After a long day of travel out of Tanzania and back into Kenya, John met us at the Keekorok air strip in the Masai Mara. It was about 12 km to the Sopa Lodge where were to spend the rest of our adventure, and John turned the drive into a mini safari - complete with cheetah viewing.
During the drive to Sopa we passed a Sausage Tree (Kigelia). The fruit, or "sausages" of the tree are used by local tribesmen to make an alcoholic drink rumored to be potent. Since this tree was at a central and pivotal point in the weeks travels, we would see it quite frequently.
We arrived at the Sopa in early evening, got checked into the hotel, and rested a bit before the evenings festivities. It was New Years Eve, and lodge personnel were attempting to get haggard safarians into a party mood (a parody of Manilow's "Copa" jumps to mind). It was completely lost on our group as were were tired from the days travels, and I'm pretty sure that we were all in bed by 10pm. The Sopa Lodge was quite nice, and had a Maasai village inspired ambiance; although, it was not one of the Serena's and we noticed (from the standpoint of service delivery). Never-the-less, we enjoyed our visit there. The pool was pretty cool, and Jess did go swimming one of the days we were at the Sopa, but she could not coax dad into getting into the water.
The Masai Mara is the Kenyan side of the Serengeti, and it is comprised of hills separated by savanna. The hills are covered in brush and larger trees - good leopard coverage. The lodge was on the side of one of the hills, and you had to drive through a number of Maasai cattle herds to get there. Also, it is fascinating that in Africa, India, and Nepal (those countries we have visited while we are on our Indian adventure), that the road that connects the lodge or hotel to the nearest public thoroughfare is the most rough and tumble bit of earth, bumps, and potholes to be found in those parts, and the road to the Sopa lodge was no different. Each day we were in the Mara, we had some rain, and during the night, sometimes that rain was quite significant. Soil moves around in Africa - erosion is a huge problem from what we could see, and this road up to the lodge moved around daily.
Day 8 - Jan 1 - Mara Morning Safari (MapMyRide)
Since it was New Years Day, we convinced John that leaving at 8am and returning for lunch would be much more civilized than leaving at 7 am and returning for breakfast. Our futures are determined by the choices we make, and that choice turned out to be rather prescient as we shall see.
Heading down the road from the Sopa towards the main road, if we dare call it such a thing, we spotted some Kirk'sDik-Dik, which are kinda rare to actually see. The next attraction was to witness two male Impala dueling for the ladies. We watched the impala for about 10 minutes while they locked horns and tore up the earth. We were introduced to Hartebeest and Topi, which we would see frequently during the next three days. Also, we encountered a family of Warthog grazing in the sweet grasses. The little ones where prancing about doing what children do while their parents are engaged in boring stuff.
Around the corner found a small herd of Waterbuck. The male was herding up females and giving them a good sniff to check the "timing". There had been a report on driver-net (shortwave radios used by all the drivers) of a waterbuck kill in a tree, which implies that we might be able to see a leopard. So, we left the rutting buck and headed up the hill towards the tree with the kill in it.
Arriving at the leopard kill in the tree, we noticed that it was a fresh kill. No other drivers were in the area at the moment, but the leopard had already been spooked and was gone. We would re-visit the tree on our way back to the lodge for lunch - only to find that some Tawny Eagles were enjoying a free meal.
The birds we discovered during the morning excursion were the Secretary Bird, the Ground Hornbill, Bare Faced Go-Away Bird (Turaco), Lilac Breasted Roller, and we encountered previously viewed Vulture, Tawney Eagle, Marabu Stork, and a host of DLBB (drab little brown birds). While everyone else was studying the Ground Hornbills walking around with captured food in their mouths (lizards, snakes, frogs), Larrie was scanning with the binoculars to see what else was interesting. A close by flying raptor was spotted and tracked. The bird appeared to be a Tawny Eagle, and Larrie thought it might point to where on the starboard side of the vehicle the leopard kill tree was. Continuing to watch, it appeared as though the bird was losing altitude a bit too quickly, when the bird flew headlong into a bush in a rocky outcropping. The bush exploded with rabbits going every which direction. Presumably, the eagle was in the bush with a rabbit, but it was not seen again.
