4. 1. 2019
Our last full day in the Masai Mara started again at 5:30am. At 6:15am we met Caleb at the LandCruiser and started our last search for rhinos. This time the weather was not that nice. On the trip it rained at the beginning, so that a nice sunrise was missing.
First we discovered a black-breasted snake eagle before sunrise:
Very popular among visitors of the Masai Mara are balloon flights, at times we saw up to 7 balloons in the air at the same time in the morning. This time, our drive led us past a balloon launch site and we could watch the launch of two big balloons. The balloons are huge and carry each about 12-15 guests. With a price of 400-500US$ per person, the ride costs a pretty amount of money. The flight starts before sunrise and takes only about 1 hour. At the end there is a champagne breakfast outside.
All in all, it is certainly a great adventure to watch the Masai Mara with the wildlife from above, silently floating at sunrise. But I cannot motivate my family to do so, the fear is too big.
After the successful launch of the balloons, we continued our journey. Unfortunately, our search for the rhino was unsuccessful this time as well, so we started our way back after breakfast. We did discover a leopard again (the fifth one during our stay), but he was sleeping on a tree and showed no activity:
Since we were already well supplied leopard-wise on this trip and further activities of the animal were not to be expected in the near future according to Caleb, we let him continue sleeping and drove on.
Before we drove back to the camp, we observed a larger group of elephants again, whereby we could get very close to an older bull at first:
A young one was also among them:
Then we came a little closer to Eland antelopes. Elands are the largest species of antelope. They can grow up to 3m long and 1000kg in weight. Despite their size they are very shy, so we were happy to take some close pictures of a full-grown bull this time:
Shortly before reaching the camp the cloud cover had broken up and the typical Masai Mara panorama with yellow steppe grass, scattered acacias and cotton-wool like clouds appeared, as I love it:
Back at camp we finally succeeded and found a rhino:
Unfortunately a white rhino 😉
In fact, the tents in the camp are each equipped with very beautiful metal statues of animals. By the way, we were accommodated in the "crocodile" tent.
After another very tasty lunch and a short siesta we started again at 4:00pm. First we discovered a secretary bird strutting through the grass in search of something to eat:
Afterwards Caleb pointed us to a lioness with 2 cubs. For the birth the lionesses leave the pride and take care of the newborns for the first weeks alone. At the beginning they are hidden in caves when the lioness goes hunting. One of the cubs has just been suckled:
Afterwards it then thanked mummy very cordially:
Later we were allowed to attend a "lion honeymoon":
The whole procedure takes only about 1-2 minutes, but is repeated regularly every 20-30 minutes 😉
Other incidents of our last afternoon game drive:
Fighting zebra bulls:
A group of impalas against the evening sky:
A buffalo grazing:
As the day came to an end, Caleb held the car under another acacia tree once more and we had a last sundowner to finish the day:
Finally the sun appeared again briefly on the horizon:
and then we went back to camp. After showers, securing the pictures, campfire and dinner we fell again deathly tired into a deep sleep. Tomorrow morning we will go on a last gamedrive, after that we will drive back to Nairobi.