Masai Mara - day 3

Our last full day here - what a day! We left camp at 6.15am to drive to the Mara River near Little Governors Camp which is where we were hoping to see the migration crossing on the wildebeest. On the way there we came across some lions that had just killed a wildebeest and were enjoying their meal - there were 3 lionesses and 9 cubs. Lionesses often jointly rear their cubs, with the cubs suckling from either mother and cohabiting as a group. 

It was wonderful to watch them in the early morning light, eating their kill with the cubs being very playful with each other. It was a very exciting way to start the day! I got some wonderful photos of all the cubs playing. I have blipped a shot of mum trying to eat her share of the kill while one of the cubs is trying to play with her by hitting her in the face!

After watching them for a long while, we then followed them as they moved off leaving the carcass for the waiting vultures. Then it got very exciting ... they started moving directly towards the cheetah we saw on our first day who has 3 cubs, one of them very weak from being attacked by an eagle. Next thing all the guides in the area, led by the owner of our camp, parked their vehicles in such a way as to cause the lions to veer off, away from the cheetah. Cheetahs are solitary cats and unlike lions, a female cheetah with cubs has no protection from a pride. This is one of the reasons why cheetahs are becoming endangered, whereas lions are plentiful in the Mara. (Another is due to inter-breeding they are more susceptible to disease) The cheetah was thankfully downwind from the lions so although she saw them, they did not notice her. 

We watched as the poor cheetah became visibly anxious with the approaching lions. As our guide explained to us, she was deciding whether to stay under the thicket protecting her cubs or to pick up one and make a run for it, sacrificing the other two.  Luckily all our vehicles managed to redirect the lions away from the poor cheetah. 

Then things kicked off a bit. There were 2 vehicles with film crew from National Geographic filming the cheetahs, and they started criticising Paul, (the owner of our camp) for 'playing God'. They were obviously keen to see the lions kill the cheetah and her cubs (which they definitely would have done if they had seen them, due to hierarchy order). Paul understands the way of things in the Mara very well and would do anything to prevent cheetahs from becoming endangered, so he responded by phoning the Conservancy manager as they were there with no permit and were not even allowed there, it being a private conservancy. The manager came and we left with them having a bit of a to do. I presume they were kicked off the conservancy. 

We stopped for a wonderful bush breakfast and then continued to the river, where our fantastic guide picked just the right spot for us to watch the crossing. He saw a herd on the other side of the river and knew they would cross, so we waited and watched as they edged towards the river and finally crossed. It was amazing to see. One of the first across was taken by a crocodile. The panic in their eyes is sad to see.  Later we found a cool spot under a tree by the river where we had our lunch, watching the crocodiles and hippos below us. 

We went back to the river edge to hopefully watch another crossing, and despite waiting for about 2 hours and the herd building up on the river bank, the crossing did not happen again due to some idiotic vehicles which came and parked in their way, putting them off crossing. We set off to go back to our camp and on the way our guide was radioed and told about a kill that had just happened. The lionesses brought the wildebeest down and then left it to their cubs to eat, but the wildebeest was still alive when they started eating it. It was pretty gruesome to watch, the wildebeest was grunting and kicking its legs while it was being eaten. This was a different pride of lions from the ones we saw this morning - 4 lionesses and 11 cubs. Mara is certainly abundant with lions - it's meant to be the best place in the world to see the big cats, and it certainly seems that way as we have seen lions every day.

We got home 13 hours after we set off this morning - a long day out. A quick bucket shower where I had to quickly wash and rinse my hair before the water finished, and then a lovely supper where the chef made me a gluten free cake for my birthday tomorrow.