Today we were up nice and early for the second day on the road – today’s plan was a FULL day in the truck to spot game in the Masai Mara National Park!!
We were up at 730am for a fresh start and a fresh Brekkie of fruit, sausages, jam, pancakes etc…wow African food is good! We were soon in the truck and beginning the game drive for the day. By 8am we had already spotted Buffalo, Zebras and the normal animals that litter the park! But soon enough we had our next spot of the ‘Big 5′ – as we saw a group of lions laying out in the morning African sun! Next up were a group of Ortisihes, and behind them a huge herd of Elephants came towards us! This was magic and amazing that these animals were wild and coming so close to our truck! One Elephant got so close we were forced to chuck the truck in reverse and retreat!
Next up on the day out we spotted a Cheetah – the best bit was he had just made a kill and was dragging his food to a hiding place to have his breakfast! Then disaster struck….kind of. We started to drive away and when we were about 100m from the Cheetah when our tyre burst forcing us out of the truck to change it. Our trip leader ensured we would be ok….as the Cheetah already had his food and would not be looking for anymore…not a nice thought when your now walking through the Masai Mara and not in the truck!
We soon got away and then spotted a group of Giraffes walking across the plains -then in the distance spotted even more Elephants – this time having a bath in mud!! Before long with more driving around we completed the ‘Big 5′ as we spotted a very rare Back Rhino. He was well hidden in the bushes – but still very clear to the naked eye. We were very lucky!
Next up we saw a lion that had just got lucky!! A Male and Female post mating! She was lying resting on the ground as he was pacing around looking hungry….our tyre burst again right in front of the hungry lion….
Soon Big John the guide drove as far as he could on the punctured tyre to get as far away from the hungry Lion as possible – and once again we were out walking around only about 50 metres from the Lions! Jax was put on ‘lion Watch’ and Big John was quite serious when he asked her to do this – so our lives were soon in the hands of Jax and her eyesight, lucky we paid for the laser eye surgery!
We did make through this alive and after the successful completion of the tyre changing and not being eaten we headed off to the Masai Mara River to see the hippos, or what we could see of them. Despite being the most dangerous animal in Africa towards humans – they didn’t like the look of us and stayed in the water – so we only saw the tops of there heads!
Soon it was lunch – and we found a nice safe spot under guard from Park Rangers to get some lunch in the company of some cheeky monkeys who were attempting to steal our food! Sadly it began to rain over the plains – which meant that the rest of the afternoon would be very hard to spot anymore animals for the day – but we hit the tracks in the hope of seeing some more action. The rain did make it much harder to spot animals – but we were lucky to spot more Lionesses hanging out under a tree – before we headed back to camp to rest for the afternoon – tomorrow we would try all over again….
