Kenya: Part 9 (Masai Mara)
Nov. 12th, 2013 08:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
riontelPart 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.)
Part 8: Masai Mara (cont.)
Our frequent mention of leopards and how wonderful it would be to get to see one finally wore down our guide and he drove us to a different section of the park and there they were, two leopards well concealed in the bushes! We had all of five seconds to enjoy the glimpse of them through the foliage and then they were gone.
We had finally seen all of the Big Five and we were as excited as kids on Christmas morning, ready to sit by the bushes till thecows came home leopards came back but the driver decided to move on. We didn't get to see anything nearly as exciting the rest of that run.
Next morning we originally planned to go on a nature walk but since it rained overnight we were worried about drowning in the mud and chickened out so stuck to the drive instead but resolved to do the walk the next morning, rain or not. Meanwhile, on our way out of the camp we ran into an elephant herd. Among the adults were scattered few tiny little newborn calves that absorbed our attention for a long stretch. They were awfully cute.
We did eventually move on.
An Egyptian duck and some Yellow-billed Oxpeckers were keeping company with the hippo who managed to find the only available mud puddle in the vicinity and plop himself in it.
Grey Herons
For some reason we haven't been seeing too many giraffes on the drives, even though they are usually plentiful, so we asked Benedict to get us closer to some and as usual he delivered.
We passed by the river and the hippos again. Only the baby hippo was showing any signs of activity.
And, of course, there were more cats chilling out here and there.
Didn't get to see another leopard, just the remains of a dinner up in a tree. Leopards, being small, often get attacked by larger and stronger predators, like lions or groups of hyenas, who steal their food. To prevent that, leopards often drag their kills, sometimes weighing as much as the leopard himself, into the trees. So if you spot these rather macabre decorations it means there are leopards in the neighborhood.
We spotted a lion up on the big rock and got very excited (doesn't matter how many you've seen before, they are always exciting).
And then we turned out heads.
Familiar scene near hyena's lair, mother is trying to rest, while kids are roaming around, full of energy.
Then the father showed up to the delight of the pups and complete indifference of the female.
Tawny Eagle
Our return to the camp was shadowed by a huge rain cloud that at some point developed a rainbow. We stopped in the middle of the plain with a group of zebras in front of us and a rainbow-lined cloud behind us. I mused that it would be very photogenic if somebody moved the zebras and few minutes later they actually moved themselves!
The little giraffe was actually that tiny. It got spooked by the car and hid in the trees as soon as we got there so we couldn't take a better picture. But it looked exactly like the giraffe from the "Opulence, I has it" DirecTV commercial (it's a hilarious ad, recommend it if you haven't seen it before)!
Our last morning at Masai Mara we decided to do a nature walk instead of the drive. We got up early enough to see balloons floating by and then set out on a walk.
Some woman from a different group joined the walk but requested to be back early. Instead of booting her off and then proceeding with the rest of us at a normal pace, the guide turned the walk into a mad dash across the savannah with occasional pauses to point out another dung pile and try to have us guess which animal it belonged to. The only reason he didn't end up buried under one of those dung piles was the armed guard he had with him. We did discuss how perfect the area was for dumping a body, there wouldn't be anything left of it within hours.
The midpoint of our power walk was the hippo pool, where we got whole two minutes to rest, take pictures, enjoy the view before rushing back at the same breakneck speed.
We cleaned up, I washed few pound of unidentified dung off of my sneakers, packed and chilled around until it was time to head to the air strip and on to Mombasa. Our safari adventures were over.
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.)
Part 8: Masai Mara (cont.)
Our frequent mention of leopards and how wonderful it would be to get to see one finally wore down our guide and he drove us to a different section of the park and there they were, two leopards well concealed in the bushes! We had all of five seconds to enjoy the glimpse of them through the foliage and then they were gone.
We had finally seen all of the Big Five and we were as excited as kids on Christmas morning, ready to sit by the bushes till the
Next morning we originally planned to go on a nature walk but since it rained overnight we were worried about drowning in the mud and chickened out so stuck to the drive instead but resolved to do the walk the next morning, rain or not. Meanwhile, on our way out of the camp we ran into an elephant herd. Among the adults were scattered few tiny little newborn calves that absorbed our attention for a long stretch. They were awfully cute.
We did eventually move on.
An Egyptian duck and some Yellow-billed Oxpeckers were keeping company with the hippo who managed to find the only available mud puddle in the vicinity and plop himself in it.
Grey Herons
For some reason we haven't been seeing too many giraffes on the drives, even though they are usually plentiful, so we asked Benedict to get us closer to some and as usual he delivered.
We passed by the river and the hippos again. Only the baby hippo was showing any signs of activity.
And, of course, there were more cats chilling out here and there.
Didn't get to see another leopard, just the remains of a dinner up in a tree. Leopards, being small, often get attacked by larger and stronger predators, like lions or groups of hyenas, who steal their food. To prevent that, leopards often drag their kills, sometimes weighing as much as the leopard himself, into the trees. So if you spot these rather macabre decorations it means there are leopards in the neighborhood.
We spotted a lion up on the big rock and got very excited (doesn't matter how many you've seen before, they are always exciting).
And then we turned out heads.
Familiar scene near hyena's lair, mother is trying to rest, while kids are roaming around, full of energy.
Then the father showed up to the delight of the pups and complete indifference of the female.
Tawny Eagle
Our return to the camp was shadowed by a huge rain cloud that at some point developed a rainbow. We stopped in the middle of the plain with a group of zebras in front of us and a rainbow-lined cloud behind us. I mused that it would be very photogenic if somebody moved the zebras and few minutes later they actually moved themselves!
The little giraffe was actually that tiny. It got spooked by the car and hid in the trees as soon as we got there so we couldn't take a better picture. But it looked exactly like the giraffe from the "Opulence, I has it" DirecTV commercial (it's a hilarious ad, recommend it if you haven't seen it before)!
Our last morning at Masai Mara we decided to do a nature walk instead of the drive. We got up early enough to see balloons floating by and then set out on a walk.
Some woman from a different group joined the walk but requested to be back early. Instead of booting her off and then proceeding with the rest of us at a normal pace, the guide turned the walk into a mad dash across the savannah with occasional pauses to point out another dung pile and try to have us guess which animal it belonged to. The only reason he didn't end up buried under one of those dung piles was the armed guard he had with him. We did discuss how perfect the area was for dumping a body, there wouldn't be anything left of it within hours.
The midpoint of our power walk was the hippo pool, where we got whole two minutes to rest, take pictures, enjoy the view before rushing back at the same breakneck speed.
We cleaned up, I washed few pound of unidentified dung off of my sneakers, packed and chilled around until it was time to head to the air strip and on to Mombasa. Our safari adventures were over.
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Date: 2013-11-13 02:31 am (UTC)Kindness and practicality are the two things I love you for the most. :)
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Date: 2013-11-13 02:41 am (UTC)