Damn you, Mara

 21 Jan 2024

Damn you, Mara, you did it again.  Why oh why are the last few game drives so.damn.good?  If I was even remotely on the fence about coming back next year, I’m definitely not now.  Let’s start from the beginning…

It only rained until about 11:30.  I heard it stop and didn’t hear it again all night.  I only heard lions once, and very far off in the distance.  Between wet grass and puddly roads and an overcast start, I wasn’t holding out a lot of hope.

I was up and finished packing by 5:30.  Got my wake up coffee at 5:45 and in the truck with Twala by 6:00.  Except he got there early and another vehicle parked in front of us, and I had to wait for some extremely nice but incredibly slow elderly folk from the UK to get situated in their vehicle.  As soon as they did, we were off and passed them pretty quickly as this was their first official game drive and they were stopping for everything.  As you do.

Our plan today was for cats, but I had no particular order or preference.  I’d have loved to see the big pride we left last night and Twala was on the phone to the rangers to see if he could find them.  They hadn’t seen them yet.

A very very tiny hippo and its enormous (comparatively) mother were off to our left and I commented on how tiny the hippo was.  Twala stopped and we looked at it.  The slow folks were still in front of us and taking longer to appreciate the hippo.  Twala started the vehicle and just as he did, we hear a lion roar incredibly close, like mere yards away.  I said “did you hear that?”  He said “yeah, which direction?”  I pointed to 1:00 (whale watching style, you guide people to a sighting by the face of a clock, with noon being straight ahead).  He agreed and we turned into the next bunch of bushes to find the three little cubs and two lionesses from yesterday (with the dead zebra) as well as their dad who is one of the Koka boys.  (Actually all three of the Koka boys are probably the cubs’ dad since the lionesses mated with them all, so who knows for sure).

One of the moms was inside with the zebra leftovers.  The other mom was just at the edge of the opening to the bush with the little two month old cubs.  Problem was, it was still way before sunrise and pretty dark.  I didn’t even attempt photos at first.  And then as we got more light over the course of 20 minutes or so, I threw the ISO on my camera up to about 32000 and fired away.  Those shots came out looking like daylight.  Who knows how good they’ll be on a big screen or as an enlarged print, but I just wanted photos of the little ones.

I could sit and listen to lion cubs chirp all day long.  It’s the cutest sound and they always seem so happy or playful when they do it.  The male caught sight of another female and ran toward her, which irritated the female with the cubs.  She went charging after him a bit, but then retreated to the cubs again.  The other female kept eating the zebra.

There were now about 8 cars around this sighting and I felt bad (limit is 5).  I told Twala we could go back to whatever he had planned and check on them later since they were so close to camp.  So off we went. 

We looped around the area where we left the big pride.  No luck.  It was pretty quiet for most everything actually.  Then we crested a hill and saw two vehicles near an acacia.  I figured leopard and I was right.  One of the cars was a ranger, so crowd control would be a must here.  It was the leopard known as Spot or Nolari.  She was sprawled over a tree branch, with paws dangling over either side as leopards do.  We pulled up on the best side and just sort of hung out until she moved.  Then the other vehicles started to come, so the 5 observing rule was in motion and there was a line of vehicles a bit away from her waiting to swap in. 

Nolari moved up further into the tree where she’d stashed a warthog kill and started crunching.  I could see a bit more of her face as she occasionally raised it to take a breath from eating.  I got a few good photos that way but I really wanted to see her come down the tree.  Then the rangers asked us to swap out, fair enough.  Twala moved us so I had full view on the most likely side of the tree she’d come down, but also far enough away to please the rangers.

She moved again to another part of the tree to finish off the warthog head (this would become a theme, stay tuned).  That took a little longer.  Then she emerged from any greenery to roost at the point where the branches met the trunk of the tree and she cleaned herself.  As cats do.  No different than any house cat I know!

I was ready with the camera, checked the settings and the focus, set it to multiple-shots and off we went.  She hesitated on the first few steps that allowed me to grab focus and down she went.  I think I may have pulled that off. They look good on the camera screen, especially the last few as she hit the ground.

Twala’s first observation, “she looks pregnant”.  How good would it be to have another cute leopard cub around?  She started to look in one direction, away from us.  Then Twala put the vehicle in gear and passed the other vehicles still sitting and watching her.  He somehow aligned me just right so she was walking right at me as she headed for the bushes.  It was about as good as it gets.  He’s been really good with helping me with photos this trip, and by the looks of what I’ve seen so far, it’s paid off.

