Masai Mara - Day 3

 Post for the 4th of August 2023

Geoffery surprised us again.

Informed us as we were leaving that this day we would head for the Mara Triangle.

He obviously did not like to be preempted. Liked to be in know more than the tourists. And believed tourists need only that much information before time.

Well, he could have saved some heartache by being upfront when we asked. In the end, it all worked out.

New sightings for the day were very interesting.

Battalior

African fish eagle

Saddle bill stork

Leopard

Black headed heron

Yellow billed stork

Sand grouse

Helmeted guinea fowl

We started with a Hyena, looking a lot healthier than the one we had closed with the previous evening.







 That is buffalo in the foreground, then Zebra and then the wildebeast.









And, after all those exciting birds, we had our first lion sight for the day. A pride feeding on a fresh kill. The zebra had been dragged into a deep hole. By the time we got there the place was like a zoo, surrounded by vehicles. Not that it bothered the feeders.




We left them to it. Not very far away, we had our second lion sighting. This time a pair.









In case you are curious, these are the stages of the lions mating. The lioness initiates, the lion performs, the lioness then rests. Believe, on expert information, that they do this upto 20 times a day. When in season. We were there for 15 minutes. They mated twice.







And that, is a young female being chased by a fully ready huge male. We watched the chase across that grassland for a while. They must have covered kilometers, at that pace. The lady was just not ready for the very ready guy. We left them as they entered the trees you see ahead.



Our leopard for the day. He was surrounded by jeeps on the grassland, trying to find a way to rid himself of these intruders. Finally made it to a deep water hole and dipped in.









Our third lion for the day. All were watching this guy, when I sighted another come at us out of the tall grass.





They settled down, their hunt of the zebras disturbed by the humans.


We cross the River Mara into the Mara Triangle. These hippos were doing their thing, sleeping.



At the Kenya ( Masai Mara ) -  Tanzania ( Serengity ) border. The border is marked by these stones, allowing tourist vehicles access across. 






And, the Cheetah pair, sleeping at the bas of a huge tree. We would have missed them completely, even though we were specifically looking for them. Our sights were on the branches !!





Never ever cease to amaze me. As many times as I see them.



That is a pair of Ostrich. Once again, an amorous male chasing a not ready female. The dance in the picture above did not amuse the female at all. The ran all over the grassland, before the male just gave up.

That was the end of our time in Masai Mara.

Amazing, exhilarating.

From the expanse, to the species of animals and birds, to the habitat. It was just so worth being there. Glad I was bullied into going.



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