhinos in the park. As you can see, we were able (under the supervision of the park ranger) to get pretty close to them! They are pretty scary when they get startled!
• One other amazing thing we saw was a cheetah. After sitting around for awhile, we saw it leap up and kill a goat. One of the Masai herders let his goats stray a little too far. The cheetah chased the goat, and bit its neck until it died.