Chasing the big five in the Masai Mara

Within minutes of arriving in the Masai Mara, we hear word that a leopard has been spotted somewhere off in the distance.

It’s an impromptu game drive, really just a meander through the park on the way to our accommodation for the night and home for the next five days.

But when you hear there is a leopard nearby, well, you just have to take the chance you’ll get there before it disappears once more into the bushes. 

We take off, ignoring the zebra and wildebeest, giraffes and impalas that surround us. We’re on a mission to see the leopard.

Our efforts are soon rewarded. The leopard is sunning itself in the fork of a tree, our guide maneuvers the vehicle around so we can see the leopard from different angles and gets caught in a traffic jam of tourist vans in the process. One of the vans gets its wheel stuck in a rut on the road and has to be pushed out by another van – no one was getting out to help the driver with a leopard so close.

After leaving the leopard we encounter a pride of nine lions, lazing on a rock, the big daddy is not too far away relaxing in the long grass. The lions are quite active – frolicking around with each other. We spy one lion playing with a discarded water bottle – the destruction of man once again impeding on nature.

It’s not a bad viewing effort for just a couple of hours in the park – as well as the lions and leopard, we had seen buffalo and elephants as we drove around – four of the big five in just two hours.

Our hotel, Mara Manyatta, is located just outside the national park, right next to a small Masai Village. The village immediately next to us is modern by Kenyan standards, but surrounding this village are a number of traditional villages. From our campsite, we can hear the Masai herding their goats and cows past our tent of a morning and evening and there are always Masai hanging around the camp when we arrive “home” from drives. Mostly they are using the camp’s electricity to charge their mobile phones.

Day two of our five days in the Masai Mara and we soon get word – through the African telegraph, the CB – of a cheetah sitting on a mound. We race along the winding tracks and are busy photographing the cheetah when we realise there are actually two on the mound – a mother in full view and a baby hidden in the shrubs.

We move on and come across another pride of lions relaxing in the shrub. There are about nine lions, cubs and mum all in the bushes playing and snoozing. It’s a testament to a good guide that you can become blaze about the wildlife you’re seeing.  Here we are, in the Masai Mara, watching a pride of lions, not too far from our van, frolicking in the sunshine. We photograph them, of course, but it doesn’t take long before you start to expect more, you want more activity, a kill, something!

We move on to our designated lunch spot and find ourselves sitting under a tree in the middle of the Masai Mara – apparently there are no designated eating areas in the Mara so you just take your chances wherever you can. We did, it was a lovely spot looking out over grazing zebra. 

During lunch we get word of four cheetahs sitting on a mound. So we quickly finish our packed lunches and take off once more. We find the cheetahs, a mother and her three cubs and just one other van filming it.

When we have photographed the cheetah from almost every angle and are getting ready to move on when the mother suddenly stands up and starts walking toward a herd of Giselle on a nearby hill. The babies follow, as do we. By now a third van has joined us, watching and waiting to see what the mother will do.

We don’t have to wait long for her to take off, quickly crossing the short distance between her and her prey. She pounces and catches a startled Giselle – dinner for her babies. It’s an amazing sight to see a cheetah move so quickly through the savannah, from crouching to accelerating to such speeds that the Giselle didn’t stand a chance.  We are soon surrounded by more tourist vans, so we move on.

We head to the Mara River where we see lots of hippos and some very large crocodiles. The hippos look so cute and serene and it’s difficult to believe something that looks so relaxed and gentle can be so dangerous.

The crocodiles on the other hand do not look cute or gentle. But they are a very intriguing animal to look at. Funny to think that we have come all this way to see them when we have them back home in Australia.

We plan to head back to the river in the next day or so to watch the wildebeest crossing the river – the great migration from the Serengeti in Tanzania, to the Masai Mara in Kenya.

It is said to be one of the most amazing experiences to witness in the animal world.

So, we move on.

Another early morning, we had to leave the light on in our tent so that when the power came on at 6am it would wake us up! Power came on a little early – 5.45, so we were ready early, but then breakfast was a little late.

Not to worry, our guide Jackson soon makes up for any lost time. First up we see a pride of lions. There are about six lions including a big male, all keeping an eye on a buffalo hiding in the shrub.

