Surrounded by lions in Kenya

Our fourth morning in the Masai Mara dawned bright and very early when we were woken by the dulcet tones of Kenny Rogers singing “You don’t have to fight to be a man...” followed soon after by “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em…”.

Seems Kenny Rogers has made his way to every nook and cranny of the globe.

A quick cup of tea and then we were on our way for an early pre-breakfast game drive. We spotted the pride of lions early – we had seen this same pride pretty much daily from the time we first arrived at the Masai Mara. This time we had them to ourselves, so we stayed and watched for a while.

The pride wasn’t very active, so we moved on driving through the plains, looking for signs of wildlife and not seeing much of anything at all.

But then we came across another pride of lions, bigger than the last. This time there were 12 lions, including two babies, two males, a few lionesses and some older cubs. The young ones were eating what remained of a zebra. 

We were the only van around. 

The babies were very active, jumping on the male lion’s back, playing in the grass, one grabbed a piece of the meat and ran off, continually outrunning its older, bigger brothers and sisters.

The piece of meat hung low between his legs, so low that he kept tripping over it. It was quite a sight watching it being chased by the larger lions who tried to steal his meat and seeing him get away each time.

A male and female from the pride were courting and eventually mated while we were there. It seems there is a lot of love in the African wilderness.

The second male decided it was time for him to eat and roared to get the other lions to move on from the kill, that set off all the other lions roaring – it was quite a sound (I had to ask Jackson whether that was our cue to leave, but he said no, they were just all letting each other know they were on heat).

We had the lions to ourselves for some time, but then a couple of other vans started arriving – Ade and I were amazed it had taken them this long, but I suspect Jackson had deliberately not told anyone else so that we could have the experience to ourselves.

As the vans piled up the courting lions – a massive male and his equally large lioness – came and sat next to our van, resting in the shadow of our vehicle. If we had been brave or silly enough, we could just about reach out and run our fingers through the lions’ mane and had we reversed, we would have run over the lioness’s tail.

Being so close to two large lions was amazing, we could breathe in their scent and hear the heaviness in their breath. One of the babies soon joined them, so we had a full family portrait right next to the van.

It was indeed a very successful morning of lion watching. It’s the kind of experience you hope for when travelling on safari, but not something you can plan for. We knew how lucky we were to have that moment.

On our way back to the campsite for lunch we passed two cheetahs, but as they were way off in the distance, and we had seen and photographed so many cheetahs previously we pushed on. 

As we sat waiting for lunch one of the local Masai, Sami, asked if we wanted to go and visit his village. We first met Sami on our first day at Mara Manyatta when he had asked us if we wanted to visit his village. We did, of course, so we tentatively arranged it for the next day, but then we were out all day, we put it off three days but as this was our last full day in the Mara we knew it was now or never. 

First, we walked up the mountain just behind our campsite so Sami and his friend Raphael could point out Masai herbs and medicines to us. They took us to the spot where male youth apparently must spend three months before returning to their village as men.

Once at the top of the mountain we had amazing views across the Masai Mara, and as it was market day in the main town near our campsite, the town below was awash with the red of the Masai blankets worn by the warriors attending the market.

The walk took a little over an hour and then we went into Sami and Raphael’s village where we were invited inside their homes – so dark and small it’s amazing they can live in them. Of course the men danced for us, followed by the women, then they showed us how they make fire.

The village was really interesting and Raphael was a  fantastic guide. He told us all about how Masai live, what they do and how the village operates. There were 120 Masai living in this village and the men can have up to 10 wives, apparently. They move every nine years as termites get into the huts and destroy them. However, they don’t move far as there is a school and town close by.

Of course, once we had watched the Masai dancing and seen inside their homes we were invited to visit the obligatory small market of homemade wares for tourists. We both liked the leather men’s bracelets for Ade, but we didn’t think we would get them into Australia, so I just bought a bracelet for me (no leather).

Once I had decided I might buy one, I was surrounded by women trying to put bracelets on my wrist hoping I would buy theirs. We settled on a price – 200 shilling and the deal was done.

On the walk back to our campsite we stopped in at the school, however school was closed while the students were on holidays. Apparently about 500 students from the various Masai villages in the area attend the school from grade 1 to grade 8. There are about 50 villages, just in this area.

We arrived back at the campsite in time for lunch then had another game drive in the afternoon.

We got word again that there had been a leopard sighting that afternoon about 2pm, so we took off for the area: apparently the leopard had dragged a zebra up a tree. The leopard was gone, but the zebra was still there.

We headed over to the tree in the hope that the leopard may return and to see the zebra. When we got there the leopard was nowhere in sight, so we photographed the zebra, then moved onto some lions, which were nearby.

We stayed with them for a short time – there were only two and they were lying in the grass not doing much at all. By this time, after all we had seen, it took a lot for the animals to impress us.

Jackson got a call on the cb to say the leopard was back, fortunately we were just around the corner, so we headed back to the tree and found the leopard sitting at the bottom. We were further away this time, but there were far fewer vans jostling for position.

The leopard soon jumped up into the tree, stretched, turned and sprawled out in the branches where he remained the rest of the time we watched him. A very satisfying end to our game viewing in the Masai Mara – we started and finished with a leopard. But boy are they elusive.

The Masai Mara had certainly lived up to its reputation; over our five days in the park we had seen everything we had hoped for and much, much more.

Fast facts

We travelled in August 2009

We stayed at Mara Manyatta. It was cheap and well located, but very basic accommodation.

We stayed for five days.

Was it long enough? Five days is a long time, but it gave us a chance to really sit and watch and study the animals.

Highlights: There is nothing quite like hearing the roar of a lion in the wild, being surrounded by the lions and spotting the leopard. Oh and being welcomed into the homes of the Masai. Every moment in the Masai Mara is magical.

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