Today we set out at 6:45 am for a 9 hour (!!) safari. Our camp is located about 4 km from the Mara and it takes about 20 minutes (and lots of crazy roads) to get there... including over a super deep river bed. Which today we got stuck in. With our back tire about a foot off the ground. So what was our super awesome tour guide's reaction? Completely even keel, he found a few large rocks, placed them under the tire, asked us to sit on that side of the truck, and we were able to drive off, no problems! Pretty awesome!
From there we headed into the Mara for a full day's game drive. We started with seeing some monkeys, zebras, gazelles, and giraffes...and then headed to the most awesome sighting...
A cheetah. In a tree. About 15 feet away from us. It was beyond incredible!!
The second photo above doesn't have any zoom on it. THAT'S how close we were. It was seriously amazing. The cheetah just kinda hung around on the tree, scoping out the food situation... it also looked slightly apprehensive to get down.
James (our guide) told us that because cheetahs rely on their speed to kill prey, they have to be very careful when they climb trees because with one bad jump they could break a leg, which could end up being fatal. So we hung out with our cheetah until he finally jumped down and sauntered off into the grass.
After that, we went in search of elephants. And boy did we find one! In the road only about 20 feet in front of us!
Next we went to a lookout point where we could see a large section of the Mara. It had beautiful landscapes and we were able to stop for a few photos.
With our amazing tour guide, James!
After the river we were lucky enough to stumble upon 2 lionesses finishing off their lunch! One of the guides speculated that it was a warthog. YUM! (Sorry Pumpaa :( lol). We then watched as one of the lionesses (who was pregnant) stalked off into the tall grass, seemingly in search of food. We stuck with her for a while before heading on to search for THE ELUSIVE CAT - THE LEOPARD!
We had asked James what his favorite animal was and he responded the leopard, which are called "the elusive cat" because they are one of the most difficult animals to find in the Mara. So we were determined to help him find one (and see one ourselves)! We set out on about a two hour search. Along the way we uncovered leopard tracks, as well as a carcass in a tree (their hunting strategy is bring their kills back into trees so that other animals won't disturb them when they are eating). But alas, no elusive cat. But we are hopeful to see one in the next 3 weeks!
On our way out of the park we saw a bunch of giraffes together, including several young males, who play with one another by hitting their heads on their friends' backs. It's more than a little amusing to watch :-p.
As we continued to drive on, we encountered the same packs of cheetahs and lions with their cubs that we had seen yesterday as it began to rain pretty hard (fortunately we were almost done for the day). Yet as we were almost back at the park entrance, our truck hit a HUGE bump and lost some of the shocks on one of our tires! We headed to the mechanic and, while we waited, met our hosts, Ken and Marie, at the local bar.
After fixing the car we went back to camp, took some HOT showers (which were pretty fab), watched the sunset, and ate dinner.
After dinner, James (who is also a photographer! hooray!) showed us some of the amazing pictures that he has taken as a guide over the last few years. It was awesome to see some of the incredible things he has seen as a guide including kills, mating lions, and animals fighting with one another, in addition to all the day to day beauty of the Mara.
Around 9:30 pm we headed to bed, celebrating the ringing in of 2016 in our own way, fast asleep after a fabulous finish to 2015 :)
Jess' and Jon's highlight of the day: cheetah in a tree!!
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