Sunday we had our first full day in the country’s greatest game park. Sleeping in a tent in the Mara is an experience in itself. The constant sounds outside put your mind into a state of conflict over falling asleep or continuing to listen for more strange calls. I awoke this morning to sounds of a large-scale baboon fight not far away. “It’s okay,” the guides say, “the baboons can’t figure out how to open your tent’s zipper.” Then they erupt with laughter.
At 6:30 a.m. our Land Rovers set off into the Mara for the first of three game drives this day. I was hardly ready for what we experienced. Not only did we have large columns of elephants close to the truck, seemingly unbothered by it, but we saw them take in a whole meal of grass and water in the swampland where we parked. We also had close encounters with giraffes, spotted hyenas (including several youngsters), more baboons, jackals, mongooses, more hippos, warthogs, zebras, African buffalo, wildebeest, hartebeest, topi, impala, bushbucks, gazelles, waterbucks, egrets, ibises, cranes, eagles, Egyptian geese, bustards, vultures, plovers, hornbills, oxpeckers, starlings, weavers, and more crocodiles. I am not making this list exhaustive, either.
Two highlights set this day apart. In the morning, we came upon a pride of lions with the males absent but with a grouping of three sisters and a huge number of cubs and young adults. We watched them carefully for a while as they played, paced, got up and back down, and then eventually marched their way downfield, the whole procession moving a mile or so to a spot where they gazed across river at a herd of zebras. Seeing this whole pre-hunting reconnaissance was a fascinating operation, and the lions clearly could not have cared one iota about the Land Rovers — they walked right in front of them without a blink. In fact the guide told us they often use the trucks for cover in stalking prey.
Another highlight came later. We drove right up to a small mound — an old termite hill — on which sat a lady cheetah. She shooed the flies away, panted under the growing heat, and spied several gazelles at a watering hole a long distance away. The Thomson’s Gazelle is perhaps a cheetah’s favorite meal. She also didn’t care whether a truck full of people sat nearby. She kept looking at possible targets, stood up and walked around where the grass was high to hide herself, and contemplated the coming kill.
This day was a magnificent eye-opener to the reality of the African plains. Sunday night, under a crystal clear sky, we will observe the Southern Milky Way that is chock full of spectacular sights. I think I’ve found a new favorite place in the world.
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