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Afternoon drive day 6.   Kennedy is driving with purpose after we enter the gates. When the needle sits on 40kph you know he has heard of something being around. I did ask him about this earlier in the trip and he confirmed that quite a few guides will converse during the middle part of the day as to what they had seen and heard. Plans for the afternoon were formulated from the info, which could mean going it alone or teaming up with another guide to comb a certain area. As we drive along we go straight past where the pride of 16 lions was earlier in the day. A glance shows they are still there and are sleeping the afternoon away. We may come back to check on them later.   Not too much longer after we reach a large open clearing. There are 2 cars in the distance parked near a small tree. Anticipation rising, we all have a guess as to what we think it might be. Harry guessed correctly. Apologies for incoming dog overload.     Caught them napping but it wouldn't be long until there was movement.                                       We spent a very nice 45 minutes with them, but then we had to move on as other vehicles had heard the news and had made their way into the area. No problem, happy to share. We will come back later to see if they may go hunting again.   Driving along we saw the following.             We decide to have early sundowners so we can be ready and refreshed if the dogs decide to get mobile. We can see where they are from where we are positioned but we have other things to look at too.         Mosi for me, Fanta for the boys accompanied by chicken wings was quickly devoured. We pack up and return to the dogs. Things look promising, there is movement so hopefully they are just starting to get warmed up.           It soon became obvious however that this was a false start and there would be more rest first before any hunting or other endeavors would be undertaken.       We hung around for a little while longer but they didn't look likely to do much. It was starting to get dark so we decided to go back and check on the lions.   When we got to the spot they had been resting up for the day they were gone. Kennedy quickly turned around and took the first left hand turn and 5-10 minutes later we found them again. They were already in hunting mode, fanning out looking to surround some puku. We changed the spotlight over to the red filter, turned off the engine and waited in the pitch darkness. There were several other vehicles around as well, every minute or so someone would briefly turn on their spotlight to check on the lions location then turn it off again. At one point I was whispering something to Mitch in front of me when Jasper tapped me on the shoulder from behind and pointed to our left. An adult female had walked up right beside our vehicle from behind and then stopped right beside Mitch. We all held our breath as she stood there for a couple of minutes. She went to move on, paused, then looked up and seemed to be eye balling Mitch. After a few seconds, and probably disappointed that he wouldn't be big enough to feed the entire pride, she moved on. Mitch looked around at me with one of those looks on his face where he wasn't sure whether he should have been elated or petrified at the experience! As it was dark with no spotlights on we took no photos at all. But Jasper took a quick one of the female with his phone as she went to move on.     It wasn't long after that we heard an alarm call from a puku, indicating the lions had been spotted and the ambush was over. The lions started moving on so we drove ahead and re-positioned ourselves for the next attempt.  We would be present for 2 more but both were also unsuccessful. Getting late now we had to give up witnessing a kill and make our way back to the lodge. A bit disappointed at the lions lack of success, but it had been a great experience none the less. Our last day on safari tomorrow, we were hoping to finish on a real high.        

I'd like to thank everyone @Zubbie15@Kitsafari@Alexander33for the kind words. We are our own worst critic aren't we. Before the trip I asked for photography advice and @Whyone?gave a very accurate description of what it would be like.

Wow, what a day indeed!   Klaserie is very close to my heart. My grandfather had property there for many years.

An amazing Owl sighting. Worth staying up for!

