Amboseli - day 3

I think our guide felt a bit sorry for us with all the early mornings so today we had an early breakfast and only met him at 8am. It was cooler today so we saw hippos as they had come out of the water. Today he wanted to show us the lioness and her three young cubs (one month old) but despite being successful in finding where she was, she was hiding in deep bush and would not come out. We waited for some time but to no avail.

We then went off towards the hyena den as he was hoping to show us the hyena cubs, but as we approached, there were three cubs playing near their mother. She hardly lifted her head when we approached and the cubs were so curious they came right up to us. An advantage of this area is that there is no poaching whatsoever, the wild animals live in harmony with the Masai people and so they do not fear people. When you approach an animal it does not run off and that is why we are able to get so close. In South Africa I remember the game rangers carried guns (not sure if they still do) but here they don't - they have confidence that the animals will not attack anyone, provided no-one does anything stupid. They are certainly not tame, its just that they have no reason to fear humans. The hyena cubs were so sweet, I could not resist choosing one for my blip today. We also had some time with a small group of elephants and again got very close to them - in fact they walked around the vehicle and we are amazed at how silent they are - for such large animals they make no noise as they walk along.

We were out for a long time and got back just before lunch. This afternoon we are going on a bush walk to look at birds and some antelope. The birds here have been incredible here, I particularly love the Superb Starling which I have added as an extra. We have also seen another favourite, the Lilac Breasted Roller.

I am loading this before we go for our bush walk as last night it took an hour to load, I tried about 5 times as the wifi is so erratic. I am very thankful for your kind comments on my entries so far, both images are on the popular page. I have read all your comments but the wifi is too dodgy to spend time replying - also I don't have that much time.

Tomorrow morning we leave Amboseli and fly to Laikipia, another conservancy which is famous for its rhinos. As you know the white rhino is almost extinct. There are three northern white rhinos left in the world, of which only one is a male - he is kept under constant armed guard. All three white rhinos are in this conservancy so we hope we are be able to see them.
White rhino