Dec. 30, 2021 - Day 4 in the Masai Mara
In the morning we started again at 6:00 am. According to Caleb, the 4 cheetahs had killed a wildebeest the night before. It’s a pity that we didn’t get to see it, but you couldn’t have followed them with the car in the rain anyway.
This morning the weather was nice again, so that a great sunrise in the Masai Mara was to be expected. Nowhere are the sunrises (and sunsets) more beautiful than in the Mara. A photogenic acacia tree was quickly found. The spectacle began already before the actual sunrise with a pronounced morning red:
Then the sun came out, here an HDR image from three single shots:
A short time later and in the most beautiful morning light we discovered a lioness with two very cute cubs. We could follow them for a while. The mother walked over the grass, the cubs ran a bit ahead, then fell back and looked around with interest. They then noticed that mom had moved on and hopped quickly after her.
Here are a few more individual photos of the little ones. These are already very high on the cuteness scale:
The only thing missing from a Steiff Teddy is the button in the ear.
Then Caleb was told over the radio that another leopard had been spotted nearby. We immediately made our way there. Once there, however, it wasn’t all that easy. The leopard was lying in a small pit and could hardly be spotted at first. In addition, the best observation positions were already blocked by other vehicles.
But we are already safari-experienced and know that patience on a safari often pays off. We therefore stood there for a good 2 1/2 hours. By using the gaps left by the vehicles of other impatient safari guests driving away, we slowly but surely came closer and closer to the leopard lying in the grass.
But when we finally got a better observation position, it got up and lay down again a bit lower. We drove to the other side of the river and could see a part of him, but he finally stopped in a lane and didn’t make any effort to get up again. Rather the opposite was the case, as this extended yawn shows:
Apparently it was the same leopard that we had already observed two days before. Too bad, again we had not succeeded in getting any reasonable pictures. But “all good things come in threes”, as the saying goes. So we will try again in the afternoon. In the meantime it was almost 1:00 pm and the heat flickering made it almost impossible to take good pictures. We therefore decided to drive back to our camp.
Even the hyenas found it too hot, they sought cooling in puddles. Caleb called this “Hyena Spa”:
Lunch and a rest break were waiting for us in the camp. As a small sign of consolation on the way back we discovered a martial eagle sitting high on an acacia tree:
Since we were back at the camp relatively late, we immediately went to lunch. At 4:00 pm we meet again at the car and try our leopard luck again.
Afternoon gamedrive
The puddles were free again. Harry commented that the hyenas were now probably having their massage. On the way back to the leopard we saw two ibis species sitting in harmony on a rock next to each other, on the left a Hagedash and on the right a Sacred Ibis:
After that we spotted a Pallid Harrier on the ground. After a short wait, it took off, so I managed to get some pictures of the takeoff sequence. I love the high continuous shooting speed of the Canon EOS R5!
Now we went again to our leopard. Caleb had learned in the meantime over the radio that even a second leopard had been sighted there. This fact had already spread around quickly. When we arrived at the described place, there was already a huge crowd of cars:
Again, we had to have a lot of patience. But this time it was really worth it. Slowly we were able to move into the gaps of the vehicles that had left in the meantime and thus came closer and closer to the leopard from the morning.
Finally, it got up and walked away. Caleb once again had the right instinct. He somehow knew in advance exactly where the leopard would go and brought our car into optimal photo positions again and again during the pursuit. He had certainly arranged this with the leopard in advance😉.
It now became apparent that the cat was a female leopard with an adolescent cub.
It seems to be a typical teenager: Apparently the young one had annoyed the mother so much that she wanted to rest alone first. She walked now after the noon rest to her young animal and settled down directly beside it. First the little one was licked extensively:
But the young leopard was very keen to play and the mummy finally joined in. She had rested sufficiently at noon. This gave plenty of opportunity for action photos. All fellow travelers were thrilled, the wait had been worth it again:
But finally it became too much for Mom again. She got up and left. The cub followed her shortly after, then both disappeared into the bushes.
Since it was already starting to get dark again, we made our way back. But again, it was worth it not to pack away all the equipment immediately.
Just before entering the entrance to the camp, we again saw a pair of crowned cranes performing some kind of dance in a dead tree. They were probably the same crowned cranes we had found in the rain the day before. It was already quite dark again. The backlight situation didn’t make photography any easier either. Overall, however, I am very satisfied with the image yield.
Finally, both took off twice for a short round trip and landed again on the same tree. This was very nice to watch:
All in all, it was another very eventful day with many impressive moments. We let the day pass in review again at the campfire with a another Gin-Tonic. After dinner we fell again tired from all the experiences of the day into a deep sleep.