September 14 – Masai Mara National Park

We had a not so long, very bumpy ride to the Masai Mara National Park.  Turns out it was only about a half hour from our camp.  There were a lot of Masai cattle (and other domestic animals) along the route.

We were met at the park gate by Solomon, our guide for the next few days.  The drive to our next camp, Little Governor’s, wasn’t too long.  In order to get to our camp, we walked down a couple flights of stairs to the river where we were met by a boatman who towed us across the small river.  

Then up the stairs and a short walk to the camp.  Along the way a guard spent a bit of time driving off some elephants so that it would be safe to get to camp.

We were there in time for lunch.  The camp is situated on a fairly large marsh...

and all of the 17 or so cabins are arranged in a long semi-circle facing the marsh.  We had lunch at a table right at the edge of the marsh and enjoyed watching the elephants,

warthogs,

and marsh birds for a while.

In the afternoon we did another game drive.  The usual animals…

Cape buffalo,

lions (lioness were relatively close to the road, the lion was a dark spot in the distance),

eland,

lots of topi,

zebras (walking in a line),

elephants,

hippos,

waterbucks,

and hyenas.

We spent a bit of time along the Mara River.

Birds we saw included:

Plover,

Yellow-billed Stork,

Grey Heron,

Plain Pipit,

and a Long-Crested Eagle.

Solomon spent a lot of time in some wooded areas looking for leopards but we never did see any.  We did see lots of birds.