Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!

This past Monday and Tuesday we spent in a wild game park and loved it!  I kept asking Matt if we could stay there for the remaining time that we have here.  What an incredible place! We stayed right in the game park on a hill in tents that were on a platform and with an additional thatch roof. These tents had running water, electricity and hardwood floors, not to mention a huge deck on the front so that we could view the wildlife right from our own veranda.  It was awesome to say the least!  

We had a Masai guard who walked the premises at night and escorted everyone to/from their tents after dark (the Masai are nomads who wander around through several countries herding their cattle as they please - I suspect that they may even go through the game park region with nothing but a stick for protection.  The nationals even at times stop and comment on them as though they were a tourist.).  

The elephants here are not like the ones in India or other places where they will allow a person to ride them like a horse or have them as a pet.  These elephants are WILD and prefer to stay that way. These types of elephants have been known to wander through this tent-hotel area along with many other exotic and highly creatures.  In fact a leopard killed an impala right in front of where we were staying a couple of nights before we arrived. And in case you are wondering, the nationals consider the leopard as the king of the jungle. They say this because a lion will come into a flock, kill 1 animal, and take it off to eat it. A leopard on the other hand will come in and kill the whole flock then just take 1 of them away to eat. They have also been known for attacking and killing more people than the lions even though the lions are more abundant and larger.

Anyways, as we drove around the park, we got to see lots of impalas (you could say that we saw seas of them), giraffes, elephants, wildebeest, warthogs, small jackals, baboons, zebras, 2 crocodiles, one leopard and 5 lionesses among others.  Some of the elephants were up close - one was just on the other side of a tall spot of grass -- less than 10 feet from our SUV.  We tried to get some pictures of it, but it was hard to see it through the grass. Even still we were able to see its large ivory tusks staring us down, and were concerned that if we upset it, we'd be in serious trouble (An elephant this size would have no problem flipping over our mid-sized SUV with 4 people in it)!  

Oh, about the cats... two of them (a single lioness and the leopard) we saw at dusk as we were high-tailing it back to camp since we can't be out after dark.  The others we saw in pairs - two lionesses were at a fresh kill of a giraffe.  Both of them were out cold!  The one was so funny, it was on its back as though it wanted its tummy scratched.  We drove up right next to it (about 10 feet from it), and it didn't care!  Occasionally we could see them blink or twitch their ears to shew away a fly but that was it.  The other two lionesses we saw the next day, and this time they were awake, sitting on top of a lump of dirt next to a watering hole and again they really didn't care how close we got for pictures. Then again, some of the interns who were in the SUV behind us thought they could see the lionesses licking their lips getting ready for fresh missionary meat! Oh My!

I forgot to mention that we got to see some hippos in their pond.  You know, they are fascinating creatures. They are nocturnal and VERY dangerous when they're out and about, but fairly safe when sleeping.  The pond they were in was deep enough to totally cover them, but every so often they'd come up for air.  From what our hostess at the hotel was saying, they can stay underwater for 5-7 minutes between breaths, and even though they're sleeping, their body will see that they rise to the top for a breath and then plunge back into the water.  As we were watching them, occasionally they'd come up and give us a great big yawn before going back down.  They're doing this to get their metabolism back up to normal as they wake up and prepare to go out for the night. You know, it's just like God to create something so fascinating as the hippo whose body will rise it up out of the water so that it can get a breath even though it's fast asleep.

Overall this trip to the game park was an amazing chance to marvel at God's creation! Only He could have invented each of the creatures with their majestic characteristics which are so diverse as what we have seen from the lizards that are only an inch or two long and extremely fearful of all other creatures to elephants, lions, and leopards which have very few concerns (especially since it is illegal to hunt them here). Then to view the gentle grace by which the giraffes walk to the seemingly effortless speed of the impalas. Literally all of creation lives to testify of the greatness of our God!  

P.S. Africa does not have any tigers or bears in case you were wondering. Oh well, the rest of the animals were fun to observe!