On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
way2blue
Last day of our side trip to the Maasi Mara to catch the beginning of the wildebeest migration.
We came to breakfast late our final morning (7 AM), as we weren’t headed out for early animal watching and needed to pack. The camp was quiet, no breakfast staff to be seen. Confusing…
Jonathan arrived to say there’d been a lion kill nearby—did we want to see it… We jumped into his vehicle—but instead—we headed to where the staff had prepared a breakfast overlooking the Mara River. Another enchanting surprise.
Passed a family of elephants on the way back to camp.
At the Musiara airport waiting for our flight.
Our plane arrives…
Heading east back to Nairobi…
Note the hippos crowding the river’s edge.
Motorcycle under a lone shade tree at one of the airstrip stops back to Nairobi.
War for Ukraine Update 71: Azovstal’s Defenders Are Still Holding On
sab
Sitting here in NE Ohio where large hardwood trees are almost considered weeds, that big plain in Africa of scattered shade trees was weird.
sab
Those riverside hippos look so tiny. That must be an impressive river when seen from the ground. Things they never taught us in school in the US: African rivers are huge and amazing, and there are a lot of them.
way2blue
@sab: My first surprise upon arriving in Kenya was how cool the temperatures in Nairobi were. I hadn’t realized how high it is. In fact much of Kenya is an elevated plateau with lots of young volcanoes. This area of Kenya, the Maasi Mara, is quite lush compared to the second part of our trip in the south. Even so, you can see the savannah is fairly dry. And has experienced sustained droughts which stress the ecosystem and the animals it supports…
sab
@way2blue: We never learned much about Africa.
My grandfather’s sister spent twenty happy years in Africa as a “missionary” actually just a teacher. She had to leave during WWII so she went home to teach in Pittsburgh. She went back to Africa every chance she got, often towing her sisters.
ETA She was in southern Sudan
ETA She had just wanted to get off the farm in Pennsylvania. Then she discovered this whole other world.
sab
@way2blue: I did a year in the north of England. I had no idea how north they were. Fall and winter sun rises at 10 am and sets at 4 pm. Not even cold by N American standards but gosh it was dark most of the time.
Climate and altitude are so important.
Sheila in nc
@sab: Conversely, they have a giddying amount of sun in summer. I was in a lab with a postdoc from Manchester, he said the thing he missed most was the light.
YY_Sima Qian
@way2blue: My safari trips to Tanzania & Botswana were in summer in China. I went to escape from the heat & humidity that is common in most parts of China during summer. Botswana in particular was pleasantly cool. Even chilly at night.
Wag
@Sheila in nc: I spent a summer in a lab in Newcastle. The length of the daylight was amazing.
SkyBluePink
What a wonderful series, way2blue!
Thanks for sharing.
stinger
This is a great series, way2blue — and great discussions, everybody! Thanks!
JR in WV
Those hippos in and on the river bank — like the tadpoles in our tiny pond, only huge instead of the size of your little finger end… amazeballs!!!
Thanks for sharing.
Flash flood warnings here this morning, 2+ inches of rain on the wooded hillsides, expecting 2+ more inches, our little brooks around the house and farm are rushing torrents today.
I need to go into Charleston, but high water?
way2blue
@sab: A friend from college moved to London and couldn’t understand why it was dark at 4 PM when she got home from work in the winter till she pulled out a map and saw it was as far north as Alaska…
way2blue
@Sheila in nc: Yes! Spent a few days in Trondheim, Norway in early June once. I’m not sure it ever got dark. And folks were out enjoying the light well past midnight. Really fun. My daughter—who spent the days wandering the town (while I was working)—said she watched to sun just circle the sky. So cool…
way2blue
@YY_Sima Qian: Plus the dryness makes the heat not seem so intense—just need to remember to stay hydrated.
way2blue
@SkyBluePink: Thanks. I have a tendency to jump first—in this case, visiting the Maasi Mara on a whim. Once I sort through my Tsavo & Lamu photos—I hope to share those as well.
way2blue
@JR in WV: Oh! (I arrived in Tarzo, Italy yesterday. Light drizzle with a side of Prosecco… )