Magic Of The Masai Mara Game Reserve. A Safari Into The Mara Is An Expedition To The Most Important Wildlife Sanctuary.
Undeniably the Mara is the number one savanna of Africa Safari. A bird's eye view of the action below stirs my expectation.
Within several minutes of flying into the Mara, we locate an elephant and giraffes below, and on the banks of the Talek River, a pair of hippos partly visible from the water.
It's end of June, just following long rains and the time before the great migration and the savanah is filled with tall golden green grass of different shades.
As we ride through, we come across many Thomson's gazelles browsing by the road.
Farther, a parenting cheetah with a round belly looks our way as it eats what remains of an antelope. Meanwhile the cub is still savoring the kill, its nose red with blood.
"Cheetahs are diurnal. They hunt in the daytime," explains the guide. "They are not as well-built as lions and leopards, thus they eat fast else their kill will be taken. They can even be chased away by packs hyenas or vultures."
Minutes away, we find another cheetah with her two cubs on an anthill. They scrutinize us suspiciously but the mother's ears pick the sounds of the cowbells and she sits up vigilant, scanning the plains. The flock of Masai cows is far far away and seeing no danger to her cubs, she slouches down again, at ease.
The heavy rains have gone and the plains are full of long grass making it challenging for the smaller animals to graze. Mostly it is the huge animals like giraffes and elephants and the bigger antelopes that can be effortlessly be seen around.
This makes hunting difficult for the cats and they wind up with strange strategies. It is not odd to see lions and cheetahs trying to mount trees and anthills to get a high vantage point for spotting prey.
Cheetahs claws do not foldup like those other cats and do not generally climb trees, but because they should locate prey, they'll attempt anything.
Cheetahs, not like other predators, are not strong so they hunt minor antelopes, by chasing them to fatigue as aim for the jugular vein of their prey to make an instant kill.
moments after sighting the second cheetah, we encounter another cheetah Mother (Shakira).
"Shakira had five cubs but two were killed," the guide quips. "Cheetah mothers often keep moving when they have cubs to escape lions and leopards mauling their cubs."
Further on a pride of twelve lions shows up comprising of a male, females and cubs. The male roars, the roar echoing beyond the plains, as it flips over on its back. The females get up ready to prowl the plains.
"This is my favorite in the Masai Mara," says the guide, "because there is minimal traffic and makes it easy to spot wildlife."
In another week it will be July, and the plains will start filling with wildebeests as they cross from the Serengeti.
There will be a million plus wildebeests crossing the Sand River and moving to the other end of the Mara before turning to make the cyclic voyage. By the end of November, the whole grass will be consumed by the wildebeests and some 400000 zebras and other wildlife.
In one afternoon, within a radius of 10 km, we have spotted plenty of wildlife. What a way to start off our Masai Mara safari.
The following morning, as the sun rises in the horizon, the plains seem calmer. This sunrise we go forth in search for the big five.
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