Africa, Day 3: Masai Mara.

Today was a long driving day, but with the promise of another Game drive in the Masai Mara game park.

In the morning, all I did was take photos of the people I saw along the way.

These little boys were outside the place we stopped for a morning coffee. I bought a painting of some Masai warriors here. We’re seeing a Masai village tomorrow, so they say.

So many donkeys! I love how donkeys look.

We eventually arrived, after jolting along the worst roads I’ve ever experienced. Our drivers have all said that Landcruisers are unbreakable, and they’d have to be.

We drove in and the magic began to happen.

So many zebras. Look at how brown this baby is.

A hyena, so close to the road.

Then our driver suddenly floored it. We rounded a few bends, hanging on for dear life as we stood, then we saw a big clump of jeeps.

It was a pride of lions, next to a kill that they’d made yesterday.
The aroma was pretty rank, but who cared?

They were sated, sprawled out across the grass, uncaring that we were all so close. Occasionally, one would yawn, stretch out its legs and roll over.

A couple of lionesses and some cubs were still fooling around with the carcass.

I mean… are you kidding me? We could hear them breathing.

As we were there, word had spread over the short wave, and more jeeps pulled up.

I know I call myself Fortunate Frogdancer, and I’m obviously not deluding myself!

After a few minutes, we left so that other people could see them. The lions couldn’t have cared less. The sunset was beginning to appear.

Not five minutes later, we saw a small cat dart across the road and into the scrub. It was a Seville cat, and they mainly eat birds. It was so small compared to the lions.

I’m very proud of this shot. Everyone else in the jeep was stampeding over to get a copy.

Ostriches!

Thomson’s Gazelles were everywhere. Aren’t they beautiful?

And then, as if we weren’t spoiled enough, we came across this couple. They were on their honeymoon.

When lions hook up, they stay together for around a week, ignoring food and mating every 15 minutes. These two were exhausted, but they were still holding hands. After a minute or two we left them to it.

After all, dinner was waiting.

A silver backed jackal. It looks like it has a coat strapped around it.

What an amazing afternoon.

We have the whole day here tomorrow. Can’t wait to see what else we can see.

Dad Joke of the Day: