We arrived at the Mara around 10am and the jeep that picked us up from the airstrip took us on a short game drive. We had seen a few species of birds, a cheetah, some lions and hyenas before we reached Mara Bush Camp to check in. After a relaxed afternoon and a sumptuous lunch, we took off to the Mara River Crossing to try our luck the same evening.
We were fortunate enough to witness a crossing of many zebras and a few wildebeests, where the hungry crocs took down at least 3 of them. It was the most magnificent evening for us, since we set out on our Kenya trip for the second time to be able to witness this exact action packed crossing we had missed last year.
The next few days had us viewing less crossings and some unfortunately missed ones thanks to a whole day out trying to chase the herd. But we got to see an unusual coalition of 5 cheetahs roaming the Mara, a female leopard who we caught alone and had the best sighting for about 45 mins walking across a lengthy stretch of the bush. We also got to see a mother cheetah and her new born cub looking for her other cubs early in the morning.
We got to sight a huge pride of lions, where one of the cubs made a quick chase and killed a baby antelope, followed by a lioness with two naughty cubs who were being stalked by a hyena, and we ended one night with a mother leopard stealthily prowling and hunting a herd of wildebeest. It was way too dark and rainy for us to catch the rest of the action.
We then checked into Governor's Camp for our final stay where our good old friend Kerore took us out every day of the 4 days looking for crossings but it rained every evening and we missed a lot of action since the herd followed the rains instead of heading to the river. However, we got to see the huge Marsh pride with 4 young lionesses with at least 12 cubs of varied ages, many bird species especially the Bataleur Eagle.
Our most unusal and special sighting was the Serval which is very elusive, and many calm herds of elephants. Finally, our last evening safari ended with the lion cub getting so close to the jeep and refusing to let go. The lionesses watching with fear in their eyes at the jeep, and mine reflecting the same. It took the guide some smart moves and reversing carefully to get the cub off the edge of the jeep and driving off in panic. This was the first time I ever felt utter fear in the bush.
The next morning, we went on a short drive viewing the marsh birds, a huge hippo pod and took our flight back to Nairobi. Here we spent a few hours in the hotel room relaxing, and finally took the night flight and returned home early morning.
We were fortunate enough to witness a crossing of many zebras and a few wildebeests, where the hungry crocs took down at least 3 of them. It was the most magnificent evening for us, since we set out on our Kenya trip for the second time to be able to witness this exact action packed crossing we had missed last year.
The next few days had us viewing less crossings and some unfortunately missed ones thanks to a whole day out trying to chase the herd. But we got to see an unusual coalition of 5 cheetahs roaming the Mara, a female leopard who we caught alone and had the best sighting for about 45 mins walking across a lengthy stretch of the bush. We also got to see a mother cheetah and her new born cub looking for her other cubs early in the morning.
We got to sight a huge pride of lions, where one of the cubs made a quick chase and killed a baby antelope, followed by a lioness with two naughty cubs who were being stalked by a hyena, and we ended one night with a mother leopard stealthily prowling and hunting a herd of wildebeest. It was way too dark and rainy for us to catch the rest of the action.
We then checked into Governor's Camp for our final stay where our good old friend Kerore took us out every day of the 4 days looking for crossings but it rained every evening and we missed a lot of action since the herd followed the rains instead of heading to the river. However, we got to see the huge Marsh pride with 4 young lionesses with at least 12 cubs of varied ages, many bird species especially the Bataleur Eagle.
Our most unusal and special sighting was the Serval which is very elusive, and many calm herds of elephants. Finally, our last evening safari ended with the lion cub getting so close to the jeep and refusing to let go. The lionesses watching with fear in their eyes at the jeep, and mine reflecting the same. It took the guide some smart moves and reversing carefully to get the cub off the edge of the jeep and driving off in panic. This was the first time I ever felt utter fear in the bush.
The next morning, we went on a short drive viewing the marsh birds, a huge hippo pod and took our flight back to Nairobi. Here we spent a few hours in the hotel room relaxing, and finally took the night flight and returned home early morning.
