Our kids have done ALOT of hiking in their young lives. Some pretty hard-core hikes last summer in Alaska and at various National Parks throughout the US. But they have never bush-whacked with a machete through the jungle before. Up and down ravines we went, across streams, over logs, under branches, through mud, around bushes, being "clothes-lined" by vines, tripped by roots, scratched by thorns, taking turns slipping and falling....onward we trekked. Always listening and watching expectantly overhead. Such a mysterious, intriguing, sweaty, heart-thumping, adventurous workout. Our kids are such troopers!
The first day we unfortunately didn't see any chimps, but we saw lots of other kinds of primates.
The Black & White Colobus:
Blue Monkeys (which aren't really blue of course):
Red Tailed Monkeys:
We also heard lots of baboons and saw them through the branches, but unfortunately couldn't get any good shots. But we have seen them along the road very close up each time we goto Kenya.
They took us back out the next morning and all our trekking and bush-whacking finally paid off:
A baby chimp was curiously watching us!
The mother was in the bed/nest up above, and this is all she revealed of herself:
We learned they build new nests every single night before sleeping. They always sleep in a different spot. We saw several others on the move but couldn't get a good shot of them. And we definitely heard them....warning each other the bush-whackers were coming! Very elusive indeed. Our human legs couldn't keep up with their mighty swinging arms that were always a step ahead of us. But part of the experience is the thrill of the hunt!
No comments:
Post a Comment