2017/09 Part 5 Masai Mara - Sat am Mara downstream |
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Saturday September 23rd
We had an early 7 am start as Nzuki had to leave in mid-afternoon to drive the van up to Samburu to meet us from our flight the next morning. He turned in the other direction this time, to follow the Mara River downstream. There was an immediate difference; this part of the Mara had much more wildlife.
We saw herds of zebras and some tight-knit groups of wildebeest. They may have been getting ready to cross the river but there’s no way to know, so we moved on.
T
here were herds of impala mixed with elephants and topi and waterbuck. 
This was going to be a good day.
And then we encountered a pride of lions at their kill site. They’d eaten most of a zebra and it looked like one of the lionesses was trying to pull the remaining carcass into the shade. As Joanna commented when I posted this on Facebook, “Looks like the ears are a delicacy.”
The cubs looked like 8-year-old boys plotting mischief. They didn’t want 
the carcass to disappear.
A tug of war developed and then a certain amount of correction was required.
After which, the lioness seemed to give up on moving the meal. The cubs had won.
We left the lions and moved on. A few minutes later Sandie spotted another lioness going down into a gully. Nzuki hadn’t seen it and Sandie had to insist that it really had been 
a lioness. Nzuki drove into the gully to check it out. Sure enough, it was a lioness, and she went down to the water to drink. When she was done, she came out of the water with a mighty leap and then she was gone.
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Masai Mara Saturday game drive to bridge (15.30) |
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Our exit wasn’t as graceful though as we backed onto the remains of a termite mound, with the differential stuck on top and both drive wheels airborne. Nzuki was out looking for rocks and sticks he could wedge under the wheels; our job was to watch for lions and anything else that might want to eat him. Eventually we came free with a cloud of tyre smoke.
We came to an overlook of the Mara River, giving us views of its steep 
banks and the usual hippos in and out of the water. Look closely and you will see a crocodile too at the edge of the sand bar.
This was another, about fifiteen feet of appetite. 
We found this magnificent guinea fowl, perhaps the largest we’ve seen. Despite spending most of their time on the ground they are strong fliers, which may be why it was ignoring this band of striped mongooses. (No, it’s not mongeese.)