I don’t even know how to describe our encounter with the wildlife that calls the Masai Mara home. Any single adjective would be the equivalent of the tip of the iceberg. I’m not sure what I expected, but I have to admit that this was beyond my wildest imagination.
The quantity and variety of wildlife was phenomenal, and we weren’t even there during the Great Migration. In retrospect, we had to laugh at one of the questions that we asked our booking agent: “will we see hippos?” Absurd. We saw droves of hippos, herds of elephants, a gazillion giraffes, and tons of gazelle, waterbuck, and topi. It got to the point where these magnificent creatures seemed almost pedestrian.
The proximity of our interaction with these majestic animals was extraordinary and palpitation worthy at times. Some of the pictures that you’ll see below are included to demonstrate how close we were. What amazed me is that the animals didn’t seem to be bothered by our presence. We learned from Sofie that they didn’t see us as 7 humans riding around in a vehicle, but one large, harmless creature.
Our timing, thanks to Sofie, was impeccable. We drove up to a pride of lions standing guard over a fresh Cape buffalo kill. We managed to spot (thanks to Dad’s eagle eye) a leopard lounging in the crook of a tree. We passed a pond as 3 gigantic hippos bounded out and stopped in surprise to see us parked there. We watched as 2 lionesses and 2 cubs feasted on a fresh warthog and then realized that the remaining 2 lionesses and the 3 littlest cubs (who had been left out of the hunt) were scampering through the tall savannah grasses toward us and their lunch. And, we drove into the middle of the fray as a cheetah patiently stalked, chased, and ultimately missed a Thompson gazelle …which I lovingly coined a “cheetah nugget.” We truly experience the daily drama of the Masai Mara up close and personal.
The quantity and variety of wildlife was phenomenal, and we weren’t even there during the Great Migration. In retrospect, we had to laugh at one of the questions that we asked our booking agent: “will we see hippos?” Absurd. We saw droves of hippos, herds of elephants, a gazillion giraffes, and tons of gazelle, waterbuck, and topi. It got to the point where these magnificent creatures seemed almost pedestrian.
The proximity of our interaction with these majestic animals was extraordinary and palpitation worthy at times. Some of the pictures that you’ll see below are included to demonstrate how close we were. What amazed me is that the animals didn’t seem to be bothered by our presence. We learned from Sofie that they didn’t see us as 7 humans riding around in a vehicle, but one large, harmless creature.
Our timing, thanks to Sofie, was impeccable. We drove up to a pride of lions standing guard over a fresh Cape buffalo kill. We managed to spot (thanks to Dad’s eagle eye) a leopard lounging in the crook of a tree. We passed a pond as 3 gigantic hippos bounded out and stopped in surprise to see us parked there. We watched as 2 lionesses and 2 cubs feasted on a fresh warthog and then realized that the remaining 2 lionesses and the 3 littlest cubs (who had been left out of the hunt) were scampering through the tall savannah grasses toward us and their lunch. And, we drove into the middle of the fray as a cheetah patiently stalked, chased, and ultimately missed a Thompson gazelle …which I lovingly coined a “cheetah nugget.” We truly experience the daily drama of the Masai Mara up close and personal.
A male waterbuck
The kind of roadblock that you don’t mind being stopped for.
Perhaps this encounter was a bit too up close and personal. This lioness walked within 2 feet of the vehicle, which I just happened to be hanging out of to get a better shot. With palpitating heart, I quickly got all appendages back into the vehicle.
Just after she missed her “cheetah nugget”
