Kenya - Masai Mara National Reserve

 We spent a day at the Masai Mara National Reserve and it was an eye-opener.  I have been warned before to expect ruthless driver/guides cutting off each other in their jeeps to jockey for positions but I couldn't believe what I saw when scores of jeeps surrounded a leopard and chased after it, almost running it over.   There were no rangers around to keep people in line.  It was a horrendous situation for the pair of leopards, hounded by these metal monsters.  I felt sorry we became unwittingly part of this circus.  It was our only encounter with leopards on this trip.

But there were wonderful moments when we saw the cheetah at a distance and the massive movement of the wildebeest migration - from the top of a hill, then beside us and then crossing in front of us. It gave me goose-pimples seeing this impressive gathering and moving in unison of these animals.  We did not see the river crossing but these are hard to time and it was not the sole purpose of our trip.  After seeing the frantic jockeying for positions at the river bank, I was almost relieved that there was no crossing and everyone left.  LIfe returned to normal and we went on to see other interesting things in the park.

Hyena cub seen on the way to the park

Hyena and cub

The entrance to the Mara National Reserve is right beside the river.

Line up to enter the park

Lion on a mount

The leopard hunt 

The leopard came out in between the vehicles towards us

Cheetah in hunting mode with flattened ears, just like a big cat

This marks the border between Kenya and Tanzania

Hippos and crocodiles in the river

Baboon on a mount

Seeing the wildebeest migration from atop a hill

 - little black dots on the savannah

Closer up

This was where we had hoped they would cross

Wildebeests closerup

The Marabou storks hang out with the wildebeests - here's one in close up mid flight

On our way to the National Reserve we pass by the town of Narok.  Some interesting shops there, including a Hard Rock Café!

Locals going to work

Going to school

Some of the pleasurable and memorable moments: picnic under a lone acacia tree

Watercolours in the making... 
Golden hour and gorgeous sunsets!

Namibia - Etosha National Park/Onguma Bush Camp

 Etosha National Park is one of the largest national parks in Africa, spanning 8,600 square miles and supposedly has four of the "Big Five".  We drove from the west entrance of the park to the east entrance in a full day drive, saw many springboks, zebras and elephants but didn't see any lions, leopards or rhinoceros.  No off road driving is allowed so we were dependent on the animals appearing beside the road or at the waterholes.  But we were lucky to see many young animals - guess it's the time of year that the babies are decent sizes and are easily visible.  

We exited the Park and spent two nights at Onguma Bush Camp, a conservancy not far from the east entrance of the Park.  We were fortunate enough to see a lion on a sundowner drive at this camp but no black rhinos or leopards.  That will have to wait for Kenya.  What was different at Onguma was that we spent a morning at a hide.  This is quite an elaborate setup as you can see from the photos below.  It is a new experience to be able to see wildlife so close without disturbing them although I think they are aware that we are watching them.  We saw lots of birds and of course each one we saw is a lifer since they are unique to the continent.

Zebra and foal

Foal nursing

Giraffe and young

Almost comical!

Foreplay

Yellow-billed Hornbill - one of the first birds I saw at the lodge

 

An Oryx - the only one we saw

First sighting of ostriches

Springboks locking horns seem to be a common sight.  

A lone acacia tree is also a common sight on the grasslands, both here and in Kenya.  This one has a weaver's nest.

Pale-chanting goshawk, one of many goshawks we saw.  
Always easy to spot as they like to perch on tree tops.

Kori Bustard

First wildebeest sighting

The fenced path to the hide

Inside the hide

The hide on the outside

The hide gave us an unusual viewpoint, basically we were below ground and shooting at ground level.   The photos below were taken from the hide.  You can see it is like having the camera on the ground in front of the elephants.  

This Southern Cordonbleu was right in front of our window

Warthog came for a drink

Eastern Paradise-Whydah  
Birds are a bit harder from below ground but at least we didn't scare them away.  



This White-backed vulture was picking branches from a bush in front of the hide to build its nest.

In the afternoon, we went for a sundowner drive on the property.  There was a big effort to look for rhinos, but to no avail. However there were lots to see.  We encountered this exceptionally spectacular bird, the Lilac-breasted roller, Namibia's national bird, beautifully lit in the golden hour.

 

This is how it got its name - it rolls when in flight.  I was lucky to catch the roll.

We were headed towards the sunset spot when our road was blocked by a couple of elephants in some kind of conflict - not sure what they were doing but the situation was a little tense, with them not budging and then turning around.  The guide did not want to risk an encounter so we backed off and found another route.  

We lucked out - a lion was sitting in the middle of this alternate route!  

We waited and it decided to walk away.

Our first lion

On the way back to the camp, we saw this elusive dik-dik, the smallest antelope

The dining room at the camp overlooks a pond that actually serves as a watering hole for the animals.  So we always took our cameras with us at meals because there was always something to photograph.  Below is a male kudu - our first sighting of a live kudu even though we had been trying its meat at various stops on our route.  It is quite delicious.  

Red-veined Dropwing dragonfly

Even an elephant dropped by in the blue hour

We enjoyed this beautiful sunset before we left Namibia.  We drove to Windhoek to catch our flight to Kenya via Johannesburg.  It was a six hour drive but thankfully on paved highway most of the time.  Farewell Namibia!