Days 4-6: On safari in the Maasai Mara

Sunday morning bright and early two Toyota Land Cruisers picked up the nine of us (4 Merrills, 5 Baileys) at their home in Nairobi for the five-hour drive east to the Maasai Mara National Reserve, which borders the perhaps more famous Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. Turns out the animals don't care which country they graze or hunt in. Also turns out that everything you've ever seen on National Geographic or in a David Attenborough documentary is true. Africa has an astounding diversity of wildlife living together, that is, when they're not eating each other. We had two "game drives," which is Safari-speak for "drive around the 500+ mile square park on rutted jeep roads, stopping and shutting off the engine when you're in the perfect photo position." Can't wait to get these images home and do a little PhotoShop editing -- but they aren't bad untouched, either! Just animals for now; will share some people photos tomorrow.

Resting hyena.

Silver-backed jackal.

Red-necked spurfowl.

Elephants.

Hippo.

Warthog.

Lion, guarding his day-old Buffalo kill.

It was apparently very tasty.

Slinking hyena.

African Buffalo.

Giraffe on the run.

Cheetah.

Crowned cranes.

Impalas.

Also an elephant.

African Eagle.

Ostrich.

Four-headed giraffe.

Zebras.

A zebra.

Hippo family.

Elephant herd.

Elephant at sunset.

Serval.

Giraffe.

Secretary bird atop a tree.

Topi.

Baboon in tree.