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Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya Cats and Kittens July 2000 |
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| (Click any photo throughout to see a larger version) | ||
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| Splendor in the Grass | ||
| As I said earlier, the Masai Mara serves as home for many a lion. Nonetheless, they are not always easy to find. Our eagle-eyed guide Albanus spotted these two from a very long way off, despite their near invisibility in the high dry savannah grass. | ||
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| Morning Relaxation Time | ||
| These lions were not very hard to find, however. A pride of some 15 lions were just finishing up a tasty cape buffalo carcass when we came across them. They left the carcass for the hyaenas to fight over and enjoyed a leisurely morning of playing, lounging, and drinking. | ||
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| Cheeetah Mom and Cubs | ||
| We saw this mother cheetah try to pull down a young wildebeest from the herd for her three adorable cubs. She raced into the herd and a dust cloud flew up as she tackled the youngster. The adult wildebeest moved threateningly in her direction rather than running away, and a moment later she slunk off, without a meal after all. Afterwards she climbed onto this small mound to rest and keep a lookout, and her cubs followed her up there and began the lounging process so familiar to anyone with a pet housecat. | ||
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| King of All He Surveys (More or Less) | ||
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Our last lion of this African safari was this regal male. I think he knows how gorgeous he looks.
Perhaps he should be named Fabio.
Like our kitty Thumper, he thinks he is king of all he surveys but he can't quite lay claim to that title in reality. We saw some elephants easily frighten away a pair of nearby adult lions. When it comes down to an adult lion vs. an adult elephant, the adult elephant wins, no contest. | ||
Onward to Migration and the Mara River | ||
| Return to Uganda and Kenya Trip Overview | ||