We continued on down to the air strip for a potty break, and then we headed up into the hills on the West side of the road. John spotted a lioness lounging in the grass at the edge of the trees about 75 m to our left. Always on the lookout for the next thing, Larrie again scouted around for other species of interest, and spotting a Black Rhino moving through the trees behind the lioness, he pointed the rhino out to John. Quickly, we were off tracking the animal to see if we could get some close up viewing. We back tracked around the trees to encircle the trees. Sure enough, the rhino was moving out of the trees onto the plain on the other side. John stayed with him, and we got some excellent pictures of this most endangered beast.
As we left the rhino, we spotted a giraffe in the trees, and John continued on his cross country track, where after seeing quite a number of common animals we encountered a large male and female lion honeymooning in the grass close to the road. Other vehicles had gathered, so we took turns getting good close up pictures. Leaving the love lorn, and just a short distance down the road, John had spotted a water bottle at the side, and he was stopping to pick it up when we noticed another lioness lounging under a bush within 5 m of the bottle. We casually mentioned to John that he might want to re-think getting out of the vehicle to pick up the trash so close to a lion. He was completely surprised by his gaff. As we were all enjoying a good laugh, we noticed the wildebeest carcase under the bush just in front of the lioness. Double jeopardy trying to pick up the trash - some days, it just has be let alone.
Ok, by this time we were getting hungry. The three hour tour was now four, and we were ready to hang on the feed bags. So, John turned towards the lodge. We were about 35 km out into the bush, so we knew it would take a bit to get back. When we were within 10 km John spotted a spiraling column of vultures. As he pointed this out to us, he commented that it generally meant a fresh kill on the ground, and he left the road to go investigate. Arriving at the scene, all that was left of the impala was horns, skull, and a bit of spine. Several vultures were on the ground cleaning up the nasty bits. John then began to drive around, and he finally commented that he was looking for cats lounging under a bush. He further explained that well fed cats lie down close to the kill. Within minutes he spotted what he was looking for - two, very well fed and cleaned up, cheetahs were enjoying the canopy of two interlocking bushes. Laying there, sated, they allowed us to within 10m for pictures. We circled around to the other side of the bushes for a different angle of the cats.
Needless to say, seeing the cheetahs was the highlight of the morning. Forgetting our hunger we all enjoyed the sight. Alli and Pam were fervently clicking away when Alli's camera chip filled up. In her haste to change it out, she bent a pin that the CF card seats into. The camera was now disabled, and while we tried to straighten out the pin to get the card seated, we were unsuccessful. The lessons learned from this experience are 1) do not purchase a camera with CF card technology, 2) having said technology, take your time changing the chip, 3) buy a really big chip so you don't ever have to change it.
The highs and lows of life hit equally hard. We proceeded back to the lodge for lunch, beers, and reliving the morning.
Day 8 - Jan 1 - Mara Evening Safari (MapMyRide)
It was drizzly, which generally signals bad safari conditions. Ignoring general wisdom, we headed out. However, we quickly realized our enthusiasm did outweigh reality, and we returned to the lodge. We had a big trip the following day, and everyone wanted to get some rest and hot food.
Day 9 - Jan 2 - Mara River Safari (MapMyRide)
Oh, what a day! This day just could not be topped, and it just kept getting better until it culminated in our National Geographic moment that we have talked about since our return home with whomever will listen. Astounding!
The day was a full day excursion to the Mara River and back. The Mara is the river where wildebeests have to cross a river during their annual migration, and the crocodiles get fed - "as seen on TV". We set out early replete with lunch boxes traveling the now familiar track taking us towards Keekorok air strip - pausing only shortly to get pictures of the skittish and elusive Dik-Diks. Since this was familiar ground, we traveled quickly. The sky was broken clouds, and the lodge area got significant rain while we seemed to stay just out of the rain all day and enjoyed some of the most wonderful weather of the trip. Gentle breezes blew the fresh air though us.
