MASAI MARA!!

We were up early this morning for our much anticipated trip into the Masai Mara National Reserve. As with yesterday's trip, we began seeing animals long before we got down the escarpment road to the gate. We'll take you along for the ride...

Giraffes and zebras all along the road...

Are you sure this is a road??

As we approached the entrance we saw
these Banded Mongoose...

and they just kept coming...dozens & dozens of them.

only a little further on this #@* road...

Made it! The hoard of banded mongoose headed for the
staff housing near the entrance gate.

That's a good start--elephants right off the bat!
The top is up and the cameras are going!

Even Joy in the front seat is snapping away.

Baby giraffe were part of a much larger herd.

Traffic Jam...lots of guides with groups this morning...

Secretary bird...

Nubian Vulture..

Hyena trying to keep kill from vultures...
successful for the moment...
More elephants..a large herd this time...

very protective of their babies!

Topi

Thompson's gazelle...

Out of the van at the Hippo Pool...

a short walk down the river found more action...
meanwhile the drivers were having a short
break and comparing notes and who has seen
what and where...
and we're still fascinated with hippos.
John ran into a UNC Public Health Grad
Student working over here. Introduced him to Fred.

Time to find the Migration Crossing...

Elephants drinking at a water hole along the way.

Many have already crossed the Mara River...

Here we go...beginning our wait...We waited
about 15 minutes before one of them got
up the nerve to start across.

The view wasn't very encouraging

as the vultures were waiting.

There they go...unfortunately, many did not
pick a good place to go up...

and more going...

these guys found a better path up...

Safely across...

Now some of the mother Wildebeest are
heading back to get their babies...

zebras waiting...waiting...

now the zebras head out...with the best path yet.

After an hour or so we headed out...
it begins to take on a circus like atmosphere!
Fascinating to watch it.

A ways down the river was the carnage....
hundreds of animals who were trampled
or broke legs and were unable to make it
up the steep hill to safety. It was a vultures
dream.
The croc had already had his fill...

David headed to the Sand River and a place for lunch.

Saw Ostrich along the way...
Lots of Impalas...
and then a lunch stop under the trees.

Baboons appeared soon after the food did
but David was ready with his stick....
Following lunch we walked down to the river
to watch these little lovelies resting.

A few crocs in there too...

We crossed the Sand River over the bridge and before long we found this marker...

Welcome to Tanzania and the Serengeti Nat'l Park.

We did a brief prowl into the Serengeti looking for cats....that is our afternoon goal!However, the Serengeti at the boarder provided no cats, but it sure was beautiful!

Back across the bridge into Kenya and onward...
When we stopped at the boarder these little
grey-capped social weaver birds were flitting
in and out of their nest.

thousands of wildebeest now..everywhere.

and the occasional Hardebeest
and vervet monkeys...

and the very small oribi--rarely seen.

But cats are what we want. As we were slowly going down the road, searching, searching, David suddenly did a U-turn and headed down a lightly used track toward a tree and some bushes. He suddenly drove around the tree and stopped...and there lying in the grass was a beautiful

Cheetah.

She was just lying there panting in the heat
and looking very full and satisfied. WOW!
You rock, David!

After we had our fill of watching her we headed back to the road. Every time we would pass another vehicle, David would have a short chat with the driver to see what and where they had been animals. We were near the crossing point so decided to stop by there and see how things were going.

It seemed much more organized and most of
the animals were heading for fairly good
places to come up the bank of the river.
As we headed back to the road we came upon
this huge solitary male elephant!

He appeared to be very old with huge tusks.
David said you could tell a male because his
forehead was slanted and a female's was straight.

Then along the side of the road was one of our
favorite birds - a Lilac-breasted Roller. This
picture doesn't do it justice-gorgeous!

Then we spotted this little lady. She was just resting...

then she focused on those wildebeest in the distance...

then a stretch...

and she was on her way to check them out a little closer...
we moved further down the road as she turned...

still focused...

into the grass and up on a small knoll for a better look...

then back into the grass. We followed her ears as
long as we could, but lost her in the tall grass. I'm
sure she ended up a very full and content lioness!

Leopard...we want leopard! One driver said there had been several leopards at the kill the hyena was finishing off this morning, but we just missed them. David did another U-turn and we headed back to a road we had been on previously...there were cars there. Can anyone tell what this little guy is??

a young male lion. He had been standing as
we drove up but then dropped down in the grass...
cute little mane. (Hint: he's looking to the left.)

Alas, it was time to head out of the park. This day went sooo fast! All vehicles have to be out by 6:30. It was a fairly rapid drive...

but we drove by thousands of wildebeest

and zebras and checked out at 6:30 on the button! No fine today!
When we got a view from up the hill we could see all
of the thousands of wildebeest and zebras that had crossed
today! Great Job David!! The Migration was AWESOME!
We'll be back for leopard next time!
We got back just in time for the sunset...
and a wonderful dinner of grilled pizzas
we made ourselves and grilled chicken.

clever pizza grill!

This is just a small portion of the animals we saw today, but we're glad you came along for the ride! What a GRAND day it was!