Alfred's Maasai Mara Safaris on 2nd,4th,5th,6th,7th and 9th of November 2012.

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 Baby Elephant suckling.Elephants too can help to cross suckle their young ones incase a calf lost his/her mother.

 Mums do not have to stop feeding when they are nursing their young ones,but they would have a slow move.Young ones too are not suckled very often,when they can feed on grass or browse on twigs and leaves.

 This baby elephant is learning on how to use the fore legs in cutting the small shoots of acacias.Not that easy to copy this,for he has knelt down which is opposite to the adults.

 Scar-face is name given to this Lion.Lions when respected can walk close to the game viewing vehicles,for they developed this habit when they were young.

 Cubs having a play.This lioness would take care of someone's cubs if the rest of the members are not present.Watching lion cubs is very enjoyable,but good timings in the morning and late evening are the best time,for during the hotest part of the day,they are under the shade.

 Hippos are very large mammals and mothers would stay with their young ones for almost two years before they give birth again.This female here still have few months or even weeks before she goes mating and leave this calf.

 If the calf is a male he would have to remain submissive to the dominant male or leave the school and join the boys club.

 Hippos are social mammals that they live in groups when they are in the water,but when they go feeding at night they walk solitary.But it is also possible to find mother with a calf,or even 3-5 individuals to the edge of the river.

 These lions were mating,the affair takes less than 90 seconds and in the process this male spotted an approaching wildbeest.But at this time hunting is not a common activity,but if easy prey comes in they would not spare the chance.

 Lions eye sight is excellent.This young male lion was watching from a safe distant at the Marsh pride territorial male lions who if they will get hold of him he would be killed.

 Grey Grown crane landing as the zebras follows him,after they were frightened by lions.

 This cheetah was so hungry when we found her despite the fact that there is plenty of game around.But our colleague told us that hyenas took her kill.Cheetahs are poor cats to defend their kills.

 Lovely Baby Topi having afternoon walk.Very vulnerable to cheetahs but their mothers are smart and they will over power solitary cheetahs.

 Kori Bustard.Their number is growing in the mara as per the veteran guides in the mara.They are one of the beautiful birds we have in the mara,especially watching males displaying.

 This is a sodic site,grass is shorter here and small to medium size herbivores accumulate here forsafety and mineral salts,but still one of theirs was killed by lions ass you can see a vulture feeding by them.

 Lappet faced vulture is the largest of the vultures we have in Maasai Mara,and he is on the top of the feeding hierarchy among other vultures.

 Trying to get the flesh off the eyes.Their bills are highly adapted for the job.

 Leopard Tortoise,one of the small five.Their population has decimated over the last decades.Some people take their shell off and feed on the fleshy parts.

 This lioness was looking for her cubs when she moved close to our car and we later discovered that she had given birth under the culvert,just where we had parked our vehicle.

 She later on moved to see her cubs.It was along story after a few days i spotted the cubs,the smallest cubs that i had ever seen,about 3 weeks old.But the martial Eagle eventually came and killed all the cubs.More photos shown below.

 Big herd of elephants on the plains heading towards the swamp where they get better grass and water to drink and cool off.

 Masai Giraffes would rarely graze but they prefer browsing.one male in this group was tasting on the reproductive status of one of the girls.Mating in Giraffes is a very difficult game.

 This spotted hyena was walking on her own.Most people would expect to find hyenas in big packs but during times of scarcity they would split into smaller groups so that whatever they will find to feed on would be sufficient for one or two rather than 5 or ten individuals.

 It was my second time spotting this lioness with her cubs who they were only under 8 weeks old.She was abandoned by the rest of the pride for about one week and she had to find meal for herself while nobody took care of the cubs but later on she was visited but the pride members and she even had her cubs mixed with the older cubs of the other pride members.

 Fighting is one of the major activity for any species of antelopes.For these Grants gazelles,one has to be stronger to win over a particular group of females who he is gonna mate with.

 Very healthy Marsh pride male lion.From the postings on this web you have seen them feeding and mating which for sure results in good health.

 Look the size of muscles on this lioness,the strength they have is enough to destabilize a fast moving Zebra through a slap on their backs.Too she is well fed,look at the size of her belly.

 Elephants feed on smaller plants by cutting them with the nails on their toes.Getting plants especially those which are browsed on by Elephants getting to maturity is not common here in the mara.Elephants too play a big role in the shaping of the ecosytems,without elephants and bushfires Our Mara woud have been full of thickets.

 Which way to go?Mum infront with her son.They spend the early morning hours hunting,afternoons on the shades and late evening hunting.This young boy has already got some hunting tips from his mother but still in need of more.They had a Thomson's gazelle kill yesterday and this morning they still look quite comfortable.