About a third of the way to the river, John spotted a couple of vehicles off the road to the right. It took us a bit to find an access over the berm at that side of the road before we could go investigate. Bouncing over the berm we continued down through the grass to see a whole pride of lions basking in the sunshine. There were 18 of them, males, females, and cubs - what a treat. For those of our readers who have cats, you can imagine the scene as they languidly lounged and as reported in Alli's previous post to the Tabbies. Since we were truly off road, we had to obey the rules of the range - off road travel only allows for 5 minute stops. So, we had to leave the lions before anyone was ready, but we would see them again that day on our return trip to the lodge.
Continuing on toward the Mara we spotted a herd of elephants very close to the road. There were three young ones - of which was only about a month old; what fun to watch a family of jumbos interact in a family situation.
Arriving at the Mara, we stopped for a potty break at the river ranger station where John negotiated the price of an armed guard to walk us around the rim of the river. Also, the ranger station demarcates a jurisdiction change withing the reserve - one of the oversight tribes ends and another tribe begins. So, John had to get a different pass allowing us to cross into the other side of the reserve.
Two bridges across the Mara - a higher, and older steel structure, and a lower concrete structure. The steel bridge has some load limits. We entered the ranger station area across the steel bridge, and we backtracked across it to do the river rim walk. We returned to the ranger area across the concrete bridge. Now, while you're wondering why I spending all these words describing this scene, permit me to explain. When we crossed the concrete bridge the water level of the bridge was two feet below the surface of the bridge. As we were leaving the area to return to the lodge at the end of the day, the water level had risen and was now crested the concrete bridge with one foot of water - the river had risen four feet in 2 hours, and it was roiling and boiling brown liquid earth. Somewhere, some significant rain had fallen, and since most of us were from Minnesota, we were glad to be on the lodge side of the old steel bridge.
The armed guard walked us around the rim of the river to see the hippos and Nile Crocodiles in the river. Both of these species are very unpredictable, hence the need for an armed guard. We never felt threatened, but you never know, not to mention the lion paw prints in the mud. It was nice to get to stretch our legs, and Jessie enjoyed the opportunity to bounce around. The hippos slept on the sand bars at rivers edge, surfaced and submerged in the river, and the crocs were working on their tans in the sun; so, all was peaceful on the Mara that day. One note about river hippos - In the Amboseli report we reported that wild hippos are buff. Well, it might be that savanna hippos are buff, but river hippos are like zoo hippos - blubber butts!
Leaving the river, crossing back to the ranger station, we passed through the gate into the other section of the reserve. John had arranged for us to go up the hill a few Km, and to eat our lunch under a tree. A most beautiful place! Larrie indicated that if Alli wanted to, she could dispose of his remains here. It was peaceful, a full and big sky vis-a-vis Montana. Clouds scudded through the sunlight, and a gentle breeze kept our olfactory's cleansed and the grasses swaying. Off in the distance elephant gently grazed. Lunchtime was too short that day! John had sprung for beers (Thanks. John!), and so we ate, experienced, and washed it all down with a cold Tusker. Life is truly too short.
Lunch was the distal point of the Mara trip, so we loaded up and headed back on the same track to the lodge. We stopped at the Mara river ranger station for a potty break, which is when we noticed how the river had risen. Again, we loaded up and pressed onward.
The elephant herd had moved a bit, and the lion pride had crossed the road and was now occupying some high ground. It was later in the day, and they were hungry - 22 lions (four more were visible) is a lot of mouths to feed. Most of them lounged, and a couple of lionesses, sitting on top of termite mounds, were actively scanning the lowlands for prey. As we approached the air strip area, we noticed some vehicles on the other side of some trees. John decided we should see what was up. Oh, my!
