Post 100

After Just over a year of posting we have reached the 100 mark! This milestone deserves some of the most beautiful creatures on earth.

In my opinion lions are really cool. I'm just glad we were in the car and not on foot.

Another shot of the little cubs.

You can see already blending in with the grass.

It is quite amazing how much they really blend in. Can you spot all three in this picture?

How about this guy? He's pretty hidden.

A couple of young males staring down the buffalo.

A nice silhouette as the sun is starting to go down. They like to hunt the most in the dawn just as the sun is coming up or in the dusk just as it's going down because that is when they blend in the best. You can almost walk right up next to them and not even know they were there.

These two were resting after their meal.

A couple of female checking us out seeing if we are ok to hang out next to their cubs.

Babies

Who doesn't like looking a baby animals?



The cutest one had to be the baby elephant. Our guide said that this one was about 4 days old. How cute is that.



Can you see the baby hippo hiding behind his mama?



A couple of baby gazelles learning where to go and what to stay away from.



The antelopes called Topi.



A family of warthogs. These guys are very skittish. They did not like anyone getting close.



Another baby zebra. This guy is such a cute little zebra.



A family of mongooses. These guys were fast, and hard to catch on the camera.



These were not exactly babies but they were a couple of young cubs learning how to hunt.



This was a tiny hyena that hasn't gotten his spots yet along with another baby that was a little older and has started changing colors.



Little baby lions, they are so cute. They didn't really care much for us hanging around so they decided to walk on down the way. The mama wasn't far behind so you didn't want to get too close, but they were just too cute not to stop and take a look.

Maasai

The Maasai people are nomadic people that live in the Mara of Kenya and the Serengeti of Tanzania. Their native language is called Maa and sai means speaker or one who speaks, so Maasai means the speaker of the Maa language.



This guy was a chief in training, he told us all about their culture and heritage.



A group of Maasai warriors performing one of their tribal dances.



The guys will jump to impress the ladies. The one who can jump the highest impresses the most. (Guys are all the same everywhere, it's all about impressing the ladies)



A nice group photo, the Maasai colors are red, they really like red.



The stick I'm holding is the chief stick. (Me big chief!)

The Red Sea

Near the end of our trip we took a couple of days to relax on the beach. I never really thought of the red sea as a beach destination but take a look at some of the photos, The place was beautiful.

This was the entrance of the resort

Here is the view out our window of the room we stayed in for two nights.

This one shows the different colors that you can see of the water.

Relaxing on the beach. We thought Suzanne's dad would be proud of the straw hat with the big brim to keep the sun out.

Between the resort and the little town we found some nice flowers to take a picture beside.

We got the opportunity to go para sailing while we were there. This was a really neat experience.

We got the person reeling out the rope to take some pictures while we were in the air.

This rope was 100 meters long. For those who don't think in meters that's about 300 feet high. That is really high. It was quite amazing looking at the sea and the beach from high up.

Touching the water. If the boat driver times it right you can touch the water and then get back up.



After our flight, hanging out in the boat in all our gear.

Temples

There were so many temple here I could post a whole photo album and not cover them all, but here are a few of the highlights.

This is the temple at Abu Simbel, with the giant statures of king Ramses II. This wasn't initially on our itinerary, but we were instructed by our friends that it was a must see and it was really cool.

This one gives a little perspective on how large this temple really is.

This is another section of the Abu Simbel temple.

Here is the outer court of the temple of Isis.

The inner court of the temple of Isis. The columns and the carvings on the stone is really breathtaking.

A column at the temple at Kom Ombo. This one dedicated to the Crocodile god.

Another of the temple of Kom Ombo. This one shows a place where they would keep a crocodile caged up.

This picture shows how they would draw in red "ink" on the stone before carving. This one they didn't get to finish and erase the red.

Dave and a statue of the god Horus.

The temple of Queen Hatshepsut who ruled without a king, until her son took over and tried to erase everything she had built.

This was quite interesting it was a listing of different cities being presided over by king Ramses II.

You can't leave out the obelisks can you?

The temple of Karnak. The largest ancient temple in Egypt. 2800 meters away from the temple of Luxor, with a row of Sphinx's all the way from one to the other.

The wonderful temple of Luxor, with it's beautiful mosque right in the middle.

This one is not really one of the temple. It was taken while at the temple of Kom Ombo. I just thought it was a beautiful sunset on the Nile and wanted to capture it on the camera.

Hot Air Balloon

One thing we have wanted to do for quite some time is ride in a hot air balloon. Until now we either haven't had the time, or the place wasn't right. However there is not much of a better place to go in a balloon then in Kenya.

Early morning, pre-sunrise getting fired up. It was a little chilly in the morning but close to the burner was quite warm.

Both of us looking cool pre-flight.

Sunrise on the Mara!

Can you see right in the middle, the Giraffe? We were pretty high up at this point.

Some elephants roaming in the forest. Still pretty high. It was a little difficult to get the camera to focus. It took a couple of tries but I think we go some pretty good ones.

A lot of Zebras and Antelopes called Topi. Remember this was pre great migration time. I can only imagine what it is like during the migration.

I had to do the stretched out arm picture again, from the balloon with the beautiful Mara in the background.



The Pilot had a camera on a string so that he would be able to get a picture of all of us, I think it turned out pretty good.

A nice smooth landing.

Enjoying a wonderful time. We had breakfast and a game drive to compliment out balloon trip.

A nice glass of champagne by the rivers edge to toast a beautiful morning.