Once she disappeared, a couple in another vehicle yelled my name and it was Celia and Nigel (of the mountain hike walk at Lewa fame).  They are at another camp here and recognized me.  They were so sweet.  Their driver came over to us so we could chat.

On 

Next up we were headed for bush breakfast with the hopes that maybe the big pride surfaced again when we came across two more vehicles from other camps that were stuck in the mud.  Both were pretty hopeless looking but Twala stopped and advised and ultimately pulled one out.  He tried to get the other out but the right front tire was almost entirely immersed.  He said they’d need the conservancy’s heavy equipment to get it out.

Then as an unexpected bonus, we passed Nashipae and the cubs again. They’d moved from where they were usually found and were sleeping right out on an open plain, no bushes or trees around at all, and just off the road.  Since they were sleeping and no one else was around, we went off to eat.  

We had a nice chat as always, plenty of laughs.  Same breakfast as previous days.  I will miss those chocolate granola bars!

Then we passed back by Nashipae and they were all awake AND PLAYING!  I was over the moon.  We must have watched them for 45 minutes.  I took an embarrassingly large number of shots today (1500+) using the multi-shot for the leopard and them.  They were just so cute and they have their own little chirp which is just as fun to listen to.

It is really neat to see how play mimics hunting and killing and how serious they get about it.   Not only were they piling on each other and roughhousing but they’d also turn to their mom and start play attacking her.  It really was precious to see how patient she is with them.  I don’t know how she does it!  When they’re up and full of energy, they’re really a handful!!

It was starting to near the bewitching hour. Twala got word that my flight had been moved earlier, so I had to leave camp by 2:20 for a 2:45 flight.  We had time to check out the lion cubs near camp one more time but when we got there, only the big pride male was there, gnawing the face off the zebra head that was left for him.  It was both gruesome and fascinating how he got ever last bit of nourishment off the zebra.  At one point the zebra teeth were pointed up as if smiling at the whole process, which again is sort of funeral home humor.

What we didn’t fully appreciate when we stopped in front of said lion was that we’d stopped in big muddy puddle.  We were face first into a bush, so not a lot of room to go that way.  Twala was spinning tires and lurching back and forth hoping to get some purchase. Another of our camp’s vehicles sat nearby.  Mud was absolutely raining in the open roof and the side windows.  I tried my best to stay clean, to no avail.  After only a couple of minutes, we lurched free.  The big old lion kept eating the zebra head the entire time.

Lunch today was great.  They had fish sticks made with red snapper, veggie fritters that were excellent, a tomato, cucumber, feta and dill salad and a mango custard for dessert.  I had my last Stoney Tangawizi until next time.

Twala came for me at 2:20 and by then the rain had started.  It wasn’t as hard as last night but still a pain.  And I didn’t get to see my last views of the Mara with my own eyes but rather through the filmy plastic window coverings meant to keep me dry.

I always find the airstrip goodbyes hard, especially when I’m leaving for good.  I like my guides a lot, especially Peter and Twala, so it’s probably better that it happen quickly so I don’t get mushy.  The plane was already there so I ran behind him through about 4” of standing water (not kidding) and said a quick goodbye after he loaded my luggage.  I’ll miss him, but I’ll be back.

There were four other stops in the Mara before we headed to Nairobi, and none of them had rain.  Maybe Naboisho was crying because I’m going.

Once I got over my liftoff tears, I started to pay attention to the landscape below me, and noticed giraffes, gazelle, wildebeest, buffalo and even a few elephants (I’d seen none at all in the Mara on this trip…Twala said they go to higher, rockier terrain when it’s this wet).  I was back in Nairobi by 5:00 and at the hotel by 5:30.  Dinner and a shower before I head to the airport at 9:00.

A few quick thoughts before I head home….

I’m not done with safari, no more than safari is done with me.  Anita said to me one night “maybe this is the only place you are the real you.”  And the more I think about it, I think she might be right.

I was utterly blessed with weather.  I worried nonstop about it as I saw more photos and reports from here.  To make it the entire trip until last night without any serious rain is an absolute blessing.  I’m beyond grateful.

I have far too many highlights.  The guys who drove me to my day room hotel at the airport asked, and I have too many to pick one.  Of course the cats…every interaction was incredible.  But the rhinos were great, the scents of Lewa were so memorable.  All the landscapes, all the special people. 

I’m so incredibly lucky.