Arriving on the scene where several vehicles occupied the road, we noticed the object of their attention - a leopard in the grass. Leopards are pretty elusive cats, and we had been unsuccessfully stalking them for several days. The leopard was 30 m in front of us in the grass. Its back was to us, and it laid down in the grass seemingly to take a nap. We decided to wait a bit to see if we could get better pictures, including a face shot. While we were waiting, Larrie noticed a baboon up in a tree close to us, and that there was something very big violently shaking branches in a huge big tree about 100m in front of us. John indicated baboons were in the far tree. However, it must have a really big baboon as that branch was rocking and rolling. We were about to find out just how big.
Continuing to watch the leopard as it raised up to look around, we noticed some male baboons moving towards the leopard out of the trees. The leopard likewise noticed them and repositioned itself into deeper grass at the base of a close-by bush. The baboons moved to flank the cat on both sides, and the point baboon, a rather large male, turned and looked directly at the cat not 5m in front of it. In a swift action, out of nowhere, a really big baboon - "Bubba", jumped out of our viewing range and pounced right on the cat! The cat sprung up out of the grass, and began to run for its life with the baboons hot on its tail. Apparently, leopards and baboons really don't like each other, and if the baboons would have caught the cat, they would have pulled it apart. Pam captured the action on film, and Alli has created a slideshow of Pam's pictures showing the mobbing in her Leopard High Tailing post to the Tabbies. It was a bit after the excitement passed as Pam was reviewing her pictures, that she discovered she had captured the most amazing picture of the trip. Thanks, Pam for sharing your pictures with us!
I don't know how one could have topped the leopard / baboon experience, and we returned to the lodge like winning fans from the Super Bowl. Beers that night were exceptional as we regaled the days events to anyone listening.
Day 10 - Jan 3 - Mara Evening Safari (MapMyRide)
Editor note: There was a morning safari on Jan 3, and Jessie and Larrie decided to assume the state of lodge lizards. So, there is no GPS track for the morning. Alli reported an another amazing encounter with cheetahs and sighting of fifty or so giraffes on the morning safari.
For the last safari outing of the whole adventure, John headed out on a new track. Turning right at the bottom of the driveway instead of left, which we had done all week long. We snaked through the foothills not really finding much, but it was an interesting road as there was more evidence of human footing in an animal reserve.
Critters viewed were the Ground Hornbill and Elephant. John got wind of another leopard spotting, so we were off to see what we could see. We arrived at the scene of a gathering of vehicles - 20-30, a lot. Spotting the leopard sitting on a termite mound that was consuming a bush, John positioned the vehicle for us and turned off the engine. The cat sat quietly, given the shyness of leopards and all the human comotion surrounding it. It rose, and began to walk towards the small shrubby / woody area to our left. Walking up to the vehicles that were on that section of the road, the cat passed between them, continued up the knoll, and into the bush.
John continued down the road a bit when Larrie spotted another gathering of vehicles off in the distance. John said they must have found the black rhino we had seen two days previous, and we went to see what was up. When we arrived you could not see through all the vehicles to see what was going on. Then a vehicle repositioned itself, and we could see - a mother lion and a brand new cub. The cub was nursing, and it did not look like it had its eyes open yet, which made us wonder if it was just hours old and the mother appeard to still be in labor. Not wanting to add to the commotion, we quickly vacated and left momma to her baby, while we hoped that her pride was close by. Baby lions suffer a very high mortality rate due to hyenas, and there were a lot of hyenas around the area.
It was time to head back, and we wandered down to a creek crossing we had used two days prior. It was now a mud hole, and John was very hesitant to cross as our vehicle was only two wheel drive. Another vehicle came by, and John knew the drive. The vehicle was four wheel drive, and the driver crossed easily. He told John to try it, and if he got stuck, the other vehicle would pull us out. Jessi shouted out from the back of the bus "Go for it, John"while the rest of us were saying it wasn't worth the risk, and we were off. We did get stuck, and John had to make two attempts to climb out of the mess before we were finally out of it. A fitting end to 10 days in Africa where we had been trapped by a flash flood covering a bridge, slowed by flat tires and countless cattle herds, to be almost stuck in the mud in the bush with leopards and lions in the near vicinity.
How much adventure is that, eh?
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