Crocodile Rock, Chapter 2

On the Egypt trip, I posted photos of mummified crocodiles and less-than-creatively entitled it "Crocodile Rock."  Hence adding the "Chapter 2" for this post. 

Robert brought us to the Mara River, promising hippos and crocodiles.  And he delivered.  There also were yellow-beaked storks, so that was an added bonus. 

The hippos were amazing to watch, but the crocodiles stole the show.  While we missed the kill, the thrashing and fighting over the waterbuck the crocodiles killed was amazing.  

Frankly, the pictures don't do it justice.  I wish I had a short video of it, because it was amazing to watch. It was the roughest fighting and thrashing involving the Mara since the 1970s feud between the Maras who each owned half of the New York football Giants.  Of course, back then, it was the fans who suffered.  This time, it was the waterbuck who suffered.  Or did it, as it was already dead before the show started. 

You would think the crocodile who killed the waterbuck would get the, um, lion's share of the meat, but crocs have no conscience.  

There are a lot more photos of the hippos than of the crocodiles because much of the croc fighting took place underwater, or too quickly for me to get a good shot.

Hippos show pink because their glands

produce mucus that acts as a sunblock.

The mucus turns reddish brown or even

pink upon exposure to the air.  It's also

believed the mucus acts as a antibiotic

for the cuts they have their skin.

A yellow-beaked stork.  They don't

mess around with names in Africa;

they call them as they see them.

Crocs.  And the unfortunate

waterbuck's horns.

A raft of hippos.

Crocodile taking a victory moment.

Masai Mara Animal List

Stat Boy is back!  With the leadership and initiative of Mrs. Iron Tourist, who compiled this list.  At Lewa, we saw 41 different species.  Masai Mara pulls out the victory in Kenya, as we spotted 48 different species there.  Here's the list:

Blue monkey

Red neck spa fowl

Marabou stork

Cape buffalo

Elephants

Hyena

Hippos

Giraffe Tobi

Brown neck eagle

Masai cows

Warthogs

Jackal

Wildebeest

Heart horn antelope

Zebra

Male lion

Vulture

Black bellied bustard

Grey kestrel

Nile monitor lizard

Common ostrich

Grey Heron

Egyptian geese

Black headed heron”

Hippo

Topi

African fish eagle

Thompson gazelle

Water plover

Impala

Secretary bird

Banded mongoose

Black faced monkey

Baboon

Serval cat

Browned neck snake eagle

Tawny eagle

Croc

Hippo

White tailed mongoose

Yellow billed stork

Tree Hyrax

Dik dik

Bat

Rabbit crab hare

Genet (Janet) cat

Night jay

Cheetah

For Being the King Of Beasts, They Sure Do A Lot Of Lion Around!

In the afterglow of back-to-back cheetahs, we were driving along another dirt track, when we spotted fresh tire tracks going off road.  That could only mean one thing -- big cats!  

There were no other safari vehicles in view, but Robert followed the tracks to two sleeping male lions under a tree.  We watched for a bit before moving on.  By that point other safari Land Rovers had caught on and were coming over.

Wayne's World: Extreme Close-up!

Apparently Cheetahs DO Prosper

In Lewa Conservancy (our first three days of safari), we saw one cheetah and one leopard.  I was hoping to have the same luck during our three days in Masai Mara with finding these two hard-to-spot big cats.  

Well, we never saw another leopard (that's not a complaint, just an observation), but on our last day in Masai Mara, we came across not one, not two, but three cheetahs.  And they weren't even that far apart.  

The first one was picking its way downhill until it got to the tree it wanted, and then plopped down to rest in the shade.  A nearby herd of gazelles looked nervously at the cheetah, trotting further away to provide more space between being dinner and being alive.

The other two were a short drive away, lying down and sleeping.  It's always a thrill to see one of the three big cats. . .but I never expected to see three cheetahs in the same half hour.

Cheetah on the move.  It even walks

with studied grace and power.

It got to the shade and 

plopped down for a rest.

These gazelles looked on nervously,

and then moved a bit further away.

And they kept on looking nervously.

The other cheetahs.  It was time

to let sleeping cheetahs lie.

Poser -- But In A Good Way

Here's three photos worth posting in-between the last post and the next post:

This may be a young male impala.  Or it

may well be some other type of antelope.

Why did I post the first AND second photos?

In this photo, he's turned and looking our way.

A random pic of African savanna with a

lone tree is always a good use of a blog.

 

"You got blood on your face, you big disgrace. Waving your banner all over the place."

Even with this trip completed, we've never had "a view to a kill."  But this was pretty close.  We came upon a pride of lionesses where one lioness was tearing apart and chomping down a recently-killed cape buffalo.  The rest of the lionesses were resting after eating by the water hole.

So in a way, they were able to "shuffle off to Buffalo, sit by the lake, and watch the world go by."

(Editor: Headline is a Queen lyric.  First sentence is a Duran Duran James Bond theme song.  Second paragraph is a John Fogerty lyric.  What?  You couldn't come up with a Kansas lyric?  Writer: Well, that buffalo, whilst dying, probably thought to itself, "All we are is dust in the wind.  Dust in the wind.")

As we sat in the jeeps on the dirt road just above the lioness who was chomping down on said cape buffalo.  I got say, I was thrilled to capture the blood on the face of the lioness who was eating.  And, as amazing as it is to listen to elephants and rhinos tear grasses out of the ground, hearing the ripping flesh of the buffalo as the lioness tucked into her meal was, in a weird way, life affirming (my life, not the cape buffalo's life because, well, he was dead, which precludes "life affirming.")

Driving off, around the a bend in the dirt road, we passed some more cape buffalo.  Others in the Land Rover thought those buffalo looked sad.  I thought they looked relieved it wasn't them being torn to bits by the water hole.  After all, it's the circle of life.

Click on the photo to get a better view

of the blood on her face, big disagrace.

Same for this picture.

She's full and walks away from

the cape buffalo below her feet.

A couple of already resting lionesses bask

in the glow of the kill. What Jim Valvano

 said about about the NCAA Tournament

also applies on the savanna of Africa:

"Survive and advance."

Near The Village, The Peaceful Village, The Lion Sleeps Tonight. . .Wee Heeheehee Weeoh Aweem Away

After the balloon ride, we landed and were take by jeep to a champagne breakfast.  About 60 people took balloons that morning, so there were five long tables set up, with plenty of food -- muffins, croissants, fruit, muesli, juices, and much more.  There was also an omelet station, and the traditional post-flight glasses of champagne. 

It was quite the post-flight fun.  Then Robert picked us up at the breakfast field, and we headed off on a morning game drive, extending the high we had from the balloon ride.

Very quickly, we came to some semi-snoozing lionesses and their cubs.  I say "semi-snoozing" because the cubs would climb all over sleeping moms and aunts, which the adult lionesses were clearly quite used to.  

Here's some lion photos, and then some post lion photos as well:

This one wasn't just lion

around, she was stretching.

Deep in conversation.

A bit of nuzzling going on.

Zebras on the march, heading

to the Serengati.

Zebras and elephants passing by.

Appears mom is teaching her 

young one some valuable skills.

Momma Warthog and her piglets.