Lions, Leopards and the Lipault Ladies

[Game Warden]

@@graceland What do they put in your coffee at Serian?

[graceland]

@@graceland What do they put in your coffee at Serian?

 

GW..

 

Amarula, sir.....

 

 

@@Tusker, yes that is the tent with all the stairs. After the 2nd day I came to enjoy it. By the end of the week I could actually talk to my evening askari the entire time!!

 

I was quite proud of myself, as I believe a time or two he thought he might be carrying me.

 

Massago is his name if needed! Tall drink of water.

Edited March 9, 2015 by graceland

[graceland]

@@SafariChick & @@Kitsafari posted many photos of the spectacular Cheli and Peacock pride, both adults and cubs that we had the privilege of spending time with that first day.

 

I really enjoyed seeing this male with the small cub obviously adoring him already....

 

 

 

 

And this... checking Pops out.

 

Yes we were off to a spectacular start with this pride! I'd usually been with sleeping lions on the plains previously.

 

February brought out babies and action!

 

 

 

 

[KathBC]

@@graceland - ."I am telling you seriously, you do NOT need more."

 

I need to see your packing list complete with video!

[twaffle]

Girls, you are happily taking back to the Mara and Serian. Thank you.

[graceland]

@@graceland - ."I am telling you seriously, you do NOT need more."

 

I need to see your packing list complete with video!

I will do that....once I have my morning coffee, totally caffeined out; it will last all of 30seconds!

 

The others can chime in too....I talked them into carry-on and heard no complaints....at least to my face

 

You do have to get out of your mind, the one phrase that will not work....."I might need this"

You either do or you don't. And usually you don't.

 

Perhaps we need a packing thread?

[graceland]

Girls, you are happily taking back to the Mara and Serian. Thank you.

 

Oh yes, @@twaffle, isn't it delightful. I forget sometimes when I am someplace else in Africa how very special the Mara is; and Serian...there are other camps, but to me Serian feels like I am in my own home*.

 

I hope people can get past the negativity associated with Kenya and give it another go. Or a first time.

It is a life changer.

 

 

 

*With Staff

[pault]

Some lovely lion pictures, a very hyper video and lots of information about Mara North. More and more please..

[Kitsafari]

It was really warm and fuzzy to see the pride lion with the cubs. I'm always surprised at how gentle the pride male can be with the cubs. of course if you had watched my video you would have heard the most inane question from me.

 

As mentioned , we had a glorious sunrise the first morning we were in Mara North. It was as if the Heavens decided to welcome us with stunning lighting and clear skies. I often see pictures in ST (@twaffle’s famous scenery photos!) where the horizons are on fire, with the animals strategically placed along the horizons, their silhouettes clear against the orange skies. And here we were, seeing it for our own eyes. No wonder ST-ers love Mara so much. I have also to give a lot of credit to James, our Serian guide. He knew the best angles to take pictures, and oftentimes, he would stop the vehicle, simply say “this is a great shot” and we would quickly pick up our cameras. Thanks to him, I will have some lovely momentoes as a reminder of my trip.

 

I know the other two ladies have some gorgeous pictures to share. I'll post a few of mine here and we three will flood all your senses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SafariChick]

Ah it was such a lovely sunrise! We did think of all the lovely photos we see on ST and wonder if we could obtain anywhere approaching similar results.

 

 

 

 

 

[madaboutcheetah]

WOW - those big Mara skies!!!!

 

Great report, Ladies.........

[armchair bushman]

Interesting to see that you landed at Ngerende Airstrip rather than Mara North. I wonder why. Maybe there were no flights to Mara North that day. Quite a drive from Ngerende to Serian.

[Bush dog]

Beautiful skies, especially the last one on post #59!

[Kitsafari]

Interesting to see that you landed at Ngerende Airstrip rather than Mara North. I wonder why. Maybe there were no flights to Mara North that day. Quite a drive from Ngerende to Serian.

 

@@armchair bushman, if i recall correctly (my brain cells are rather scattered these days), we took AirKenya from Wilson to Ngerende, and waited to transfer to a much smaller plane to bring us to Mara North, which I vaguely remembered was a very short flight.

[Kitsafari]

Beautiful skies, especially the last one on post #59!

 

thanks @@Bush dog, i thought the last photo was quite interesting, given that the skies had a different lighting.

[Bush dog]

 

Beautiful skies, especially the last one on post #59!

 

thanks @@Bush dog, i thought the last photo was quite interesting, given that the skies had a different lighting.

