Masi Mara

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We arrived at Masi Mara last night and had lunch at a tented camp along the way for lunch. Afterwards we took a safari ride and saw many more animals. We usually head out at 6:30 am and 4:30 so that we can see as many animals as we can when it is coolest throughout the day.

This morning we saw a pride of lions enjoying a wildebeast (Crista was glad we hadn't had breakfast before our drive). There were a couple of male lions as well as several lionesses. They were incredible to watch. We were only a few feet from them and they looked right at us, but didn't seem to mind us being there. Afterwards we saw a leopard and her cub. The cub was very cute and was playing by jumping all over her mom. At one point the cub looked right at me (my head was sticking out of the top of the vehicle) and it looked like it was going to jump up and play. I quickly ducked and Crista was laughing... she was sure it couldn't jump that high. I wasn't so sure...
The mother leopard looked up and started meowing at the cub. The cub heard the Mom and run away, with the Mom not too far behind her. It seems that the Mom noticed the lions were walking their way. Since lions attack leopards, and most other animals, the leopards left quickly, running very low so that they would not be noticed. In fact, all of the other animals scattered as soon as they saw the lions.

Masi Mara is dry, but certainly not as dry as Samburu. Samburu's rivers are running dry and you can see the elephants digging holes with their trunks to get water. When they are done, they leave small watering holes which the other animals use to also get water.

We have taken about 500 pictures so far... Can't wait to see what they look like when I get home...

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