There was a hippo grazing on the lawn at Lake Naivasha
While we breakfasted. Amazing sight to us, yet untamed
Another had charged and killed a guest a few weeks past.
So began the animal parade of life.
We traveled next to Masai Mara
Game Preserve home to animals large and small.
Game drive in the afternoon an introduction
To the Africa we came to see.
A cheetah seeking prey streaked comet-like before our eyes.
Lions in prides, Mama with her rough and tumble cubs
King of the animals nearby with gaze aloft.
We saw also male lions stalking water buffalo.
Two giraffes necks intertwined were a-courting. Two elephants engaged in sex
Don’t ask me how. Mama elephants nursed their tiny, hungry off-spring
Officious-looking warthogs entertained trotting through the brush on private missions.
Thomas said they looked like messengers with their radio-antenna tails held aloft.
Vultures circling drew us to fresh kill
Food for meat eaters’ ravenous demands. After dinner
Hyenas and other scavengers appear. Nature’s sanitation crew
Leaves only bones and skulls far-flung on plains.
In the middle of the afternoon it rained
Followed by a rainbow arching high across gray sky.
Next day bright flowers bloomed where once brown grasses grew.
Bow and blossoms attesting to great life circle turning ’round.
poetrybyheart.me 
Hippos fascinate me, greatly 🙂
Yes. Interesting creatures. Good to hear from you. 🙂
Incredible story! I have never seen such tremendous animals in real life so thank you for bringing them to us.
Being with the large animals and the whole scene of human life in Africa was as life-changing for me as my trip to Cuba. It’s interesting to me to read about Kenya in the light of Obama’s current visit.