Crowned for being the beacon of a classic African safari experience – world renown and and tagged as a good choice for finding ‘the big five’ and the infamous annual ‘Great Migration’ of wildebeest, zebra and a few others animals.

For anyone wondering what ‘the big five’ is all about – going back in history to earlier colonial hunting and poaching days – the five most difficult animals to hunt were glorified as ‘the big five’. Today this tag line remains celebrated as the five most sought after animals to spot on a safari game drive….buffalo, lion, leopard, black rhino and elephant.

As you can imagine, there are plenty of other animals and wildlife to be in awe of, including the popular cheetah, zebra, giraffe, along with smaller mammals like jackals, hyena, antelope and numerous bird species, the list goes on an on. 

There is a deep humbling peace that comes from being out in the middle of what seems like a forever-land of natural landscapes and wildlife, I couldn’t have been further from the rat race, and highly recommend any experience that make you feel like this.

By the time I got to the Mara it was toward the end of June. Early June is said to see the migrating herds setting off through the Serengeti (Tanzania), making their way up toward the  River Mara to cross over into Kenya – they usually arrive around June/July, stay until around Oct/Nov then make the crossing back down to Tanzania. 

Apparently, last year not as many animals made the migration journey. Wildebeest got confused due to changes in the weather patterns, leaving them not needing to move to greener pastures to graze.

On a normal migration approx half a million wildebeest die from exhaustion along the river – that’s how most of them die. Some that make it across decide to stay in the Mara and don’t bother migrating back to Tanzania.

This year I noticed a few news articles highlighting chaos caused by tourist vehicles interrupting the migration process (unwittingly perhaps).  In one case flooding meant wildebeest had to try and cross the river from a different point – but that was already blocked with tourist vehicles all waiting to take pictures…while another incident  saw fewer wildebeest able to cross due to tourist vehicles not leaving enough distance.

Tourist numbers are going up while the number of wildebeest successfully completing the migration is going down. There is growing pressure to find a way to manage this and prevent any further unnatural disruption to wildlife in these protected areas.

Nubian Vultures can live up to 70 years old, outliving most other birds in the savannah and they can go for months without food! Meanwhile, White Headed Vultures are endangered…due to some sort of poisoning, according to my game driver.

We spotted a type of antelope known as a ‘Giraffe Necked Antelope” because it looks similar to a giraffe….not as tall though!

Beautiful Cheetah on the Hunt

After strutting in and amongst lots of parked safari vehicles this cheetah spent a lot of time crouching down in the long grasses watching some potential ‘lunch’ several metres away…a gathering of grazing animals including impala and zebra.

The cheetah was edging closer to the animals, but they were clearly aware …..each one alerting the others. The zebra and impala were all stiffened, looking over, along with the other smaller animals, all sensing each others tension and ‘high alert’ body language.

We sat and watched for quite some time, hoping the cheetah would launch into a sprint, but it was coming up to around 30 mins and nothing had happened so we decided to move on.

Lion Sighting: King of the Savannah

We hear the term ‘King of the Jungle’ time and time again but in actual fact, lions don’t live in jungles!

This safari wasn’t a ‘jungle’ safari, it was savannahs and planes, rocky areas and woodlands. It would be tricky for lions to get a clear view of their prey in a jungle setting.

The lion sightings in the Mara were quite different to the one in Lake Nakuru. The Mara lions seemed to be hiding in and around trees and long grass away from the road tracks out of sight. We’d often strain to see them camouflaged into their surroundings.

Mud Bath

Down By The Mara River

From a Distance

Again, this is why a pair of binoculars is a must. Sometimes it looks like there’s nothing to see for miles, until you zoom in.

Death By Animal: Nearly!!

So on our final game drive just as we began the journey back to the lodge, my game driver (who I’ll refer to as Mr G), got out of the vehicle to close the pop up roof when it started raining.

We joked about whether he’d checked to make sure there weren’t any lions around before he jumped out!! On that note, he decided to share a couple of his near death experiences, the first one being with a lion….lets see if you can top these:

Eyes Watching You

Mr G was on a game drive and needed the loo. Yep, I think you probably know what’s coming. Mr G found a large mound, a termite mound, and stood behind it to relieve himself…..as he was doing so he noticed the head of a lion emerging from the other side – looking at him. Mr G said “you know what it’s like, once you’re in full flow you can’t stop – so I had to finish” meanwhile the lion was still looking at him.  The other safari vehicles nearby drove up as close to him/the lion as possible and he managed to make a safe dash back into his vehicle.