The mother takes a chance, but the buffalo is too big and scares her somewhat, so she takes off. Our guide tells us it takes two males to bring down a buffalo and there was only one male. So, the buffalo is safe for another day.

We soon get word there is a rhino in the hills so we take off in search, but to no avail; by the time we get there the rhino is back in hiding – which makes me wonder, how do you lose a rhino? We were soon to find out the answer.

Moving on we spot an owl in the trees sitting right above us, which makes photographing him quite difficult and isn’t so pleasant when he decides to shit, fortunately we are off a little to the left, and not quite within aim.

A quick stop at the beautiful Sarova Lodge for the bathroom, our guide keeps stopping at five-star lodges for us to use the bathrooms, it is tough knowing that at the end of the drive we have to come back to our, generally lesser, lodge. But it does give me ideas for future adventures in the Masai Mara.

And then a visit back to check on a couple of lions we had seen earlier. Our guide Jackson had spotted them from a mile away hidden in the trees, I did get a little freaked out as we moved in closer and then just about got stuck. But we managed to get away. The lions had a fresh zebra kill nearby but had obviously had their fill and were relaxing. 

On our second trip to see them one had moved down to a nearby watering hole so we follow her for a little before moving on.

We see plenty of buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, antelope of all manner, a hyena and lots of vultures and we even see two giraffes lying down, which turns out to be quite a sight.

The following morning we are up early again.

We see 12 lions before 8.30am and seven cheetah in total. We spend the whole day out in the Mara and take with us the younger sister of one of the women that works at the campsite we are staying at. Anissa is 10 years old and very shy. 

This is her first experience in the Mara National Park, so she really hasn’t seen any wildlife before.

We see the lion and the cheetah and head over to the Tanzania border on the crossover between the Masai Mara and the Serengeti. The two parks are separated by nothing but bollards – but then I guess if they put up fencing it would make it very difficult for the animals to cross.

We head down to Sand River where we see the zebra and the wildebeest crossing. The river is small with not much water, so the crossing isn’t up to Jackson’s expectations.  Though Ade and I did find it amusing watching the wildebeest jumping from the high banks into the river.

We sit and watch four cheetahs under a tree, but Jackson is keen for us to see the wildebeest crossing the Mara River – a much wider river which has crocodiles and hippos in it.

So, we take off again, leaving the cheetah and head off to see the wildebeest. The wildebeest follow zebra, who act as guides. As the vans pile up, we sit and wait…and wait. The zebra head down the steep embankment, then back up, another goes down, then returns to the crowd. We can see a crocodile on the bank of the river below, but he is well out of view of the zebra and the wildebeest. Thousands of wildebeest have gathered waiting for the go ahead from the zebras to cross.

Four hours later and still no crossing; a couple of vans begin to move off as apparently wildebeest just around the bend are crossing. We zoom off, hoping to see at least some kind of crossing, apparently the group at this point is smaller than where we were, but at least we might get to see something.

And we do. It is one of the most distressing things I have seen. The zebra and wildebeest had started crossing, but where they are trying to get up on the opposite riverbank is nothing but slate, the animals’ hooves struggle to grip, and they all keep slipping back down and into the water. One wildebeest can’t make it up, another makes it up but has clearly hurt his leg, he limps off – destined no doubt to be dinner for a lion.

By this time the animals on the original bank have stopped crossing, they can see the difficulty the wildebeest that have crossed were experiencing, one very young zebra comes running back up the bank – soaking wet. Its mum has crossed but he can’t, we hear the mother calling out from the other side and the foal answering – it is alone in a sea of zebra and wildebeest on this side of the river.

Again, zebra wander down to the river and look like they may embark on the crossing, but by the time we leave, there has been little, if any further movement.

Meanwhile on the other side of the bank, those that had made it up the slate wait for the rest of the herd. It is a fascinating, through distressing, end to the day’s viewing. But I guess that’s what life on an African savannah is all about.

Fast Facts

We travelled to Kenya on this trip in 2009.

We stayed at Mara Manyatta, a very basic tented campsite.

We were here for five days.

Was it long enough? It was a great amount of time in the Mara, possibly too long for many people but it gave us a good chance to just sit and watch the wildlife and their habits.

Highlights: Being surrounded by a pride of lions, seeing a leopard!

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