Once in a Lifetime Experiences at Kenya’s Maasai Mara Reserve

After our first successful day on a safari, it was hard to imagine what could top that day. However, we woke up on Tuesday morning hoping for another exciting day out on the savanna. We are exploring the Maasai Mara National Reserve. The landscape is pretty sparse. It’s mostly grasslands with some lone trees here and there. The Mara River passes through the reserve, and along its banks grow shrubbery and trees. The landscape can seem pretty bleak so it can be surprising to see the number of animals that live here.

After breakfast we headed to the Land Rover. The Land Rover has a roof which can be raised allowing us to stand up and take pictures. It works really well as it gives a complete view which windows don’t always do.

Right out of the gate of our resort we saw animals again. The first ones were the ubiquitous zebras, but shortly after that we saw some male impalas. A single male impala has a herd of females around him. Other males are then left out unless they can beat one of the males with a herd. These males were bachelors who will hang out together.

Then came the warthogs. We hadn’t seen any of these yesterday as well. They became well known through the movie The Lion King. They are not a beautiful animal. One of their unique traits is that when they are grubbing in the ground, they kneel with their front legs.

From the ugly to the most graceful of animals in my opinion are the giraffes. We had seen some yesterday, but these were busy eating in the tree tops and were moving around so gracefully. They are really amazing to watch.

Our next experience in Maasai Mara was one of the more memorable of the day. We saw a group of jeeps and headed in that direction. They were watching a pride of lions. This was a large group with a number of females and children. However, the most amazing part was they were very active and eating the remains of a zebra they had killed earlier. We were very close to them. Two of the females went off a ways with some of the youngsters. We followed them in our vehicle. At one point they were cleaning each other with their tongues as the kids played nearby.

We then drove back around to see the male and a female and a cub. The cub was wrestling with the zebra remains for a while, and then the male started attacking the final pieces. We could hear the crunch of the bones as he ate them. It was amazing. In some ways it was on the gross side, but it was something we felt very lucky to watch. Rafael, our driver, said lions are usually only awake for about four hours a day. To see them not only awake but eating a kill was quite a lucky moment.

Leaving the lions behind, we began to drive away and came across a jackal. Jackals are usually scavengers of dead animals so we think he might have been looking around the kill site of the lions. He was quickly moving from place to place. He had some things in his mouth on a few occasions, but we couldn’t tell what it was.

Our next move was to return to the tree where everyone had waited for the leopard the day before. Apparently it got dark before the leopard eventually went back up in the tree. In the tree were the remains of the poor Thomson’s gazelle. I took a picture of the gory mess left behind. You may not want to look at it very closely.

We then went deeper into the seemingly barren savanna of Maasai Mara. We passed by a hyena with his head sticking out above the grass.

From there we came to the Mara River and had our first view of a hippo. Hippos are frustrating animals to photograph as they keep disappearing under the water. Sometimes it’s only their eyes that will be above the water. I got lucky as one of the hippos seemed to give a big yawn so I could see his whole head. None of them ever got out of the water completely. Rafael said they get out at night to graze in the grass but stay in the water during the day to protect their skin.

Along the river we also saw our first crocodile of the trip. It was very long.

Heading back into the Savannah we encountered a type of antelope called a topi (Pronounce with a long o sound). This was the first of many we would see throughout the day. Rafael told us they are called a topi because they like to stand on top of mounds. Sure enough the topis we first saw were standing on ant mounds.

In this area we also saw two ostriches. We saw another pair later on as well, but we weren’t that close to either pair. Continuing on we saw another herd of Thomson’s gazelles which I think are one of the prettiest animals.

We eventually came to a large herd of zebras. What was unique here was that there was a small pond of water, and the zebras enjoyed getting into the water. When they got out, they would follow each other one by one.

Right next to the zebras were a herd of topi who at times mixed with the zebras. We would see them fight from time to time to see who was going to stand on a mound. It was kind of funny to watch them as two topis stood on opposite sides of a mound. A lone wildebeest was in the area, but his back was to us.

Leaving the herds behind we continued exploring. We passed two buffalo who are definitely on the ugly side. We also passed by a small group of baboons beside the road. Another guide directed us to a lone male lion asleep in the grass. He looked rather old and worn out.

Not long after this we had our other big dramatic moment of the day. We came across another large herd of zebras. Beyond them in some trees a small herd of elephants stood in an area Rafael referred to as a swamp. There was a road leading toward the elephants. I thought we were going to go there once we could get through the herd of zebras.

Suddenly we heard a loud bellow. We looked over at a stand of trees on the other side of the road and saw a large elephant in the distance. We thought it was that elephant. Eventually other elephants came into view. However, another loud bellow seemed much closer, and we saw a small elephant running in the edge of the trees. It was alone and seemed to be running around rather aimlessly.

The small elephant bellowed again, and this time we knew it was him. Then a bellow came from the area where the elephants were in the swamp. The small elephant began to run in that direction. We turned around and saw a large elephant running from the other side. Both were running right towards our Land Rover. Rafael quickly pulled forward, and well I’ll let you watch this video taken by Andrea to finish the story. (Watch the left side of the video)

Once the reunion was over we began to watch all the other elephants. There ended up being three groups coming down the road from the river and heading to the swamp. All the groups had small elephants with them. One of the elephants seemed upset with the zebras being there and chased them away from their trail. All the elephants coming together was quite the spectacle.

After this we found a spot by the river, and Rafael pulled out some folding chairs. We then had our lunch sitting outside in Maasai Mara. It was a very relaxing spot for lunch. A baboon sat in a nearby tree.

One of the things we saw was what Rafael called a controlled burn. The workers in Maasai Mara burn the grass which is supposed to help new grass grow better. We got very close to one of the burns as the flames were right next to the road. The smoke was also making things difficult, and the sky was grey from it.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty quiet compared to our morning activities. We did see another animal for the first time which was another type of antelope, a hartebeest. We thought it was another topi, but Rafael said the antlers were different and looked like a heart, thus the name.

Below are some photos of animals we passed along the end of our day’s exploration. We made two other stops to see hippos and saw some more elephants. We also saw a wildebeest, this time standing up so we could fully see it. Our day ended almost the way we started it, with impalas. However, rather than bachelor impalas we saw a male impala with his herd of females. The females seemed very skittish.

We arrived back at the resort about 3:30. We were all tired and spent the rest of the day relaxing and then enjoying our dinner.

Tomorrow morning we leave Maasai Mara behind and head to our next stop. It will be another five hour drive. We are supposed to see rhinos there. That’s one of the main big animals we have yet to see. Check bask next week to see if we find them.