After the previous day’s 0400 wake up, getting up at 0530 for and 0545 depart seemed pretty laid back. We had a quick coffee then it was off to the national park. The gateway congested due to a computer problem and we had a *lot* of opportunity to practice polite “no thank-you”’s while we waited.

Once inside the gate, we enjoyed watching the animals waking up on the Mara.

It took no time at all to find a pride of lions on a fresh zebra kill. There was mom and two aunties with three cubs literally climbing inside the carcass to snack.

The senior female was collared for tracking. Where she goes, the pride goes. The goal is conservation, but our guides were strongly opposed to this, having seen a cheetah killed because it’s prey got a horn hooked into the collar resulting in the car being trampled to death.

Of course, kittens are cute. But these were definitely death kittens.

One in particular was ferocious and turned his attention to me, practicing his (still cute and meow-like) “Rrawr!”

I had some nerves wondering if his attention to us would draw his mom or aunties as well, but happily he just wanted us to know he could kick our asses, then went on to making sure his auntie knew too. 

The cats drug their kill across the road and down into some bushes for a day of snacking and resting. 

We moved on, our goal in this last drive being watching a hunt.

We went looking for cheetah, coming across many reminders to the vegetarians to keep an eye out.

Such as these vultures sunning themselves on a wildebeest skull.

All this interspersed with delicacy and beauty.

Soon thereafter we came across an adolescent male lion wandering across the savannah.

He linked up with his sisters. Essentially, a hunting patrol.

They scanned, moved, approached prey … but were spotted. It was cool to watch them socializing and having lion conversation.

But eventually they found shade and went back to doing what lions do best.

We kept moving toward the Mara river, encountering warthog families and hyaena hanging out in puddles.

Eventually, we got to the river, and set up for breakfast. Heather and I had figured on being back at the lodge around 2 for lunch. The best laid plans…

The Mara River was bereft of wildebeest but choc-a-block with hippos, crocs, storks and heron.

And of course, I found a Siafu nest. They are insanely cool, building transit tunnels to keep the out of the heat even as they migrate nests.

The giraffe and zebra made up for the missing wildebeest.

I also was able to get some close up captures of an African Goose. 

We moved on from the river and saw more hyena, vulture, and an African walking hornbill.

I was also happy to get this capture of a wildebeest. It is a little mundane but shows off the beautiful striping on their necks. They are gorgeous, agile creatures even if not particularly bright around predators (Daniel joked that they are called “spare parts” by the guides).

We found yet more hyaena.

We went back to see if the hunting patrol was going to … well, hunt – but found them unrepentant in their relaxation.

Even the raptors were chill.

I was able to dismount and get a few macro shots in. The last time I had seen a fire lilly, there was a lion 20 feet away so I had to stay in the truck. This time I was able to get a few shots of this amazing flower, and a few others.

Then all hell broke loose. We had been watching the rain clouds build for a while and finally it was rip wide the sky. I asked Nicholas and Daniel to leave my flap up and got some “what the herds do when it rains.” 

Yes, it is mostly “stand there getting wet.” But also “move away from the rain.”

About this time we heard the back right tire losing air. But also about this time the roads were just rivers, and Nicholas pressed on in the rain, eventually coming up to a hill with a tree on it to change the tire.

But these dudes were already there. Known as the brothers, these not-actually-related Cheetahs hunt as a (very successful) team.

Big cats in the rain look just like cats in the rain, only bigger.

When the rain broke, they shook off. I was lucky enough to get each of them mid shake.

And then they took turns grooming each other. I love how social the big cats are.

Then the dominant cat walked right at us, walked to the front of the car and marked it (peed on it). One by one, the other three did the same thing. I didn’t get good shots of this partially because they were inside my camera’s focal range, but it was a very intense experience. 

I am now cheetah property- as I told a friend, if they call I have to bring gazelle or provide ear scritches. Fortunately, they didn’t get my number.

After marking us, they went on the hunt. This gave us some space to change the tire, which wasn’t without drama – the hi-lift jammed, and it took a bit of us all poking at it before it went down with a whooomph. Fortunately we were all keeping clear of the car and the jack for just that contingency. For a while, the wheels had literally come off on the Mara.

Good thing, too – the roads were still running like rivers, and even proper four wheel vehicles had serious fun getting around.

We caught up with the brothers on the road and followed them as they worked their way east.

They at turns stalked, strolled, marked territory, rolled around, sniffed things and played.

One cheetah had markedly lower status and got scolded for trying to hang with the in crowd.

Unfortunately the brothers were moving towards where the rains had come from, so there was just no prey… we watched and followed for over an hour, then scouted ahead to see if anything would be forthcoming.

Then we called it, another 12 hour day in the bank, and headed back to the lodge for our final night at Mara Bushtops.

On the way back we saw a pair of Ostrich, and a jackal.

We were also greeted warmly by some of the folks at the school associated to the lodge. Even on this trip, you could sense the truth in the statement that people come to Africa for the animals, but fall in love with the people.

Time to dry off and have some G&T.

For dinner, I had asked the chef to do something protein and veg and spiced like he would spice it. The curry prawn had had some amazing peppers and I had asked if this was spicy, and he said no. So I asked for something he would consider spicy.

He did not disappoint. After Manhattan’s by the fire, we settled in for our dinner and he brought this insane medley of fish, prawn, julienned veggies and oh-holy-cow spicy curry. 

Basically, the gauntlet went down, and he picked it up. I loved every bite, but oh-my-goodness the capsecin (and the endorphins). So so good.

Back to the room to pack up and be ready for our walking safari to the Maasai caves, scheduled for a very civilized 0715 start.

Took advantage of the clear sky and lack of light pollution to try some astro. Got just a hint of Jupiter’s clouds, my first shot of Saturn’s rings, and tried a simple 30 shot stack of the milky way over our tent.