Day 10 This morning we go on a bear hunt along some quiet roads. There were meadows just right for a bear but the bears had slept late. We checked for dippers in a creek and watched a Sika deer watching us.         The fir trees are perfectly formed Christmas trees.       We left Utoro and travelled east towards Rausu where the harbour was home to a flock of Slaty-backed Gulls bathing in the shallows.       We had scope views of Orca and Dall’s Porpoise in the bay against a backdrop of Kunashiri Island, the southernmost island in the disputed Kuril Islands group that are Russian territory.           The clouds began to lift once we had crossed over the Shiretoko-Rausu Pass. This Shinto Shrine was behind a 7/11 and featured eye-catching topiary and an attractive garden.         Chestnut-eared Starlings and Long-tailed Rose finches flitted around the shrine. The Chestnut-eared Starling is an uncommon summer visitor with distinctive markings.     This was the best sighting of the attractive Long-tailed Rose finch.   Photo: Guide Service Mahana   This afternoon we are exploring the Notsuke Peninsula, a 26 kilometre long sandspit that juts into the Nemuro Sea. This is the largest sandspit in Japan and provides a haven for plants, wildfowl and sealife and also visitors seeking to escape the regular tourist trails. It’s a very scenic place with some early summer fishing and seaweed industry activity. During the winter Notsuke is largely deserted. The peninsula narrows dramatically placing visitors very close to the Nemuro Sea on one side of the road and Odaito Bay on the other. Kunashiri Island is just 16 km from the Peninsula and some people received a “Welcome to Russia” message from their US phone provider.         A large flock of Grey Herons gathered on the mud-flat and a White-tailed Eagle perched on an abandoned boat.       We were lucky to have scope views of a Brant’s Goose that dwarfed the waterfowl around it and a group of 5 Falcated Duck, their impressive tail feathers seen clearly through the scope. We also had our first (scope) views of the iconic Red-Crowned Crane here.  A lonely Whooper Swan fed in the shallows, most of these birds have left by late April and there is some speculation that it’s injured and can’t migrate with the flock. A red fox ran parallel with the bus for a while carrying a dried fish back to its den, possibly located in the tetrapod seawall. The fox emerged without the fish and picked its way over a sea of colourful floats before approaching the bus, possibly looking for food?                 We saw 3 male Sika Deer on the Peninsula, one was young and the other 2 mature males were in velvet making the antlers a reddish colour. The Hokkaido sub-species of Sika Deer is the largest in Japan.         Home for the next 2 nights is the stylish Yoroushi Onsen.         My room faced a green hillside and a clean, shallow stream. It was a relaxing and spiritual place to spend time. The New Crossing hallway linked two buildings and was lined with antiques and many interesting and varied limited edition prints. Yoroushi Onsen is well known for nightly sightings of the endangered Blakiston’s Fish Owl (aka Blakiston’s Eagle-owl). An habituated male comes in to a fish pond and a perch that afford good views of this unique bird. The female is a less frequent visitor. Having waited until 1030 I felt totally committed to the vigil! It takes patience and perseverance because the owl didn’t turn up until 2340 – I looked up to see a large owl gliding upstream through the trees and landing on the perch near the fish tank. It picked up the fish with its feet and passed the wriggling fish to its mouth, displaying an impressive wingspan.             Blakiston’s Fish Owl is the largest owl species with males weighing in at 3-3.6 kgs and females up to 4.6 kgs and is up to 72 cm in length. During his 10 minute visit the owl consumed 6 fish, showing its wing span with each dive into the pond. This upmarket onsen used to raise fish to serve fresh in their restaurant and the Owl discovered this smorgasbord about 30 years ago and has been visiting nightly ever since. The onsen owner’s realised the potential of close-up Blakiston’s Owl viewing and an almost symbiotic relationship was established. The owl is named for Thomas Blakiston a British explorer who travelled in western Canada, China and Japan. He spent 23 years in Japan between 1862-1885. He was the first to record that Hokkaido wildlife shares more similarities with northern Asian species and differs in appearance from those in Honshu. The Blakiston Line that runs through the Tsugaru Strait between Honshu and Hokkaido has been identified as an important zoo-geographical boundary.     Day 11   I decided to stay and enjoy the onsen today rather than joining the group on another cruise. The attractive gardens, peaceful rooms and comfortable lounge areas made for a relaxing day.             I went for a walk up to the bridge where an iridescent Common Kingfisher zipped under the bridge and up the river at high speed. The Owl arrived around 2040 this evening and snacked on 4 fish before flying into the stream bed where he drank water and generally entertained for about an hour. It was wonderful to see him in such a natural setting, striding around in the shallows.                        

I am, for what it’s worth! 

Soo many great photos @janzin   I especially like the  Martial Eagle,  Grey Kestrel, and hippo gaping.

What a day!    @Toxic      

This was already our last full day in the greater Mara, and the kids had been bugging us since day 1 to do a night game drive and so our last chance to arrange that.  I have to say this is one of the things that I think might be improved by Asilia, in order to do a night drive you have to completely miss all afternoon/evening game drives, with a departure scheduled for between 7 and 7:30.  You can technically ask your guide to stay out late on the afternoon game drive and get a very abbreviated night drive, but I wish there was a way to do something like a 6PM - 9PM drive, where you'd get the last light of day and still a decent amount of night drive.  Or maybe an extended drive with a picnic dinner?  I was also somewhat concerned as by this time in the trip the kids were falling asleep in their chairs at dinner, and so I wasn't sure they would be able to  stay awake.   Odd, this photo is pasting upside down, but anyway you get the idea (from dinner the night before).   So I tried pretty hard to negotiate - could we eat at 5, leave around 6, and come back at 9?  No.  In the end, because of the kids, they did agree to a slightly earlier than normal dinner time at 6PM, with departure around 6:45-7.  Well, even with the night game drive the kids refused to nap and instead spent the afternoon at the pool, but we were waiting around by 5:15 so I suggested we go to the restaurant area and see if we could get served early.  We did get drinks, but no food, and in fact our 6PM dinnertime came and went with no food. We finally got food after 6:30, and service was slow so we didn't leave until after 7:30.  Definitely later than hoped!   It was cool to be out though, we were the only ones doing a night drive in our area so we were all alone with the night.  Heading off into the plains we were searching for lions, and relatively quickly we found a pride. They were clearly in a hunting mode, and there were zebra nearby, but unfortunately the moon was up and quite strong - sufficiently strong that we could see the lions moving without any spotlight.  They must have realized that hunting under these conditions was likely going to be futile, as while they moved around a bit they never really went into stalking mode.     We stayed with them for quite a while, but by 8:30 they had stopped moving and both of our kids were snoring away so we decided to cut the drive short and make our way slowly back to camp.  The only sighting of note was a very small baby Grant's Gazelle that had been left by its mother near the side of the road.     So not the ideal experience for our night in camp, but I can understand why deviating from the schedule can be a challenge at these remote locations.  

