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| first visitors spotted right outside the camp and I love how the one has his trunk wrapped around the leg of the other one! |
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| we drove back to the site of the previous evening's kill and you can see that the lionesses hardly ate any of the wildebeest - they hadn't been hunting for food, but rather for sport - the vultures, hyenas, and jackals will be the true beneficiaries of their game |
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| the number of wildebeests was mind-boggling and one of the managers told us that just three days before our arrival, there was not a single wildebeest to be found |
the migration in motion!
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| the topi will stand on small hills to keep an eye out for predators and if one is spotted, will warn the others |
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| saw a few Maasai giraffes throughout our drive (Maasai is the traditional spelling; Masai is apparently a British misspelling!) |
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| warthogs - or as they're called, Pumbaas - are apparently not particularly bright and also suffer from a very short-term memory |
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| we saw several crocodiles right around the camp |
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| we saw not one, but TWO leopards! |
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| the son was lazing in the grass |
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| look at this gorgeous creature! |
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| the mama was about 50 feet away |
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| she looks like she's had enough LOL |
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| leopards are my new favorite big cats! |
just a short clip of her walking -
so stealthy and powerful!
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| came across a cackle of hyenas feasting on a carcass |
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| found a pair of cheetahs just hanging out |
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| so stunning! |
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| we'll come back to these cheetahs after our breakfast and what we witnessed will be at the bottom of this post! |
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| our breakfast spot |
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| this is what my hair looks like after many hours driving around the savanna in an open-air vehicle LOL |
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| I haven't really written much about our game drive breakfasts, but they've been fantastic - on this day, Jackson and Patrick prepared pancakes, eggs, fruit, juice, toast, and ratatouille for us! |
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| the weather was so lovely during our drive |
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| we came across a pride of lions feasting on a carcass |
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| the little cub was so cute! |
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| he found some shade beside a safari vehicle! |
the dominant male came over to sit in the shade
of our vehicle - he was SO close to us!
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| mongoose |
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| we were too stuffed from breakfast to have any lunch, but we did enjoy the weather and scenery with an afternoon cappuccino |
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| the weather continued to cooperate for our evening game drive |
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| we drove to the Kenya-Tanzania border! |
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| more wildebeests making their way from the north to the Maasai Mara |
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| Jackson endured hundreds of questions from us during our time together and was such a wealth of knowledge about the area, the history, and the animals |
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| the staff from Sala's Camp have this cool vehicle that's been converted into a mobile bar, so we and the other guests staying at the camp met out on the savannah for a little happy hour celebration with the staff |
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| this picture can't capture the enormity of this table in the main building of the camp that is made from a single piece of fallen East African Rosewood found on Mount Kenya |
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| a storm had quickly moved into the area once the sun set and the beautiful private dinner the staff had set up for us, complete with a heart of tea lights on the deck where we were seated, was unfortunately thwarted, but we were so moved by the gesture! |
We've come to the end of the post and I have one last cool thing to share. After we finished our breakfast, we were on our way to look for lions when we drove past the spot where we'd seen the cheetahs earlier in the day. Patrick took note of the fact that the cheetahs were no longer lazing about on that mound of dirt, but rather fixated on a group of gazelles not far away. What came next was something I will remember as long as I live. After just a few moments of us watching and waiting, the cheetahs took off after the gazelles, separating a baby from its mother. No documentary footage will ever prepare you for seeing a cheetah run in the wild. I was completely enthralled with watching one of the most athletic beings on this earth sprint across the land with such grace and speed. One of the cheetahs caught the baby gazelle and the other chased after a few of the others, but ultimately just sat and watched, leading us to believe that purpose of this hunt was also just about the chase and not about the food!
That we saw two kills in two days when people who live and work there never see them is so unbelievably crazy to me and once again, we have Jackson and Patrick to thank!
the distance the cheetah was able to cover
in so little time was utterly incomprehnsible
the cheetah emerged victorious
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| with the baby gazelle in its mouth |
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| the second cheetah just sitting and watching; another gazelle just watching the cheetah |
During the overnight rainstorm, we heard elephants trumpeting not far from our tent, which was very, very cool! And certainly much less scary than the previous night, when I heard and felt footsteps outside our tent and I had no idea what they were - it was like that scene in Jurassic Park where the water in the cup moves with each powerful step of the T-rex! It didn't help that I was already having trouble falling asleep due to the adrenaline of that lioness/wildebeest battle a few hours earlier! Jackson assured me this morning that what I'd heard and felt were elephants, not hippos, which is what I had feared, since we'd also seen those walking about! So knowing elephants were nearby and then hearing their trumpeting on our second night at Sala's Camp was great!
The day began with goal of spotting cats and we saw leopards, cheetahs, and lions, so I would say mission accomplished!
Happy Tails to you!
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