 

It is indeed quite interesting. One could think it's a painting!

[twaffle]

You captured those Mara skies beautifully.

[TonyQ]

Beautiful Mara skies!

[graceland]

A few more Mara Magic Moments -

 

I would stop James (many times!) to take a shot of a tree or the sky; I became known as tree shooter. @@twaffle's shots were always in my mind, though I'd never capture the landscapes and game as she does; I just IMAGINED I could! My little canon point and shoot came through for me a bit on this adventure.

 

 

Seeking Shade

 

 

Crossing the road

 

 

 

 

Giraffe in Pose

 

 

 

The Sun and Sky morning

 

The Sun and Sky evening

 

 

Ending the Evening

 

Edited March 10, 2015 by graceland

[Kitsafari]

@@graceland hmm love that giraffe and zebra pics.

[graceland]

@@graceland hmm love that giraffe and zebra pics.

Thanks @@Kitsafari, it was a magical time to be in the mara, wasn't it? We all had great ops for photos, good to see yours and @@SafariChick -- and what we concentrated on individually or as a group!

[Kitsafari]

The second morning, we found our way to Leopard Gorge. The place rang notes of familiarity. Before my trip, I was three-quarters through The Marsh Lions, a book on Jonathan Scott's experiences as he filmed the Big Cats Diaries for the BBC. And names like Miti Mbili, Leopard Gorge, Rhino Ridge, Fig Tree Gorge, Marsh Prides brought it home to me when I saw them in person.

 

Here’s a description of the gorge from Jonathan and Angela Scott’s “The Leopard’s Tale”in Chapter 1. Written nearly 40 years ago, the words still ring true of today’s gorge.

 

“Hidden among the thorn thickets of the northern Mara is the place called Leopard Gorge.Its bold rocky relief contrasts sharply with the gently undulating plains and scattered acacia bushes which are such a feature of Masailand. Out on the plains there is a feeling of the vastness that is Africa: wide open spaces stretching to the horizon with barely a tree or bush to disrupt the vistas. But Leopard Gorge is not like that. It is steep-sided and close-walled, in places shutting out the early morning light when the plains below are already bathed in a soft warming glow.

There are times when the Gorge can chill your heart: it is a nightmarish place to come face to face with a cantankerous old buffalo bull if you are on foot safari. As darkness closes in, the unearthly whoops and giggles of the local hyena clan echo against its walls, competing with the thunderous roars of the Gorge price who sometimes pass through on their nocturnal wanderings. Yet this are is also prime leopard country. With its massively comfortable fig trees to lie in, cool and secure caves to hide in,and access to the whole spectrum of prey species, the Gorge has everything a leopard could need.”

 

this was a shot taken from inside the gorge, facing the exit of the gorge. the fig tree at the beginning of the road was a favourite of leopards

 

Edited March 10, 2015 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

 

@@graceland hmm love that giraffe and zebra pics.

Thanks @@Kitsafari, it was a magical time to be in the mara, wasn't it? We all had great ops for photos, good to see yours and @@SafariChick -- and what we concentrated on individually or as a group!

 

 

It was a truly magical time because we had the place almost to ourselves and yet there was so much to see, admire, enjoy and share with.

[amybatt]

Great report so far, I'd been looking forward to it since I learned from Graceland you were going! The shots bring me right back, and Graceland you got some awesome sunrise shots! I take a lot of the "lone tree" landscapes, because that's what I see in my head when I'm going to my happy place when I'm home...

[Kitsafari]

As we entered the gorge, we had no expectations of anything. Two other vehicles had gone through with no thing to show. Still, we saw rock hyraxes scampering on the rocky cliffs. Two hyenas were hunting for hyraxes. We slowly picked our way out when wise James, the one with the far seeing eyes stopped and stared. We came to anticipate that action and it always proved right and so it did. Somehow he managed to pick that tiny shadow.

 

A sleeping leopard cub blended in so well that the other vehicles didn't see him. He was a gorgeous relaxed boy. Prob about 7-8 months I think, or at least that was what James said later. We had the luxury to enjoy him alone for the longest time at the optimal position until 2-3 vehicles saw us and came in. As the sunlight fell on his head, the cub stood up and moved behind the rock and then vanished from sight. True to the elusive nature of the spotted cat.

 

@@graceland had earlier posed a teaser. here's a reminder of that teaser . can you see what we see? there's going to be a flood of this cub - a good flood!

 

 

and here is the beautiful leopard cub.