Safari Day Two (Part 7)

This is the seventh in a series of posts about my July 2018 trip to Kenya. In the last post, we saw some pictures of our safari on the Maasai Mara. This post is about our second day of our safari, and wow did we ever see some great things!

On day two, we started out at o’dark thirty (early!) so we could get out onto the Mara in time for sunrise. We all captured some great shots. Since Kenya straddles the equator, sunrise and sunset are roughly at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. throughout the year. And they happen more quickly than in other latitudes.

And then we were off in search of animals! Early in the morning, we ran into a pride of lions that had just killed a wildebeest. The males (2) had finished eating, as had some of the females. Here is the King (alpha male) himself, enjoying a cool morning respite.

Lion and a lioness.

 A group shot of many of the pride members.

And a cute cub.

Here a lioness and some cubs are taking their turn feasting on the remains of a wildebeest.

The lions left the carcass in the shade, and the hyenas tried to move in to claim what was left. But they were promptly chased off by several lionesses, and the cubs moved in again and dragged the carcass into the sun and continued to feast for awhile.

We set off again and saw more zebras. 

And we came across several elephants over the rest of the morning and afternoon.

We learned from our driver Leshan that you can tell an elephant’s handedness (dominant side) by their tusks. If they have a tusk that’s more worn (more used) on the right side, that is their dominant side, like a right-handed human.

Here is a picture of the young ladies in our group. There is Lauren, my granddaughter, and Hannah and Mary B, who are sisters. They were accompanied by their parents Becky and Lonnie, and were just an amazingly energetic, close and sweet family. 

We saw more giraffes, too. Here is one bending down to drink.

And they loved to nibble on the treetops too.

Wildebeest!

It was nice to stop wherever and whenever we wanted to take pictures.

Here are the three girls again!

And then we came upon some leopards.

They passed closely by, not seeming to mind us too much. But then, we were quiet.

And here is a picture of MaryAnn and Jim Tufts, who rode in the back of our Rover. They were a fun and friendly addition to our group.

The rovers are made for rough terrain, and handled the rutted landscape and water crossings with relative ease. I say “relative” because it was often a bumpy ride for the passengers, hehe. And most of us had the bruises to prove it!  But not one of us minded or would have traded places to be anywhere else.   

It was fun to get pictures of the other rovers in the landscape as we traded places back and forth.

Oh look! A warthog! No one will ever accuse them of being cute and cuddly.

These are elands - African antelopes.

And this little guy (or gal) is a Thomson gazelle.

And then we happened upon a rare sighting - a cheetah in the grass. This picture was taken either by MaryBeth or MaryAnn. My camera was less clear at that range.

And a lone tree on this part of the savannah.

We saw both male and female ostriches. As with most birds, the male is always showier than the females. This looks like a female, but I could be mistaken because it’s hidden in grasses. The males had more color.

And as we returned to camp and the adjacent little river, we saw lots of baboons. We actually had a few trees surrounding the camp that we called baboon trees. They returned there every evening to eat, groom, and sleep. We were warned not to look them in the eye (direct eye contact is taken by many animal species as an act of aggression).

Back at camp again, relaxing out on the deck around the fire pit.

L-R: Shelly, MaryBeth, Ellen, Renee and Marilyn (with S)

The fire pit area, facing the other direction with the baboon trees left and right.

This was a great picture of Lauren near the baboon tree and river crossing at the camp, just before we left to return to Narok.

Next post: more adventures in Narok, including a muddy adventure and lots of candid shots.

To check out the previous posts of my trip, here are the links:

Part 1 - Elephant Orphanage and The Escarpment
Part 2 - Tenkes Elementary and the Mau Forest
Part 3 -  Days for Girls and Lunch in a Mud Hut
Part 4 - Maasai Warriors and Around Narok City

Part 5 - Cute Kids and Fantastic Foliage

Part 6 - On Safari, Day One