FRI., OCT. 13, 2017 - DAY #4 OF SAFARI - SAMBURU GAME RESERVE - Before we retired the previous night our dining room waiter walked to our tent asking if we wanted a "wake-up call" for the following morning.  We agreed on a 5 a.m. call so that we could have breakfast at 5:30 and be ready for the first game drive of the day by 6:15.  That "wake-up call" actually meant that the waiter walked to our tent, calling out "good morning" as he neared us, carrying coffee in a pot and a small plate of cookies.  With breakfast behind us, we all assembled for loading of the van for our second game drive.  

One of the first animals we observed was the baboon. 

Note the large dark red mound toward the left side of this picture with a baboon sitting on the top.  It is a termite hill, similar to others seen all over this area.

And below are the African Guinea fowl with their beautiful blue feathers.

In the same area as the Guinea fowl, we found Impala, one of the 10 varieties of antelope found in Africa. 

In this picture of the Ostrich, the two black & white birds are male; look closely at the right for the female who blends in the surroundings

Another of the 10 varieties of antelope

This is the smallest of the 10 varieties of antelope, the Dik-dik; we felt it's size compared to what we know in the USA as a Chihuahua dog

And the Reticulated Giraffe

A group of giraffes is called a "Tower".  This is a tower; there actually were more than the two animals shown in this picture

Followed by another variety of antelope

This beautiful terrain...

 ...was occupied by this antelope.

And a warthog...

The driver/guides in the park communicated with each other using CB radios.  Anytime one had spotted an unusual animal or very interesting situation involving a rather common animal they would "put the word out" of the location and every driver/guide would immediately take his group to that place. 

The word went out that a cheetah had been spotted lying in the shade of a tree.

We watched another antelope, the Gerenuk, for a short time before receiving the "word" that an elephant had been spotted.

With a noticeable change of terrain, we began watching an elephant.

After that we came across this warthog, preparing to get into a water/mud.  (we learned a "hard" lesson).  In our anticipation of this happening we made entirely too much noise and startled the animal.  He ran away!

 
Our final sighting of the morning was this herd of antelope eating hay that was obviously provided by the camp shown behind the trees.  We returned to our camp for a short break. 

After our short break we departed again, this time for the village that is home of the local Samburu tribe.

The men of the village are under a tree playing a game as we arrive.

 Here, the young warriors are showing us their strength.

 One shows how high he can jump.

A group picture

mother & child

children in front of home

closeup picture of home side wall

 tribe market

We returned to our camp about 1:30 p.m. for lunch.

Below, two warriors are employed to keep the monkeys away from the dining area.

After a 2 hour break we gathered about 6 p.m. for our evening game drive.

Initially, we began by visiting all the places we had seen various animal on the morning drive.

large termite hill

And, then there's that lone African tree...

and the beautiful sunsets! 

It seemed like we were just "wandering around" searching for anything to look at when Amos got a message over the CB radio that a lion had been spotted.  He started driving toward the given location as swiftly as possible.  That meant not slowing for bumps or any over rough road spots and driving through creeks and running water.  We just held on for all we were worth! And then there it was.

As we watched, the lioness & her mate walked away.

I got these two pictures of the mate.

 As they got out of sight, Amos moved the van so we could continue to watch.

These are the best pictures I got of the lioness. 

And, of the lion.

And, finally of her again.

We watched until dark and then drove back to the camp for dinner & shortly after we went to our rooms.  It's an early start we have for tomorrow!

At this place in this blog I would like to address an item that was agreed to on the very first day in the van, "we will rotate seats".  The issue was not mentioned the very first day away from Nairobi, but after the "wild" ride on this evening to get to this lion sighting it had to be on most of our minds.  We were still in the same seats that we started in.  The day following this "wild" lion ride, Hedy made the announcement to the effect that, "Because of her medical condition there was no other place in van where she could ride".  So, we all stayed in the same seats throughout the entire safari, with Jo & Jan riding in the most cramped spaces with very little foot room and feeling all the bumps almost double what the others of us felt.  And, we continued to put up with the extra suitcases taking our floor space and having to be moved to seats before we could exit or enter.