riontel | Kenya: Part 8 (Masai Mara cont.)

Part 1: Amboseli
Part 2: Lake Nakuru
Part 3: The Ark
Part 4: Sweetwaters
Part 5: Masai Mara
Part 6: Masai Mara (cont.)
Part 7: Masai Mara (cont.)

After the balloon ride, we were rejoined by our driver and two members of the group that decided to pass on the high flying experience, and went for another fun game drive.

We came across the same lion family from yesterday, this time with both lionesses in attendance. They were enjoying their breakfast (every bit as delicious as ours was, I am sure) and indulging in an after breakfast nap.

Two of the cubs were playing peek-a-boo in the hollow of a tree while the observers made all sorts of gushing noises: oohs, and aahs and how adorable.

We spent quite some time unable to tear ourselves away from the serene domestic scene.

Eventually we did move on to some other cats.

I react in a similar fashion when somebody tries to wake me up.

This guy climbed into the thick bushes in search of shade and glared at us when we disturbed his rest.

From the plain teeming with cats we moved on to the river. The croc and hippo infested Mara river.

There is an observation point over the hippo pool and bathroom facilities nearby. Another group stopped by right as we were there and three girls lined up for the bathroom ahead of me. Two came out both making faces and noises about terrible conditions, dirt and smells so third one decided to skip the experience. Spoiled little girls obviously never visited Russia, compared to, say, Izhevsk airport, that bathroom was practically pristine. And since we are on the topic, well, I am on it at any rate, all but one bathroom that we stopped at during our visit had toilet paper, most of them also had running water and soap.

Heading back, we came across an eagerly anticipated scene: lion hunt. It wasn't the expected dash-through-the-grass type of a hunt. A group of young lions lead by their mother separated a buffalo from its herd and was stalking it, making an occasional cautious attempt to attack. It turned out to be more of a training exercise than a true hunt. It was already in the middle of a hot day, lions didn't appear too hungry and the buffalo showed the will to defend itself so the lioness gave up rather quickly leaving the hunt to the young ones. They, in turn, didn't have enough experience and desperation to really succeed. So after few tense minutes the buffalo walked away ruffled but unscathed.

Hunting, it seems, is a thirsty business.

While we were watching the failed hunt another car pulled up, momentarily making us forget all about lions.

As it turned out later, guys in the car were staying in our camp and were part of an organized nature photography workshop trip aimed at people who want to perfect their animal photography skills. Massive bazookas sticking out of the windows of this specially equipped car are part of the package. We saw some of the pictures later when they were sorting through them in the lounge of the camp, they were spectacular. Not sure but it might have been this operator. It's a pretty amazing experience for a true photography enthusiast but would cost about double what we paid for our trip. The pictures are guaranteed to be awesome though.

Mais revenons à nos moutons or, rather, to our wildlife.

It was getting to the midday and time to head back to the camp after the longest outing we've had so far. We were ready to have lunch and chill by the pool, or in the pool, as the case might be.