Our flight was once again in the 12-passenger plane (the same kind we flew in from Nairobi to Sasaab Lodge on Thursday), but this time, there were only eight passengers, which was great! My preferred seat on a plane is always a window seat on the left side, so I sat by myself in one of those while C took on of the 2-person seats on the right side of the plane and was able to stretch out.
The flight was about an hour, and when we landed, we met our two guides - Jackson was our driver and Patrick was our spotter. As I explain what we experienced as a result of their knowledge and expertise, you will come to understand why we loved them so very much!
Rather than taking us right to the camp, they asked if we wanted to go on a short game drive first and we weren't about to say no to that offer! We ended up being out for two hours and saw elephants, baboons, zebras, and a lion with a fresh kill, but most impressively, we saw the wildebeests during their great migration, which is an awe-inspiring sight!
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| rhino cappuccino! |
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| rhino cookies! |
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| rhino breakfast companions! |
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| we left a little bit of Avalanche behind |
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| our plane |
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| C had a double seat all to himself! |
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| I sat in the last row (row 4!) and those are everyone's carry-ons behind me |
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| our vehicle at Sala's Camp was the same as the one we had in Sasaab - an open-air Toyota Land Cruiser |
the Great Migration
We went back to camp (and believe me, this was unlike any camp I've ever been to!) to check in and have lunch, during which time we spotted some mongooses (no, it's not "mongeese" - I looked it up!). After lunch, we went to our tent (again, a bit of a misnomer, as you can see from the photos!), got settled, and had a short rest before meeting Jackson and Patrick for our evening game drive.
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| main building |
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| our lunch view |
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| mongooses! |
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| we had to cross this bridge to get to our tent - it was over a river containing hippos and crocodiles |
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| the path to our tent |
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| our tent |
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| we loved it! |
It was during our evening game drive when things get interesting! During the first part of the drive, we came across a herd of elephants, including a baby, and then Jackson and Patrick took us to a spot in some thick vegetation that overlooks a river. They had to check the area for safety before we were allowed to get out of our vehicle because everything was so lush and there could have been something hiding in all of that greenery! Once they assured us it was safe to follow them, we walked over to the lookout point and what did we see? A bloat of hippos!
After watching them for a little while, we returned to our vehicle and resumed our drive. We spotted an animal in the distance, which turned out to be an eland - certainly cool in its own right - but then Patrick told us he spotted two lionesses in the grasses near the eland and that they were stalking it. Jackson drove us right over to the area and we watched as they made a move on the eland. Surprisingly, it was able to escape (well, more accurately, they let it go because they didn't pursue it!). We were able to get super close to the lionesses, which was incredible, and watch as they slowly crept from the area, clearly on the prowl again. There were zebras and wildebeests in the field nearby, and this was where the eland had escaped to because there is safety in numbers.
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| she was SO close to our vehicle! |
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| I was able to capture both lionesses in one photo! |
Side story - while we were watching the lionesses, we also spotted a serval cat, which is apparently not a common sighting!
What came next took 90 minutes. YES, 90 MINUTES of us patiently waiting and watching two lionesses as they hunted. After about 50 minutes, they made a move for a wildebeest that had somehow become separated from the others (a group of wildebeests is referred to as a "confusion" and that moniker is very apropos!), and the game was afoot.
For 40 minutes, we watched a battle between the wildebeest and the two lionesses as the night grew dark. It was a pretty spellbinding chess match. The wildebeest was literally fighting for its life, but it was clear that it was just a bit of fun to the lionesses, who were rolling around, pawing at each other, yawning, etc. I've got to give it to the wildebeest because it put up a good fight by chasing the lionesses, forcing them to retreat, and evading their advances, but it was apparent that when the cats decided the game was over, it was going to be a grisly end for the wildebeest.
C got some great shots (all of the pics below) that illustrate the showdown we witnessed. What a standoff between these animals!
The video at the very bottom of this post shows the kill. The video is grainy because one, it was taken on my phone and two, the light was practically nonexistent, but it's worth watching.
Witnessing the patience, the stalking, the calculations, and the strategies of the cats was incredible, even though it ended in the death of another creature. Lions are cold-blooded killers.
I've been a vegetarian for almost 29 years now. I am an ardent animal lover and defender. So watching this happen in front of my own eyes was a lot for me. I understand it is the way of things in the wild...eat or be eaten, kill or be killed, and that sort of thing, but that didn't make it any easier to watch.
When we got back to the camp, we shared what we'd seen with the staff, and one of the managers told us that people can work out on the savanna for fifteen-plus years and never see a kill! We have Jackson and Patrick to thank for the experience; there were other guests at camp that completely missed the event all together or left early because they didn't have the patience to wait and see it through (including some pretty obnoxious guests who we avoided during our stay). But Jackson and Patrick knew exactly what would happen and we put our trust in them and it paid off! I will never forget how humbled I felt in the presence of those two powerful lionesses.
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| the wildebeest never took its eyes off the cats, but the cats looked away often...they knew they were running the show |
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| a lioness on either side of the wildebeest |
Certainly something we will never forget!
Happy Tails to you!
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