Maasai Mara Day 1 Afternoon

Maasai Mara Day 1 Afternoon

We head out to an area near the river to see a wildebeest crossing, we hope. Sammy picks a spot and suddenly the area comes alive. A lion and a lioness have a kill in the bush above the shoreline, which looks like a wildebeest. At least 7 hippos are snorting in the water, and a large crocodile lurks just under the surface. We see the lion turn over the wildebeest and head toward another lioness. Looks like lion happy hour. The other lioness marks the territory, and then comes approach the sign. One comes close to the small ravine on the other side of our truck, goes down into the ravine to check out the carcasses in the ravine, then comes out again, crossing right behind the truck. At one point, she turns back toward us and looks at us with her golden eyes. She proceeds to lay on the cliff, about 20 feet from the other truck, then heads back toward us and crosses over to the sign.

Continuing on, we see the sky beginning to darken, and a bit of lightening. A gray heron is just ahead of us on the road, and flies off. We come near the river and see a huge Nile crocodile, and then more, a total of 8. Then off to the left, we see 8 more crocodiles laying on the beach, as if just waiting for dinner. They do not really hunt or travel together, Joel tells us, but rather they congregate in the same place when it is a good hunting ground. A herd of zebras approach the beach, and two of a crocodiles start heading, submarine-like, toward where the zebra might drink. But the lead zebra is watching the crocodile, and after some minutes, they wisely decide to retreat up the slope to call it a day. The crocodiles remain in the water, waiting. We hear the thunder, and feel a few drops. We can see the rain coming behind us, and we close the pop top for now. More thunder and lightening, and we come upon the lions we saw earlier, gnawing on the wildebeest. One lioness in particular we can see well, and she is tearing at the wildebeest, whose thick skin, Joel tell us, is hard to get through. At times it seems that the lion is actually licking the wildebeest carcass, rather than eating.

It begins to drizzle again, and them just as it really starts to rain and darken, we hear of some wildebeests crossing the river. We drive over quickly – really quickly - and most of the herd has crossed already, but we do see four last ones jump in and start swimming. Two large crocodiles wait for them slightly downstream, ready to pounce, with a group  of 14 hippos a bit further on. .Joel tells us that the crocodiles grab the wildebeests by the throat, latch on, and twist the animal’s neck to tear through the hide. This time, though, the four wildebeests make it, which cheers us. Somehow, while seeing a lion eating a wildebeest is OK, no one wants to root for the crocodiles. 

A little wet and  a lot excited by everything we’ve seen today, we head back to the lodge. It has been an exciting day.