In the Mara

We woke up, had a good breakfast, refilled our water bottles and swapped cars before we got to the Maasai Mara. We saw a tawny eagle which was perched on a high tree from which it had a good view.

We also saw some zebra in a herd.

Soon after we were attracted by a big group of vehicles huddled around a bush, turns out it was a cheetah. Just as we had got there the cheetah moved to hunt and it was so cool seeing these beautiful animals up close. When you look at them close up you can see that they are built for speed. The one we saw was a pregnant female so it couldn't go as fast as others. Sadly we didn't get to see it hunt because you had to stay to the track and we didn't want to break those rules so we just let it be.

On the way to some elephants we saw some mongoose standing up. It is so amazing how such a little animal can take down snakes. A group of all different animals were on high alert when we saw them but sadly nothing happened.

We finally got to our destination of the elephants and we were surprised how close the elephants allowed us to get near them. The animals were so big and they demolished a forest so they could get food. The calf in the group was so cute and boisterous and it would destroy the forest and just run around. There was a time when it ran out to attack us and then got scared and called for "mummy" who essentially said there is "no threat" and kept on eating.

After a beautifully scenic drive in which we stood up and got pelted by dust and rocks, our car had a problem so while Max and David fixed the problem Jesse and Logan had to be on lookout for lions because there were some just down the road - what we had come for.

When we saw the lioness it was amazing. Basically face to face with one of the world's most powerful creatures. It was just perched on a mound of grass watching something and it seemed as if it was posing. Just as we were about to leave to go into Tanzania the lion passed behind our car and we got some amazing pictures.

Not long after gazing at the lioness we came to a monument which is the border between Tanzania and Kenya. We took a lot of photos and made videos of going either side of the border.

When looking at the hippos we saw some very colourful lizards that were basking in the sun and eventually going into the shade. We sadly didn't get good photos of the hippos that day.

For Logan seeing a crocodile was top on the 'must see' list. Because he really wanted to see one he commonly mistook lots of other things as crocodiles. A sandbank shadow was a crocodile, a rock was a crocodile, even an underwater hippo was a crocodile. So when Logan called "CROCODILE it really is one" everyone else in the vehicle didn't want to stop. So when he finally convinced them to stop, they were quite happy to see that it actually was a crocodile, a baby Nile crocodile. Just above the crocodile there was a dead hippo being eaten by a huge Monitor lizard. Sorry that we didn't get good photos of that but it looked quite a spectacle. 

We got very close up to a giraffe and this is an amazing photo of a giraffe.

We all took a break for lunch which was devoured quickly so we could get back out into the Mara and we were so hungry after all that driving. Just as we were about to go to the Mara again, the weather turned for the worse, so Judy and Max decided to stay behind. The rest of us put the weather aside because we wanted to see more animals. Luckily for us the rain stopped and we opened up the sun roofs. The anticipation of what we were going to see next was in the air and we were hoping that we would see a leopard or a rhinoceros. We got some good photos of buffalo and topi and then we saw the highlight of the day - a whole pride of lions.

We saw the big brother as seen below and sisters, mothers, even cute little lion cubs. They were so cute and funny to watch, they would wake up every other lion there and jump on each other and practice hunting skills. From a young age they already know how to bite the jugular, how to pounce and to stalk. Midway through our experience we saw and heard roaring where the mother and father were communicating. Just after that we saw the father lion and he showed us his big mane and teeth.

The sunset was beautiful and we had amazing dinner, a good devotion led by Judy and then a well deserved sleep.