And we walked among them...

Day 1 of our latest adventure...a walking safari! It started with a bit of culture as we walked through the town of Mto Wa Mbu, learned about how they prepare/preserve fish, walked through the rice fields (notice the rice field watchman...talk about watching the grass grow...his job everyday is to sit in that stand & make sure birds don't come & eat all the crops...and at night another watchman comes to make sure the hippos don't eat the crop as well...hmmm, think I'll take the day shift), walked by all the banana/bean crops (they grow these 2 crops together), past the 'honey plantation' (hollowed out logs hanging from trees that become bee hives), through the Acacia Forest, there we were...walking into/through a herd of Zebra, Wildebeest, Thompson Gazelle & Giraffe (with Buffalo off in the distance). Unreal...there's really no way to describe what it's like being surrounded on all sides by over 200 these beautiful animals (okay, so the Wildebeast aren't quite so beautiful...but in their own right they're...well, let's move on). The giraffe were amazing, as we were able to get within maybe 15-20 yards of them. (See Dave working on his hunting skillz...yeah right...fun anyway.) Zebra stayed a bit further out, maybe the 20-25 yards away, and Wildebeest/Thompson Gazelle were the most skittish, 25 yards was the closest we got to them. (Of course we never got within 100 yards of the Buffalo...you'd be a little nuts to get much closer...at least on foot. Interesting fact, what animal is the #1 human killer in Africa? Buffalo. And the lion...down at #5 amazingly.)