The day began at 6.30 with the dawn chorus and a cup of deliciously mild Kenyan coffee and then we set off on the morning game drive. Everything is more 'alive' first thing and within minutes we had seen a couple of Jackals, a burrowing and skittish family of Warthogs, with their tails acting as signposts, and the usual seven species of antelope. Well, when I say usual that completely misses the point. Antelope are plentiful in the Mara and you can take them for granted but they are incredibly beautiful and diverse. In size they range from the very small and timid Dik- Dik to the majestic Eland which can be as a tall as two meters. Then there are the Tommies, Grants and Impala which are all, at first glance, similar but have different colourings, markings and heights. The most plentiful of the smaller antelope are the Tommies which appear incredibly enthusiastic with their perpetually wagging tails. At this time of year the most common species is the Wildebeest which are around in their thousands. From observing the crossing at the River the day before we had come to the conclusion that their defining characteristic is stupidity. They risk their life going one way and then change their minds and go back again! Finally, we had the occasional glimpse of a Waterbuck and their distinctive behind which can look like a toilet seat.
We then caught sight of our first Elephant for the day, a family group of 18 ranging from the enormous Matriarch to a baby only a few months old. They were peacefully munching their way through a large field of grass in the company of a solitary Buffalo. The scenery changed again through some a heavily wooded area until we came to a vast area of long grass punctuated by the odd solitary tree. With a sixth sense, born of years of experience, William, our guide made for one in the distance were we found two young male Cheetah, who from the size of their bellies had just eaten. We watched in hushed silence as they lounged in the sun or marked their territory by spraying the tree. A change of scenery was then on their agenda and we spent a fascinating 15 minutes tracking them through the long grass which made us appreciate the effectiveness of their camouflage.
After a brief sighting of four young Lions snoozing under a tree, the next port of call was 'Hyena Valley', a small rocky gorge full of spotted Hyenas of all ages resting in the crevices and keeping a close eye on our passage. The other occupants were rock Hyrax, a small rodent like creature measuring about 20 centimetres in length, whose DNA fingerprint is the closest to that of the Elephant. Bizarre.
Taking care to avoid a couple of bachelor Buffalo, we stopped for a bush breakfast in a clearing by a stream. Having a choice of really fresh fruit and eggs cooked to order whilst scanning the surroundings for eagles and elephants has to be the best way of eating breakfast and all washed down by some more of that great Kenyan Coffee.
On the game drive back to camp we continued bird spotting. The variety of bird life in Africa is incredible; in our four days in the Mara we must have seen over 50 different types and on this single day we saw small birds like canaries and swifts, ground birds such as Ostriches, spar fowl and the ever amusing guinea fowl ( otherwise known as bush chicken ), large birds from the stork, eagle ( bateleur, brown snake and Tawny ) and vulture families, distinctively shaped birds such as the enormous nest building Hammerkopf and various Hornbills and then really colourful birds like superb starlings, lilac breasted rollers, violet backed starlings and a whole variety of kingfishers with their iconic beaks. We spent some time touring around leopard country but didn't see any sign of these very elusive creatures. However, having had an almost textbook view only two days before we were satisfied with just more antelope, a single male Elephant, a troop of noisy baboons and numerous banded mongoose scurrying back to their den.
Our nights had been spent at Richard's camp in the Mara north conservancy and we returned for restoring solar showers and a 'light' lunch of spaghetti bolognese and three different salads before packing up. Now the word 'camp really doesn't do it justice. The tents are as big as a small house, tall enough to stand up in and well furnished with amongst other things a full sized bed. As we were the only guests we had the well appointed mess tent to ourselves.
We had been given the option of visiting the other Richard's camp in the forest so left on our second game drive of the day which doubled as a transfer. Each game drive takes in grassland scenes and after the Wildebeest, the second most common species in the Mara is the plains zebra. However, there is nothing plain about the zebra. We must have seen thousands and every single one has a different pattern of markings. We decided after hours of study that they are white with back stripes mainly because on the young the stripes are often more brownish.
The next sighting was something very special indeed. We came across what must have been the lion nursery school. Six lionesses had with them 12 cubs making eighteen, yes 18, lions in all. We spent nearly an hour, alone, watching all the family interactions from a distance of about 20 feet and occasionally closer, when one of the lions went for a wander. All of the cubs were between one and four months old and each cub can feed from any mother, which made for some clambering, scrapping and pushing from the cubs and some reluctance from the mothers. Some of the older cubs were also practising their stalking and fighting skills. Even our guide had not seen such a large group together and it was difficult to pull ourselves away, but the next camp awaited.
