Maasai Mara (Day 3)

     Today was another all-day adventure drive in the park.  We did not see too many new animals, but we did see a lot of new animal behaviors and a number of beautiful landscapes.  Also, we did not anticipate a 5PM downpour - so getting back to the lodge at 4PM when everyone else was heading out was quite fortuitous.  This was not a small rain.  It was big rain.  Very heavy.  I asked the bartender if anyone was going to get trapped in the park.  He responded "Oh yes.  Very, very many."

     Highlights today:
     We saw an enormous male lion hiding in one foot of grass.  He stood, and then threw-up a hairball.  He sank back into the grass to nap and disappeared from view (again, in one foot of grass).
     We saw our first Banded Mongooses of the trip.  On three separate occasions today.  Sometimes new critters come in bunches.
     Two lions hiding in the grass.  They had been mating.  It was unclear if the male was still in pursuit (mating takes place over 2-3 days of near-continuous coupling, during which time they do not eat).  We did not witness any of those activities.  We witnessed the female deciding the episode was over, and that she was hungry.  She took off after a wildebeest (she did not catch it).
     We went to the river and saw more hippos and crocs.
     An ostrich sat in the road to dust, and to tried to impress his mate.  Another safari van became impatient and nearly rammed the bird, which ran off into the hillside.  Not nice.  This was a serious breach of etiquette (especially since the other driver knew we were filming and taking pictures of the bird he harassed).  Also, big letters when entering the park "Animals have the right of way."

     Tomorrow will be a travel day to Tanzania.  We will arrive midday and tranfer to a new guide/driver to see Serengeti/Ngorongoro-Crater and a few other places.

Some pictures from today:

Lion hiding in the brush (about 12 inches of grass)

 Stood up to emit a hairball

 Back down in the brush.  After he put down his head, it was again like the first photo.
Danger lurks in the grass. 

Lilac-breasted roller

 And in silhouette

African "sausage" tree

 Sausages

a Little Bee Eater bird

A mob of banded mongooses

Anteater chad (bird)

Elephants.  Elephants from the different areas are all the same species, but they can look very different.  The red elephants in Tsavo and the grey elephants here differ in the color of dust that they coat themselves with.

Another mob of mongooses, standing and watching for predators.

Mating pair of lions.  They were resting when we arrived.  This was the male laying/hiding in the grass.

 And awake and walking.

Female hiding in the grass.

 

After moving to a more comfortable area.

 Leaving her mate.

 Spotted a wildebeest and hiding out of its line of site.

A beautiful view from the Mara Lookout.  In a couple months, the plains will be filled with millions of wildebeest migrating up from the Serengeti. 

Jackson's Starling - iridescent blue.

Many, many hippos.

The slides are the paths the hippos take up  to graze the grassland above and to get return back to the water.  Seems steep for a multi-ton animal.

Crocs.

Ostrich pursuing its mate.  It decided to dust itself in the road, making quite the show, when it was nearly run down by another safari van.  Not cool.

 Running away, into the grassland.

Pumba!