"Not all who wander...: the Great Migration

(this is a long one)

'Twindelé,' says Jonathan, our Masai guide. Dave continues driving across the rough road while I carefully scan the grassy plains for signs of life. It is day #2 of our 52-hour Kenyan safari in Masai Mara National Reserve. 'The Mara,' as Dave coolly calls it, is located in the Great Rift Valley, and is home to thousands of animals. We are here to see the Great Migration - one of the 7 wonders of the world. The Migration takes place every year when wildebeests, gnu, and zebras head south in search of food. Because these animals are so tasty, it's an ideal time to spot lots of interesting predators.

So far, we have seen 4 out of the Big Five --see if you can guess what we missed: Lion, Elephant, Hippo, & Leopard

Leopards (or as Jonathan says lee-oh-pards) are extremely difficult to spot, but thanks to Dave's safari driving skillz, we had a great sighting.

Cheetah are also rare - but we came across a total of 13!! Amazing. We were literally 10 feet away from the animals - just grabbing an afternoon siesta.

On day #1, we had already seen a herd of elephants (including a tiny, adorable baby!) - so on day 2, we are focused on lions and getting a view of the river crossing of the migration.

We drive as far as the border of Tanzania (props to Dave for this artsy photo)

, and then find a great spot to watch the gnu (pronounced here ga-new) cross the Mara river.

The banks are quite steep, but more dangerous are the crocodiles awaiting lunch.

All we can see for miles are zebras and gnu- they are marching skittishly toward the river, and any sudden movement by the truck will spook them. 'Polé, polé,' says Jonathan- we slow down, and turn off the engine, joining other safari trucks awaiting this amazing event. We wait. And wait.

Finally, one brave, dumb soul decides to make a break for it. It's go time.

Thousands of gnu rush down the steep embankment, wade quickly through the water, and storm up the other side to where the already-brave gnu are waiting. The noise is so loud, we can

barely hear one another - all the animals are rushing, rushing down into the water - they are crowded so closely together.

Fortunately for the gnu, no crocs caught wind of the crossing (bet they were splashing themselves later). After a while, one car's movement spooked the animals, so they stopped moving across the river and went back to grazing. We yelled some encouragement ('Just do it!' 'You know you want to cross!'), but the gnu were finished for the afternoon.

And so were we! We drove back to camp and took a couple hours' break from safari and played with the weird birds around our campsite (the one pictured was my fave).

We stayed on the banks of the Talek River, just ouside the park gates. This was a great locale - not just because they had toilets and frigid showers, but also because of the animals lurking nearby. One morning, Dave told me not to go wandering off alone - he had heard hippos wandering around the campground all night. I followed instructions.

That evening: 1. we found a pride of lions, 2. I got all black and blue from popping up through the sunroof while we were driving, and 3. we introduced some nice Masai friends to our extremely spicy chili.

The next morning (day 3), we packed up camp into the rockin (and only 1 week old) safari truck,and headed back through the park in search of rhino. Elam, topi, zebras, giraffes, lions, warthogs, and a cheetah later - we never spotted the rhino. Next time, definitely next time.

3 hours later (once again due to Dave's driving skillz) we landed back safely in Nairobi - this was record time. I kept saying - it felt like we were in a video game - how fast can you drive/swerve without hitting any of the following: potholes, trucks, buses, that police barrier, goats, or cows. Without being stopped even once by the police. And as far as we know - zero casualties.