After a quick bag drop we headed out for a drive down to the banks of the main Mara river for dinner with the hippos. We thought breakfast couldn't be beaten but we were wrong. Sitting by a river full of over 50 yawning, wallowing hippos, drinking Tusker beer, watching an Africa sunset topped it. We had to walk all of twenty paces before sitting down to a three course meal of baked Brie, roast chicken and crepes all cooked in a charcoal field oven. You are left in wonder at the ability to produce such good food in the middle of the bush. The African night sky is awesome on a clear night with countless stars visible to the naked eye and when the silence is broken only by the noise of the hippos leaving the water for their nocturnal grazing.
Our last game drive was a night one back to camp. Everything looks different at night with ghostly zebras picked out by the spotlight along side seated Tommies, grazing hippos and startled Wilderbeest. We had our first sighting of the comical Spring hare which is also known as the African Kangaroo as it hops on its hind legs when it is in a hurry. One even hopped under our Land Rover, banging its head on the chassis in mid hop.
Then it was back to camp and into bed with a nice hot water bottle. And that was just another day in Paradise.
After a brief sighting of four young Lions snoozing under a tree, the next port of call was 'Hyena Valley', a small rocky gorge full of spotted Hyenas of all ages resting in the crevices and keeping a close eye on our passage. The other occupants were rock Hyrax, a small rodent like creature measuring about 20 centimetres in length, whose DNA fingerprint is the closest to that of the Elephant. Bizarre.
Taking care to avoid a couple of bachelor Buffalo, we stopped for a bush breakfast in a clearing by a stream. Having a choice of really fresh fruit and eggs cooked to order whilst scanning the surroundings for eagles and elephants has to be the best way of eating breakfast and all washed down by some more of that great Kenyan Coffee.
On the game drive back to camp we continued bird spotting. The variety of bird life in Africa is incredible; in our four days in the Mara we must have seen over 50 different types and on this single day we saw small birds like canaries and swifts, ground birds such as Ostriches, spar fowl and the ever amusing guinea fowl ( otherwise known as bush chicken ), large birds from the stork, eagle ( bateleur, brown snake and Tawny ) and vulture families, distinctively shaped birds such as the enormous nest building Hammerkopf and various Hornbills and then really colourful birds like superb starlings, lilac breasted rollers, violet backed starlings and a whole variety of kingfishers with their iconic beaks. We spent some time touring around leopard country but didn't see any sign of these very elusive creatures. However, having had an almost textbook view only two days before we were satisfied with just more antelope, a single male Elephant, a troop of noisy baboons and numerous banded mongoose scurrying back to their den.
Our nights had been spent at Richard's camp in the Mara north conservancy and we returned for restoring solar showers and a 'light' lunch of spaghetti bolognese and three different salads before packing up. Now the word 'camp really doesn't do it justice. The tents are as big as a small house, tall enough to stand up in and well furnished with amongst other things a full sized bed. As we were the only guests we had the well appointed mess tent to ourselves.
We had been given the option of visiting the other Richard's camp in the forest so left on our second game drive of the day which doubled as a transfer. Each game drive takes in grassland scenes and after the Wildebeest, the second most common species in the Mara is the plains zebra. However, there is nothing plain about the zebra. We must have seen thousands and every single one has a different pattern of markings. We decided after hours of study that they are white with back stripes mainly because on the young the stripes are often more brownish.
The next sighting was something very special indeed. We came across what must have been the lion nursery school. Six lionesses had with them 12 cubs making eighteen, yes 18, lions in all. We spent nearly an hour, alone, watching all the family interactions from a distance of about 20 feet and occasionally closer, when one of the lions went for a wander. All of the cubs were between one and four months old and each cub can feed from any mother, which made for some clambering, scrapping and pushing from the cubs and some reluctance from the mothers. Some of the older cubs were also practising their stalking and fighting skills. Even our guide had not seen such a large group together and it was difficult to pull ourselves away, but the next camp awaited.
After a quick bag drop we headed out for a drive down to the banks of the main Mara river for dinner with the hippos. We thought breakfast couldn't be beaten but we were wrong. Sitting by a river full of over 50 yawning, wallowing hippos, drinking Tusker beer, watching an Africa sunset topped it. We had to walk all of twenty paces before sitting down to a three course meal of baked Brie, roast chicken and crepes all cooked in a charcoal field oven. You are left in wonder at the ability to produce such good food in the middle of the bush. The African night sky is awesome on a clear night with countless stars visible to the naked eye and when the silence is broken only by the noise of the hippos leaving the water for their nocturnal grazing.
Our last game drive was a night one back to camp. Everything looks different at night with ghostly zebras picked out by the spotlight along side seated Tommies, grazing hippos and startled Wilderbeest. We had our first sighting of the comical Spring hare which is also known as the African Kangaroo as it hops on its hind legs when it is in a hurry. One even hopped under our Land Rover, banging its head on the chassis in mid hop.
Then it was back to camp and into bed with a nice hot water bottle. And that was just another day in Paradise.
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