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Chickering Kids Make a Difference

Chickering Kids Make a Difference

(Reis) On the first day of school in MA, we had breakfast with Sue Goatley in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Sue runs an organization called Children In The Wilderness Zimbabwe. Children In The Wilderness (also called CITW) raises money from private donations and Wilderness Safaris to help support kids in need. Each year they bring dozens […]

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Cheetah Chase

Cheetah Chase

(Alex) One way to find predators while on safari is to look for parked cars, another is to find them yourself. We usually do the second option, but in this case, we did the first. We went out with one goal, to find cheetahs. There are two main sets of cheetahs in the Maasai Mara, […]

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Waiting to Cross

Waiting to Cross

(Dana) 8:45AM. The thick train of thousands of wildebeest snake across the plain and winds down to the Mara River where we sit and wait. We have a perfect spot to witness a crossing. 9:20, the grunting/bleating increases as the group gains momentum. Walking becomes trotting. Thousands of hooves start thundering. Older animals butting youngsters […]

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Samburu Cell Phones

Samburu Cell Phones

(Greg) Today we changed our flight out of central Kenya so that we could visit the Wednesday market in Wamba. This region is almost exclusively Samburu, a colorful, proud and very traditional tribe of pastoralist cattle herders. Samburu people walk 20k or more to meet and trade on Wednesdays. It is a social as well […]

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Cubs On the Kill

Cubs On the Kill

(Emma) It is a rainy, dark afternoon, and we want to try to find lion cubs. There are three lion cubs in the area, and we want to see them, even with the chance that we will not. We take the risk. The roads are muddy and wet and the rain pitter-patters on the car […]

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River Carnage

River Carnage

(Andrew) The thousands of wildebeest were in an LA gridlock. They were all migrating to rain and grass and had to cross the Mara River. As we drove through the herd of thousands and thousands, they parted like a king walking through a queue of peasants. At the river bank we watch them go forward […]

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Hyena High Jinks

Hyena High Jinks

(Reis) Trot, Trot, Trot, Trot. The Spotted Hyena walks closer to the car. “Emma, take a picture,” I say with excitement. Click. She takes it. I’m relieved. It was dark so she had to take another one, but change her ISO and F Number, whatever that is. The hyena, doesn’t cooperate. Speeding along, it inches […]

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Close Encounters

Close Encounters

(Emma) I see the SHELDRICK sign as we pull into a dust road. My heart starts to beat faster and I start to hyperventilate. I have been waiting for this day the second I heard about it.  We are going to meet the baby orphan elephants we adopted a few months ago. The time slows […]

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Trunk Shows

Trunk Shows

(Dana) Our visit to the Lower Zambezi River Valley in Zambia was timed perfectly: the availability of apple-ring acacia seed pods. Affectionately called “elephant biscuits,” these finger-sized pods are a favorite snack of our 3-5 ton friends. They gather up the pods from the ground or strip them off of any branch they can reach. […]

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Parental Guidance Suggested

Parental Guidance Suggested

(Dana) On a game drive, as much as we are happy with the small sights, a new behavior for a previously seen animal or a stunning landscape, nothing beats witnessing something rare or extraordinary. Observing lions mating from 10 feet away with no humans within a mile is definitely in this category. Our guide Jacob […]

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