I must say, my tiredness during this trip wasn’t helped by the fact that I deliberately avoided drinking much water just before or during game drives….I didn’t want to be needing this type of toilet break!

Just in case you were wondering, the safari etiquette is that if there are any other vehicles around they’re not meant to drive near until you’ve finished – for women. Women usually go behind the vehicle and men in front….not that people necessarily follow this!!

Someone asked what would happen if a lion attacked someone ‘on a savanah toilet break’….would we just let nature take its course?  Mr G laughed slightly and said safari vehicles would drive up to/at the lion to try and scare if off.

Tense Standoff

In the second story, Mr G said he really thought he was going to die, and made peace with that at the time. He was on a mountain hike up Mount Kenya…..he was heading up to the next camp point ahead of a group that would be arriving the next day. High up on a very narrow winding cliff edge pathway Mr G was climbing upward when he suddenly saw a herd of elephants charging down toward him.

Mr G and the elephants were just as startled by each other. The lead elephant stopped still when it spotted Mr G and all the elephants behind stopped as well. There was a momentary standoff and the elephant shook its trunk at him, he stayed still. Mr G said he stood his ground and tried not to show any fear.

Eventually the lead elephant started moving down the path toward him while the others followed. This was when Mr G though his time was up. Even if the elephants wanted to avoid him, the path was so narrow he didn’t think it was possible. Mr G said he pushed himself with his back against the side as much as he possibly could – he said it was wet and the elephants were slipping and sliding as they came down the narrow path. By some Godly miracle they avoided trampling him. 🙏

“Everyone in our line of work has some stories to tell…no big deal” he said, he knows people who’ve shared rooms with snakes!

If you’re confronted by a leopard, you don’t stay still you need to run apparently! Other animals  – get a stick or something to make you look bigger and taller, that helps.

Some elephants are mountainous and live in caves…I never knew that!!

Mysterious Disappearance

Mr G also told us about the widely documented case of a rich man’s daughter going missing in the Masai Mara National Park in 1988…28 year old British woman, Julie Ward. Mr G’s account was that she refused the offer of an experienced game driver and decided to drive herself into the park and was never seen again. “Google maps won’t work in the Masai Mara” he said, you need to know what you’re doing and be familiar with the routes.

The gates close at a certain time each day and nobody is going to find you if you get lost….it’s too vast to do a once over before closing time!! Mr G said there are areas like dipping valleys where the naked eye wouldn’t even see a vehicle if it had ventured into those regions.

To this day the woman’s body has never been found, he said.

I did a quick search on this and it seems like there are a few different versions of the story – some speculate fowl play, given her connections ….and some say remains of her body were found, indicating human inflicted violence, others say she was taken by animals, probably hyena. Her father spared no expense to try and recover her body and investigate the case.

Whatever the truth behind this story, it’s deeply saddening.

I also came across stories of local ‘illegal fishermen’ going missing on Lake Nakuru.

I doubt many tourists would be brave enough to go venturing into these safari National Parks alone…it’s just not worth the risk in the bigger parks….though I did watch a few Youtubers filming themselves doing ‘self-drives’ in normal looking cars (not the big powerful Toyota land cruisers), yikes!!!

More Game Drive Sightings

There is a reason why fires are started strategically in some areas of the Masai Mara, I think it was partly to reduce some of the long grasses and to encourage fresh growth.

Sopa Lodge Masai Mara: Quick Look

“You can see giraffes, zebras and different types of antelopes grazing within the property at any time of day…I had zebras feeding not too far from my room again!

My game driver warned us that we shouldn’t walk around the resort at night unaccompanied but the staff seemed to brush this off and said it was fine, no need to worry….to and from your room to the main building at least.

I must say – these rooms were adjoining in pairs and the dividing wall was paper thin….so the couple next door to me coughing and arguing wasn’t great fun to listen to….make sure you have headphones/earplugs.

Now for the long road trip back to Nairobi!