Kenya the fabulous; Wild dogs of Laikipia; Malaika the show-stopper;Fantastic Mara Toto and Who said cheetahs are not seen too much in the Mara?

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks @@pault

 

Today's installment is dedicated to @@Safaridude (for getting all of us safaritalkers on the Eland watch )

 

Interesting story with my photographing this particular Eland which just about didn't move a muscle and was ultra-relaxed around the vehicle ..... One of the vehicles passing by, stopped and kept looking through their binocs to see if we were actually with predators and their absolute dis-belief that we were waiting there with Eland for as long as we were ..... He actually, pulled up next to our car to ask if we were watching something else that he didn't pick up (Camp name with-held).

 

Fig, the Leopardess in the OMC - up on a Hammerkop nest ....... One of the very rare days on safari when I lost patience and opted not to wait longer at the sighting. There were only a couple of Mahali Mzuri vehicles that came and went ....... but, my Wisdom tooth was acting up that day (subsequently pulled out after I got home) and just waiting around didn't help distract me from the pain. Look how comfortable that nest looks! It's almost like a bed ..... Why would she come down???

 

A Closer Portrait of the Moniko Male Lion, "oloopappit" ............ (Have tons of editing to do WRT images of this brute)

 

Elephants in Silhouette to close out the Post ....... We did see quite a lot of Elephant in the Mara - but, as mentioned previously the problem of poaching keeps escalating and I hope that Kenya along with the rest of the world is able to do something very soon.

[wilddog]

This has been such a wonderful trip report and as for the images, they are quite simply awesome.

[Safaridude]

@@madaboutcheetah

 

That blue sky you captured is awesome.

 

Elands, while incredibly skittish, are ironically easy to tame (similar to lesser kudus). Where they are tame, they have been known to sneak into cattle kraals along with the cattle. The Russians experimented with taming elands for meat and milk and found that they were very easy to deal with and tame.

 

If you go to Nairobi National Park, you can practically touch them from your vehicle, whereas in places like Botswana and Zambia, all you see are their haunches bouncing as they run away from you.

[Game Warden]

Super photos MAC. Interesting to see how the sometimes overcast conditions affected the image lighting.

 

Your comment about the poaching is worrying bearing in mind the translocations that were made to great fanfare a while back, moving the eles to the Mara.

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks @@wilddog and @@Safaridude and @@Game Warden

 

That's great info ........ I did see some Eland in Nairobi National park - but, alas they were also just as miserable in the torrential T'storm. We just turned around and went back to the Emakoko ............

 

You are right, the Eland at Kwando would run a mile a minute at the sound of the vehicle. Going back ten years or so, even skittish sightings were rare ........

 

GW - there was an Elephant that was poached right in the reserve when I was there and the baby was sent to the Sheldrick's orphanage ......

Edited November 17, 2014 by madaboutcheetah

[graceland]

Thanks @@wilddog and @@Safaridude and @@Game Warden

 

That's great info ........ I did see some Eland in Nairobi National park - but, alas they were also just as miserable in the torrential T'storm. We just turned around and went back to the Emakoko ............

 

You are right, the Eland at Kwando would run a mile a minute at the sound of the vehicle. Going back ten years or so, even skittish sightings were rare ........

 

GW - there was an Elephant that was poached right in the reserve when I was there and the baby was sent to the Sheldrick's orphanage ......

 

Hari, in the Mara reserve while you were there? How terrible..poor baby. Thank goodness for Sheldrick but this should not be happening. Every day we hear of yet another poaching/killing. I dread reading of it.

 

Feeling helpless.

[madaboutcheetah]

 

Thanks @@wilddog and @@Safaridude and @@Game Warden

 

That's great info ........ I did see some Eland in Nairobi National park - but, alas they were also just as miserable in the torrential T'storm. We just turned around and went back to the Emakoko ............

 

You are right, the Eland at Kwando would run a mile a minute at the sound of the vehicle. Going back ten years or so, even skittish sightings were rare ........

