Our final safari day started with a morning game drive. I never got a good photo of the ostriches, but I thought you might be interested anyway.
Ostrich
The black one on the left is the male and the light one on the right is the female. The male has a harem of females, and as I understand it, the primary female lays the first egg in the center of the nest and the remaining females lay their eggs around that center egg. The last one to lay an egg shares incubation duties with the male, and their coloring helps protect the nest, which is on the ground. The female sits on the eggs during the day, when her color is the best camouflage, and the male sits during the evening, when his color is the best camouflage. So, it is not unusual to see a female ostrich with 20 – 24 baby chicks, but she didn’t lay all those eggs herself!
After lunch and a Masai lecture, we took our last bush flight. Before the plane can take off (or land) here, a truck goes up and down the dirt runway chasing wild animals away. There is a grim reminder of the danger – there is still a carcass of a plane which had landed when a wildebeest darted back into its path. No people were killed, but it had to be horrifying.
Kitchwa Tembo airstrip on the Mara
Our bush flight took us to Nairobi where we went to dinner at The Carnivore, which offers all kinds of wild game dishes for those who are adventurous. We sat in an outdoor area, where the monkeys were obviously used to darting down to steal food.

Finally, we were taken to the international airport for the first of two long flights home. Here’s a shot of several bags belonging to our group after we had had them shrink-wrapped for extra security.

Next post will summarize the social highlights of the vacation.
Oh that just seemed to have gone by too fast! But you sure got a lot in! Safe travels back, you two!
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I have thoroughly enjoyed your pictorial tour. What a fantastic experience…Brought back some wonderful memories of our safari trip.
Cammie
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