We were on our way back to camp when Jackson stopped and used his binoculars to look at something, before suggesting we make a detour.  What we arrived at was actually a rather interesting scene.  There was a dead baby topi on the ground, and a lone jackal that had eaten so much that he or she looked just about ready to explode (unfortunately I don't have a great picture showing this).  For whatever reason this jackal was very shy around the vehicle, and as soon as we pulled up it trotted off about 100 meters.  So we pulled back a bit, only for the rest of the jackal family (the other parent, and two puppies) to come running over from somewhere.   Jackal puppies!   Hey, what have you been eating?   The entire family was surprising wary of us, and clearly weren't going to approach if we were anywhere near the carcass, so we moved off to a tree where some avian scavengers were hanging out.     We were trying to avoid the jackals, but the curiosity of the puppies meant they came over to see what the birds were eating in the tree.      At this point, the three jackals who had arrived seemed to have no idea that there was a whole carcass waiting for them, and the stuffed dog was just lying in a food coma in the shade.  We were wondering how long it would take them to find it, and indeed as they wandered around more and more vultures arrived in the area.         The jackals did get in on the carcass, and grabbed some food, but as soon as they moved off the vultures moved in.  At one point one jackal returned and chased them off briefly - unfortunately there were a lot of bushes around and we didn't have a great view of that action, but it was cool to experience.     Actually, here's the fatso - look at how big that belly is! Haha!   But the jackals decided to leave, and the carcass was picked clean by the vultures in almost no time.  This was another situation where I really should have thought to take a video, as the pictures didn't really come out but I'm sure a video would have been interesting to see.       Once the vultures started to clear out, we decided it was time for us to get our lunch, so we returned to camp.  

After we left the leopards we headed off, I think the goal was to try to find a wildebeest giving birth but didn't write anything down so I can't be sure. In any case, wherever we went was not where anyone else went, as we did not see another vehicle for the rest of the morning.  This is always nice, but when you are having a slow time (like we did) you always wonder a little if the other vehicles aren't around because they are at something awesome. In any case, we had no luck with the wildebeest, and the only sighting worth mentioning was a small herd of giraffe that included several very young (less than a week old) babies.  We figured we had to have been some of the first humans they had ever seen, and they were suitable curious and hesitant about our presence.  We focused in particular on a group of 3 babies, who had a single adult female babysitter with them, and really enjoyed some time with them.                     After a while they decided that hiding in the stunted trees wasn't working, and so they headed off with the adult between them and us.  We decided we had spent sufficient time with them and so let them go.     We slowly made our way back to camp from here, eventually driving past Encounter Mara, where we had stayed 15 months earlier.  I have to say I wouldn't have recognized the area at all, the grasses were impressively higher than when we had been there the previous time.  

A great trip report, thank you very much for taking the trouble to share it with us.

We got to the valley, and it looked promising as there were a few parked cars sitting around.  Jackson positioned us, and we looked over to see Sankuet lying on the ground while her cub explored the area. I actually haven't processed any photos of Sankuet, so we'll have to make due with just leopard cub photos.      I hoped she (I believe it's a female cub) would pose for us, and she obliged quite readily.        While she was up on this little tree, Sankuet got up and started to weave through the cars, so little one began to follow her.  In most areas the grass was very long, and so it was hard to get any photos.     Even though we were the last of 3 or 4 trucks there, Jackson had again positioned us perfectly and both leopards walked right in front of us.  I think I was so focused on baby that I didn't realize mom was so close until she was right there and I didn't have time to refocus so I just appreciated being so close to a leopard.  But when the cub came our way, we were all ready.       It would've been better with shorter grasses, but still very cool to see!  After these photos both of them went up a rocky, bushy rise, so we decided to head off for breakfast.      

Thanks @Treepol!   The next morning we were out bright and early, the plan was to look for lions before they disappeared for the day and in particular hopefully catch them while  they were out in the open.  One thing I have always appreciated with Jackson is that at the start of every game drive he takes 30 seconds to outline what the theoretical plan is going to be... I think we've all experienced how the best laid plans often don't come to fruition because the animals don't cooperate.   In any case, this was one of those situations, because the lions were not out.  So we contented ourselves with photographing the herbivores in the area, as the sun broke the horizon.   Would have been a great scene with a cat, or if at least the zebras had turned toward us.  But they were insistent on keeping turned away.     At least one looked up as the sun broke the horizon...     Not to be left out was this Tommy, although it wasn't position quite as well.     With the lions not around, and the sun now up in the sky, Jackson suggested going to see if Sankuet and her cub were near where we had left them the night before, I think he knew the answer but we were hopeful.   

Thanks for sharing this with us. I think you’re being too hard on yourself re: the photos. I’ve never had a more challenging and frustrating photography experience than trying to shoot creatures up in the canopy of the jungle/rainforest. The background is blotchy with shadows and specular highlights, the lighting is dim, and subjects are often moving, so you need a high shutter speed. IMO, you did really well!