Maasai Mara- Day 2

Early start for a whole day of game driving. First up was a leopard on a tree, when we  got there it had gone down for a drink but our driver was sure it would come up so we waited. He was right and it appeared on a branch shortly. It was such a close view of the leopard lounging, we could see its spots so clearly.

Very excited about the start we moved on to seeing a pack of hyenas - 10 of them roaming around and then vultures and Maribu Storks. The scavengers were out and about, soon we saw why. The wildebeest migration had led to a lot of carcasses for them to feed on. There were groups of scavengers on each carcass. Two vultures were covered in red as they had been so deep in the body. 

A bit further from them was a lioness lying next to a wildebeest that she had preyed on,  another carcass for the scavenger. She looked well fed and satisfied. 

What an amazing morning and it just got better as we chanced upon two lions. A male and female who were lying around, then got up mated, walked a few metres, peed on a jeep and went to sleep.

The mating was quite short and involved a lot of snarling, as per our guide it lasts less than 30 seconds (theirs was a 10 second interlude) and occurs every 30 minutes for the three weeks that they step away from the pride for the lioness to get pregnant. 

We then saw beautiful birds- Southern Ground hornbills (black and red), Grey Crown canes (a pair with a chick) and ostriches. 

So many pairs of jackals were spotted along the way to lunch. The morning has been very much a show from Discovery channel.

Lunch was a picnic at a beautiful spot over looking Maasai Mara. Following that we headed towards Mara river, traditionally this was a spot for the Wildebeest migration, but this year they have been crossing over the sand river. At Mara river we spotted Hippos lazing around amongst the crocodiles. Crocodiles and Hippos live in harmony until one of them gets provokes the other. We saw a Hippo chasing a crocodile and it was so funny seeing it running for its dear life. We later found out that there was a baby hippo nearby that it was trying to protect from the crocodile. 

We then drove towards Sand river as this has been the place for the migration this year. Over the on the Serengeti side we saw hoards of Wildebeest lined up, waiting for its leader to make its first move before the rest of the army marched on. Sadly the call never came despite us waiting patiently for approximately 30 minutes. 

We got of our jeeps and stretched our legs at the Kenya/ Tanzania border and also took pictures standing over two countries. 

On our way back there was a call over the radio about spotting some cat foot prints. When we got there found another Leopard lying gracefully over a tree branch with its kill hanging over the lower branch. You are lucky if you see one Leopard during your Safari and we were spoiled by seeing another in one day. They are the hardest to spot amongst the big 5. 

On our way out we caught a glimpse of a black Rhino walking up on the bushes. Our guide has told us that seeing a Rhino in Maasai Mara is as hard as spotting a Cheetah in Serengeti. She had never spotted rhino in Mara ever before. How lucky were we to spot the big 5 in one day. 

Before we went on this game drive we thought we had been “game drive fatigued” but wow what a day it has been.

This was our last dinner with the tour group and our tour leader had a surprise for us with a cake and wine. It has been a wonderful 2 weeks seeing so many amazing things.

Bit of a late night tonight as we head back to Nairobi tomorrow morning.