Lions, Leopards and the Lipault Ladies

[Kitsafari]

Then we stopped to admire a juvenile martial eagle as it sailed towards us in the skies when suddenly it swooped and snatched a mongoose! We all yelled (not too loudly), surprised by the hunt that we didn’t even recognise. I heard Terry swore behind me and I quickly snatched the camera and only caught a picture of the eagle flying away with his prize. While we were watching the eagle flying to us, we didn’t notice there was a group of mongoose which were probably too distracted by us to have noticed the predator. The poor group hung around hoping for the victim to return. Sadly, the eagle was perched on a branch having its breakfast.

 

 

hanging onto its prize

 

 

the distressed family

 

 

eagle's breakfast

[Kitsafari]

The southern Mara was a quiet affair. It reminded me a lot of Lamai Wedge with the red oats grass waving its brunette heads in the wind. The grass is a favourite of wildebeests but the million-plus beests were down in Ndutu, busily with the next generation, so the whole area was empty of big groups of animals. There were smatterings of plains game, with few predators to be seen.

 

 

We had breakfast at the top of Lookout Hill, with beautiful views of the Mara and the three rivers – Mara, Sand and the Talek – in front of us. A low mist clouded the eight hills that mark the border between Tanzania and Kenya. I found it hard to imagine I was on the other side of the border looking at those same hills on my first safari, and never thought I would be standing here two years on. I don't have many good pix of the views but i know that @@graceland and @@SafariChick took a number of lovely panaromic shots from the hill, and hope they'll both share them here, because I want to see them too!!

 

 

 

the Eight hills

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TonyQ]

Lots of beautiful landscape pictures here - and I love the one of the lone elephant on the left with the lone tree on the right.

[SafariChick]

I don't have a lot to add as @@Kitsafari is doing a great job with her words and photos, and a lot of my photos look pretty similar! The leopard cub 'stalking' the elephants was one of my favorite experiences of the trip! The encounter with the man who left his camp was certainly interesting and intriguing - and James kept having to translate for us what he was saying so we spent a bunch of time just watching the conversation and his body language which, as Tarry noticed, looked nervous. We were quite surprised he was out there alone and James said if we, or someone, hadn't picked him up he would surely have been killed either by an animal or by rangers thinking he was a poacher.

 

I love that one photo of the zebras huddled together under the tree that you have, Kit. I do have a couple of panoramasI can add - we were all experimenting with these with our phones.

 

 

and here's another one a little later:

 

 

and a photo of a bird - anyone know what it is?

 

 

Closer up shot of a couple of the zebras

 

 

Some vehicles that seemed unsure if it was wise for them to make a river crossing:

 

Edited March 19, 2015 by SafariChick

[Africalover]

Great tripreport, fantastic sightings and Photos.

Thanks girls.

[Kitsafari]

Our evening drive began with another cheetah that James spied from a long distance. We were the only car that saw him and we followed him quite closely. The poor cat was trying to hunt but there was no cover and all the gazelles and topis could see him from afar. It did occur to me that the wide bare plains would have posed serious challenges for cheetahs to hunt in the dry season and yet there were so many cheetahs in the area, so something must be working in their favour (other than their incredible speed).

 

soon other cars joined in as well (all were well behaved, keeping to the roads and giving the cheetah space) just as the grey skies finally let loose a heavy drizzle.

 

Serian vehicles have no ponchos, although they do have plastic covers on the vehicle that are strapped to prevent rain in. But my side of the vehicle was left open to view the cheetah better, and soon I was rather drenched despite my flapping disposable poncho . But i can’t complain, on hindsight, as @@SafariChick had it worse later in the trip.

 

We went in search of the leopards again but the drizzle seemed to have kept the cats taking refuge and we didn’t get a chance to see them again that night. in fact, the drizzle seemed to have kept much of the wildlife in hiding for the rest of the evening.

