Yesterday we went on our first safari!  We drove to Tsavo East national park, about 100 km from Mombasa.  It was absolutely fabulous!  The weather was beautiful, the scenary was stunning and the animals were abundant.  Am I making people jealous yet?  If I tried to attach pictures, I would probably shut down the internet cafe for days, so descriptions are the best I can do for now!

Nine of us, plus our driver/guide, were in a cool safari bus with a top that pops up and allows you to stick out your head to take pictures.  The rainy season made for mostly green scenery, but the dirt road was the reddest I’ve ever seen.  We drove past lots of foothills, watering holes and a huge green canyon.  We saw antelope, gazelles, giraffes, zebras, some warthogs, hippos (half submerged), an ostrich and a bald eagle.  And lots of elephants!  They were by far the most impressive.  At one point, a herd of about 15 dirt red elephants crossed right in front of our vehicle.  We had to stop talking so we wouldn’t scare them – obviously this was hard for me.

We noticed antelope and zebra hanging out together at one point.  This surprised me, until someone explained to me that both are plant eaters.  This just goes to show that I learned nothing during all those family trips to the Metro Toronto Zoo.  Probably because I was thinking about eating at MacDonalds the whole time.

There was more animal mayhem on our way to work this morning.  We noticed more monkeys than usual around the house and yard this morning.  Then, just as we were closing the front gate on our way out, we were surrounded by about ten.  They stared at us, we stared at them, and they started to dart forward.  Of course, we freaked out and ran back into the house, screaming, with vision of rabies (can you even get rabies from monkeys?) dancing in our heads.  We waited it out for a few minutes (confirming my host family’s suspicions that Canadians are crazy), and then made a mad dash for the main street.  I’m happy to say that we made it to work in one piece without having to use Kora’s rape whistle.

That’s it for now.  If you are reading my blog, remember to send me a comment or an e-mail!