Safari Notes: August 2006 Safari Highlights

By: Mark Levy, 13th September 2006

Our recent trip to the Masai Mara was full of many surprises. We were fortunate enough to see 10 crossings and 7 kills during our 14 day stay.

The wildebeest had already started coming in large numbers from the Serengeti earlier in the month and in fact most of the crossings we saw were in the direction from the Mara towards the Serengeti.

One morning, on the way back to camp, after searching unsuccessfully for a leopard, known to be in the Talek area, we saw a couple of gazelles running, and a puff of dust. We went to investigate and found a cheetah, busy strangling a gazelle under a bush.

On another morning, we found the Paradise pride of lions resting in a clearing. After sitting with them for about half an hour, we followed them as they walked purposefully towards a rocky hill where they were going to rest for the day. In the long grass ahead, we saw a family of warthogs. Suddenly, one of the lionesses ran into them and after a brief chase she emerged with one of the piglets in her mouth.

The river crossings are fraught with danger for antelope and zebra and we were shocked one morning to see how a group of gazelle walked unsuspectingly into the crocodile infested water. After a brief struggle, one of them succumbed to an attack by a crocodile.