 

 

fighting against the wind

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2015 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

The next morning was our last game drive with James. It had been a most fruitful and prolific 6-day trip with him and we had incredible sightings that were not shared with many vehicles, and we were most grateful for that. the land is rich with animals and this was the best time to go as we weren't fighting with dozens of cars for a sighting or passing car after car chasing the poor stressed animals. My fears of an empty plains in February or tall grasses obscuring animals from view were banished.

 

 

To drive home the point, a group of 15 elephants came by, and more following behind. It was a breeding group with a least 5 babies of which two were around 2 weeks old. As we drove around them, they remained relaxed with the young. How beautiful these pachyderms are, just ambling about their way. it is always a privilege to be surrounded by them and feel their calm energies flow through our veins amid a quiet atmosphere.

 

i jsut had to post all these elephant pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SafariChick]

The baby ele is so tiny! That was also one of my favorite sightings - and you are right, it really was a fantastic 6 days with James and we were very fortunate with all the wonderful sightings with few cars.

 

Here are a few more elephant photos because you can never have too many, especially of ele babies!

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

@@SafariChick - that's an endearing picture of the baby ele stretching its trunk to get to mummy for milk!

[Kitsafari]

As we drove towards Ol Kiombo airstrip where a Mara Plains vehicle awaited us for the transfer, we saw a superb starling, more buffaloes, a helmeted guineafowl, more giraffes, more hippos, a large harem of lovely impalas.

 

 

 

 

yodelling on top of a buffalo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

and then we were at the airstrip for the next leg of our adventure

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

 

 

 

 

@@SafariChick

i had written it down as the rufous naped lark. I remember its calls were loud, and Terry was imitating the calls as well.

[TonyQ]

You can never have too many baby elephants!

Edited March 20, 2015 by TonyQ

[graceland]

Can't leave Nkorombo camp without a group shot before moving on to Mara Plains

 

The staff was fabulous and Emily and Tarry were terrific hosts.

 

James, an amazing person and guide - incredible sightings with his magic eyes.

 

Highly recommend this Mara camp.

 

Thank you everyone!

 

 

 

 

[twaffle]

Love the group photo and glad that you had such a wonderful time.

[SafariChick]

@@Kitsafari thanks for the bird ID - I do forget to write some things down! @@graceland thanks for posting the group shot - it's great to see everyone's faces together - we were definitely sad to leave, weren't we?

I'll continue with Mara Plains as soon as I can - hopefully later today.

[Marks]

@@Marks I believe we were told that they were filming a documentary or wildlife special of some kind on cheetahs in the Mara in general and that they'd been there a couple of months already? We seemed to keep seeing them around Malaika and the cubs.

 

Very cool, thanks for the info. Hopefully I'll be able to find that when it's released.

 

@@Kitsafari That's quite a tale of the bush "wanderer." Certainly demonstrates there being two sides to every story!

[KathBC]

Love the group shot and being bale to envision everyone you've been referring to.

 

Yeah that man in the bush story was quite something. Guess he must have got home sick.

[graceland]

Love the group shot and being bale to envision everyone you've been referring to.

 

Yeah that man in the bush story was quite something. Guess he must have got home sick.

The man in the Mara was such a mystery. I have to admit I took a pic...I took it as I knew we would have to take him "somewhere" and I think I just wanted a shot on my iphone, just in case.

 

When my DH and I were on a trek in Ruaha, TZ, we came across shotgun fire and our guide thought it was from poachers. Though I did not think of that with this man, I thought a pic on my phone might be warranted! I'd never post it on a public forum; but since we transported him in our vehicle I just thought it a safe thing to do.

Being a girl scout, I suppose!

 

I imagine he just did not like working in the bush. Who knows. At least his camp came looking for him!

 

The Serian team is awesome; I wanted them to have the recognition they deserved.

 

Thank you for reading this awesome report led by @@Kitsafari and @@SafariChick. I am just popping in and out due to some issues at home. They are doing a great job. And much better photogs than I'd ever hope to be....

