Big five, yeah!

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We were all filled with a bit of sadness over leaving Rhino Camp and our awesome guides Fred and John. But as we bumped across the plains towards the airport and something in the suspension snapped, the sadness was slowly replaced by nerves. Never to let a loose car part get in the way of progress, we limped towards the park gate before a replacement truck picked us up and delivered us to the airport. An hour flight and we were in our new home for the next two days - Porini Mara camp in the Ol Kinyei conservancy.

We couldn’t get over how green the surrounds were and as we headed towards the camp, it quickly became obvious why, with lots of water on the ground. The seasonal rains were not so seasonal! A quick drive to our accommodation and we checked in and had some time for relaxation before lunch. Then some more rest time before we headed out on the afternoon drive.

We settled back into the rhythm of game drives and rests pretty quickly, with lots of similarities in what we were seeing. There were some new DTWS called Topi and the ever-present wildebeest. The area was so lush and green, it wasn’t unusual to be surrounded by herds of zebras grazing, groups of wildebeest staring blankly and making their ‘danger’ noise and doing zoomies, groups of various DTWS and pumbas streaking around the place with their antennae up.

With all the rain, the ground was super muddy and sodden and the rivers were running high, which made for some hairy river crossings and some very skilful driving. Other than a few splats of mud and a lot of bouncing, we survived unscathed.

Some highlights of the drives we did at Mara Camp:

1. Lions - first evening drive and we came across a big pride of ~20 including some young and very playful cubs. We sat watching them play with each other for about an hour, chewing on a stick, smacking each other in the head and rolling and tumbling about together. We could have watched them all day. There were a few females about just waking up and one of the dominant males finally graced us with his presence, only to repeatedly reject the advances of one of the females who was clearly after three seconds of wonder.
This morning we also saw a number of lions on the move, who were raising the alert levels of all the prey around, but seemed more interested in wandering and watching. Two groups of cubs, including a group of four who had apparently raised the ire of a trio of mongooses who were hiding out in a nearby termites nest and making a racket.

2. Elephants - we saw a few big boy bachelors including a group who had been hanging in the bushes, possibly up to no good, because they all emerged sporting a fifth leg. Beeb was particularly pleased to see a ‘big tusker’ who was tagged for protection.

3. Hippos - with all the water around, the hippos were in heaven and we were able to watch them bobbing about in the river. Not quite as fun was watching them bobbing about a few metres from our truck as we were making a particularly hairy river crossing.

4. Cheetahs - we were alerted to a mother and her four cubs snuggled underneath a tree so we sped off to see them. No need for speed as they clearly weren’t going anywhere, all cuddled up with mum for warmth, occasionally raising their fluffy heads to see what all the commotion was about.

5. Leopard - we didn’t dare hope that we might see one so we’d put all our happiness into seeing the cheetahs. When there was lots of action on the radio and we suddenly started bouncing along rapidly to the top of a hill, we wondered if sundowners were urgently calling. We were all delighted and super excited to see that no, we’d hooned our way to a leopard, napping in the hammock branches of a tree. They knew her and knew she had a couple of cubs around so figured it was only a matter of time until she came down to see them. We were prepared to wait all evening but she graciously descended after only about 20 minutes of waiting. She was so graceful and majestic as she pawed her way down, regarding us with some suspicion but not really bothered too much by our presence. We followed her for a short while before we left her in peace to be with her cubs. What a way to finish ticking off the big five!!

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