September 12 – Mara North Conservancy

Another early morning drive and we found the same three lionesses and their seven cubs.  Not quite as great a viewing time as yesterday but still really good.  The male lion was also present, which he had not been in the previous encounters with this group.

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Video of Lion cubs at play 1
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Video of Lions - Dad's turn
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Video of lion cubs at play 2
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Video of Ever vigilant mom
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We saw a jackal trotting down the dirt road…don’t see them too often.

We see Thompson Gazelles often.  Their tails seem to constantly be swinging back and forth.

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Watch-the-tails--Thompson-Gazelles
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We were on the lookout for leopards today but had no luck.  But we did see a couple of brother cheetahs that were on the hunt.  We didn’t see the hunt (they disappeared into the brush) but we heard later that they had had a successful kill.

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More Cheetah Brothers 
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Video of Cheetahs
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We didn’t see a huge amount of animals this morning (aside from the lions and the cheetahs)…it was pretty quiet.  But the vast Mara is beautiful.

 Mid-morning we stopped at the top of the hill where they had set up a private full breakfast for us.  What views and what a treat.

In the valley below our breakfast site we could see a Maasai village.  

We made our way down there where we were greeted by a guide and the village chief.  

This was followed by a number of women coming out to sing a welcome song.

The singing and dancing continued inside 

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Video of Maasai welcome song
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where Mary joined in.

The guide told us about the division of labor and showed us how them make fire.  The same as the Aboriginals in Australia and the Batwa in Uganda…basically rubbing two pieces of wood together.  Their starting material is elephant dung (that contains lots of vegetable matter).

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Video of making fire
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The compound is a ring of huts that are surrounded by a wall of shrubbery (to keep the wild animals out) with small animal enclosures (for calves) between the hut and the wall. 

We also got to visit one of the houses.  The house has a small gate in the “front hall” where very young calves are placed (it opens into a small, penned area in back of the house).  There is one large area with two sleeping nooks containing beds.  The large bed is for the parents and the small one is for all the children.  In the center was a small kitchen area and a bench for sitting.  Around one corner was the “guest room”.  The only light was one electric light in the middle and a small hole in the wall to let in light and let smoke escape.  There are no bathrooms.  They just go out into the bush.

The Maasai man often have more than one wife and each wife has her own house (the women construct the houses).  The framework of the houses are of sticks and small logs covered with mud.  The houses are placed in a large circle that is enclosed by a fence of sticks/branches and such.  At night all of the cattle are brought into the enclosed circle for protection.  In the morning they are milked and let out (and then the entire area has to be cleaned of manure).

Pretty basic living.

Our guide, Dennis, with his mother and the village chief.

The women of the village set up their wares.  We looked everything over and Mary bought a couple of key chains made of bone. 

Other animals we saw this morning:

Guinea Fowl

more Wildebeests

and Giraffes.

We were back in camp for lunch...the waterhole on the river was doing a good business as usual.

This is a map of the conservancy.

Our afternoon safari started an hour later and lasted longer so that we could do a night safari.  We spent time looking for the elusive leopard, again with no luck.  About sundown we stopped for snacks and headed out.  Dennis had brought on Joseph, a young man enrolled in the Karen Blixen culinary school.  Joseph road shotgun armed with a red light.  The red light is less disorienting to the animals than the regular white light...and the photos turned out red.

We had a nice sunset.

It was a very quiet night and we saw very little.  We did see a hare (gone quickly) and a white‑ tailed mongoose (gone even more quickly).  

We saw hyenas with cubs.  The photos weren't great but at least you can tell what they are.

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Video of hyenas
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We also saw a Martial Eagle.

The only other thing we were able to get a photo of was the Kenya Kangaroo…real name is Springhare.  It is a nocturnal rodent that looks like the cross between a rabbit and a kangaroo.  And it moves like a kangaroo…jumping using it’s hind feet. 

It was a late dinner that night and then bed as we will be up again very early tomorrow.