[Girlsnstilettos]

The next morning was our last game drive with James. It had been a most fruitful and prolific 6-day trip with him and we had incredible sightings that were not shared with many vehicles, and we were most grateful for that. the land is rich with animals and this was the best time to go as we weren't fighting with dozens of cars for a sighting or passing car after car chasing the poor stressed animals. My fears of an empty plains in February or tall grasses obscuring animals from view were banished.

 

 

To drive home the point, a group of 15 elephants came by, and more following behind. It was a breeding group with a least 5 babies of which two were around 2 weeks old. As we drove around them, they remained relaxed with the young. How beautiful these pachyderms are, just ambling about their way. it is always a privilege to be surrounded by them and feel their calm energies flow through our veins amid a quiet atmosphere.

 

i jsut had to post all these elephant pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awwwwww, amazing photos! There is never such thing as too many ele photos.....look at those precious babies and their beautiful family! Always so heartwarming to see

[Kitsafari]

Thanks everyone for all the likes, and for so patiently following this crazy three=person TR where I often get my sequences wrong and @@SafariChick and @@graceland so graciously gloss over!!

 

that group photo brought back a lot of memories, and all fond ones too. we had the whole camp to ourselves, but then if you think about it, we were already taking 3 of the 5 available tents! i love Nkorombo, with its canvas tent that is as close to wildlife as possible. it's next to the Mara river with hippos in the river laughing at us with their characteristic deep grunts, or the bushbabies doing pirouettes on the tents. i go to bed with a smile on my face each night.

[SafariChick]

Ah it's true, it was so fun and intimate at Nkorombo.

 

At the parking lot, we met up with our guide from Mara Plains, Dan. He and James knew each other - it's a small world out there in the Mara. We said a sad farewell to James and off we went with Dan. Strange after 6 days!

 

Dan was very upbeat and had a different energy than James. We drove through the Reserve towards the OMC. Mara Plains is actually very close to the border of the Reserve, so during our stay there we were constantly going back and forth between the two, unlike when we stayed in Mara North at Serian Main where we only stayed in Mara North. Oftentimes we were not sure whether we were in the Reserve or the OMC and had to ask James.

 

One of the first sights we came upon was another pair of lions on their "honeymoon"! I was quite amazed since never on my three prior safaris had I seen mating lions, and this was now the second pair in a day! They were resting when we first arrived. It was about 11:00 a.m. and they looked hot and tired. Dan told us the male is from the M7 coalition. M7 stands for the Magnificent 7 and they were seven males. He said two of the were poisoned because they were eating cows in another conservancy. The remaining five lions came back and now they stay in the Reserve and the OMC.

 

 

 

It's time:

 

 

No, not quite yet - false alarm. They lay down again.

 

It's all so exhausting:

 

 

But in a little while, it really was time. This time, I managed to turn on my camera to film it (well not film, what is it called these days?):

 

Edited March 21, 2015 by SafariChick

[Kitsafari]

they looked so hot and exhausted. mating is a terribly tiring business, and having to do it in the hot dry plains with no shade in sight is terrible.

[SafariChick]

After having had the privilege of watching the mating ritual, we continued on our way and encountered this Monitor Lizard:

 

 

and this Tawny Eagle:

 

 

and then we came upon ... yet another honeymooning lion couple! Dan told us the male was called Handsome (we would see him again later in the trip) and the female was one from the Double-Cross Pride.

 

 

 

He sure was handsome!

 

 

They seemed to need more rest, so we left them to it and moved on.

[Kitsafari]

great shots of the couple! he was really handsome! and he was very alert, kept an alert eye on us all the time we were watching him and her.

 

I'll just add one more pix of Handsome or blondie as I liked to call him. see Mara landscape reflected in his clear bright eye.

 

Edited March 21, 2015 by Kitsafari