 

GW - there was an Elephant that was poached right in the reserve when I was there and the baby was sent to the Sheldrick's orphanage ......

 

Hari, in the Mara reserve while you were there? How terrible..poor baby. Thank goodness for Sheldrick but this should not be happening. Every day we hear of yet another poaching/killing. I dread reading of it.

 

Feeling helpless.

 

 

 

Yes, Narok Council ought to take more responsibility ....... SHAME!!!

[madaboutcheetah]

Next installment is from our drive back towards Mara Toto; we had spent the entire day out having gone all the way to Look Out to hang out with Malaika. We bumped into the second half of the Double Crossing Pride ten minutes from Toto (other half of the pride is featured in one of the early installments).

 

Would you believe it ..... We just bumped into this sighting - have no idea how this played out prior to our arrival (there were absolutely NO other vehicles there) ........ I think the Lionesses were testing their luck to see if they could get one of the buffalo calves. Whose the prey here???

 

Lionesses then re-group with the rest of the pride; including the cubs who were in a thicket not far away.......

Edited November 18, 2014 by madaboutcheetah

[Bush dog]

Better and better, Hari!!!!

[Atravelynn]

So much quality stuff, even a little Duba Plains-type action thrown in.

[Game Warden]

Fantastic series MAC!

[Kitsafari]

brilliant sequence of the buffalo chasing the lionesses.

 

love the cheetah cubs and then the lion cubs. so much to see! hope fortune smiles on us as it does on you! that eland is a brute. did you have your own vehicle? that would have been easier to get them to stay by the eland! i can't imagine many guests being so patient.

[graceland]

Those cubs! Those buffs chasing the lions! (being so protective of their young, aw)

 

I feel I am watching an action movie! Love this Hari, how fortunate you were on this journey.

 

I saw buffs fending off lions in Zim; total fun to watch for sure.

 

@@Kitsafari, I sure do hope you have these sightings as well

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks all for your kind comments ..... Mike, Lynn, GW, Kitsafari and Graceland!!!

 

Lynn - Duba Plains would be marketed the other way, wouldn't it - Lions chasing the buff? ....... Jokes apart, yes my Duba Plains moment on the Mara Plains.

 

Yes, @@Kitsafari - Private vehicle.

[twaffle]

Superb lion series

[Marks]

Wonderful sequence with the buffalo, and a fun counterpoint to the youngsters playing.

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks a lot, Twaffle and Marks ......

 

After a bit of a break with the editing, here we go again ....... This installment will feature Africa's Icon ..... The main feature is the brute, oloopappit (The Hairy one) .... One of the Moniko pride males.

 

 

 

 

[Bush dog]

Beautiful lions' shots, Hari. I particularly like the close-up of the lion's eye with the very symbolic contrast of the pale and the dark of the mane.

[TonyQ]

@@madaboutcheetah

Great shots of that male lion - beautiful!

[Big_Dog]

Awesome series...King Scar if ever he was real! (Though lacking the titular head wound.)

[Game Warden]

Madaboutcheetah - madaboutlion? Super series MAC.

[michael-ibk]

Impressive male! Where is the area of the Moniko pride?

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks so much.... Appreciate all your kind comments - Mike, TonyQ, Big Dog, GW and Michael .......

 

Mike - Thank You .... I was not sure that image worked - so, Thanks for letting me know

 

GW - indeed!!! They are active for such a short time in the AM that in the Mara, inevitably you find a few in good light first thing...... Nearly MadaboutLion

 

Michael - The Moniko pride gets it's name from the Moniko Hill in the OMC Conservancy. That's where they go away -up the steep rocky hill to snooze through the heat of the day. Will try and find some older images of that hill ........ The pride is perhaps over 30 Lions(including cubs) in strength (although fragmented for much of the time).

[graceland]

" The main feature is the brute, oloopappit (The Hairy one) .... "

 

 

GAME WARDEN was with you as well?

Seriously, that is one hairy lion...superb snaps!

Edited November 26, 2014 by graceland

[Game Warden]

@@graceland that comment is worth a like from me