 Spotting Black Rhinos in Maasai Mara is not part of the easy sightings.This male marked our afternoon when he turned up and did stay for everybody to get nice shots.Unlike White Rhinos,these guys are not sociable and you always give them best Comfortable zone when watching them.Their eyesight is poor and they rely most on smell.

 They have prehensile mouths which are adapted to getting the most nutritious and fleshy twigs and leaves.They never graze,but some people would tell you they saw some grazing which is wrong for they had seen the picking some small shoots of plants,mostly acacias here in the mara.

 After our bush breakfast near Talek river,we were lucky to spot this Snake,African Rock Phyton.Too,we have very healthy population phtons in mara but spotting them would only depend on the suitable temperature and other circumstances that would have them coming out.This one later moved to a nearby tree where he decided to have a rest.

 Marsh pride family of lions,Dad and Mum on the lead.Male lions play very minimal role on day to day basis in bringing up the cubs as compare to mothers.Their huge role in the safety of cubs is to patroll their territory to ensure the thirsty nomadic male lions who would kill their cubs are not in theur territory.But females have to nurse them,hunt for them,take them to place where they will find water and to help them to cross some points.

 Lions would like to walk along the game trucks in the morning to avoid the wet grass from dew,and if they would walk straight to where you have parked your safari vehicle,please do not pull off but remain seated and quite and you will enjoy the proximity to these lovely cats.

 This was my first Snail to spot in several Safaris i have done in Maasai Mara.This is East Africa land snail,food for some people here in Africa and even some Eagles.

 Young male cheetah on top of termite mound,look at her fluffy neck-sign of being a juvenile.At this age his mother would still help her to feed and at the same time catch some live prey for her especially the gazelles fawns to practice suffocating.

 Before the day starts off,for many cats playing is a key to that day's success and also as a sign of passing the message of individual's health status.

 Having afternoon drink.The Egyptian goose here will give alarm call to warn the Zebras in case of any danger from lions who they could be waiting here for any herbivore coming for a drink.But for the Zebras,before they will go drinking in such a place they first of all give a slow and keen approach.

 These Buffalos were after a lioness who she had her cubs hidden under a culvert.They would trample on them if they will come out but lucky that the mother was present to offer them little protection.

 This was one of the cubs,the smallest i had ever seen.We were so excited to spot it.They were three cubs but later on all were killed by the Martial Eagle.It was so sad to discover this,but we are talking of nature for Martial Eagle also need to eat!!

 The mother of the cub above.The cubs were her first litter and it could be the luck of experience on where to give birth that resulted in all of her cubs getting killed.

 Lions have to close their eyes when panting because of presence of lots of flies who follow them.Look at the size of the canines which are used by the meat eaters for tearing flesh apart.

 Everyday as we drove past the culvert where this lioness had her cubs we would always find her.One sad day was when we found her mourning,after she lost all of her 3 cubs

Alfred's Mara Safaris on 17th,20th,23rd,29th,30th and 31st of October.

 Male Ostrich diplaying as she approaches his partner.Very awesome to watch this as it is very rare to see the action.

The female drops her wings too as the male approaches.Look at the differences in the colour of plumage.Males are more colourful.

 Male getting too closer,the female has already postioned her self for an affair that lasts for about 2-3 minutes.

 This is the action,the male keeps moving her neck and wings neck from side to side.The females enjoys the action without making any visible movement.

 After the action,look at the male's penis,note-other birds have only cloaca for mating.They separeted after mating.

 Lions are very clever in that when they go for toilets they move a fer metres from where the rest of the pride members are,and for this lioness she had no exception.

 After realiving her self she walked back to where the pride members were.

 Later on a male gave a visit to the lioness scat to smell so as to find her reproductive status.

 Spotted hyena gave us a nice shot and i got her passport size photo,they are ugly by some people but this shot would tell you they are lovely.

 Musiara marsh is home to elephants and this mother brought her calf here.From this tender age,the young one would have to learn the best places for feeding for one day she will lead her family,and they have to learn from the older members of the family.

 Herd of elephants were grazing close to a dam and one of theirs came for a drink and in it were Hippos who they were watching at them.Hippos are vegetarians and they could not attack the fellow herbivores.

 The Same herd of elephants who were with Hippos on the second photo above walked by these Giraffes,the evening light was so good for photography.Giraffes patterns differs alot even in thw same species.

 These two male Giraffes were feeding on the edge of the bush,they were very keenly looking on the nearby thickets that we thought a leopard or a lion was hiding.Although,we did not spot either.

 

 Lion cubs following their mothers is a regular exercise that they have to do,in order to learn on the basic survival skills in future when they will get to maturity.

 This male Elephant was in musth-sexually active and we gave him a good distant for us to be on the safe flight angle.When they are in musth their mission is to find females to mate with and they are very aggressive.

 Cheetahs are solitary cats,this female was looking for her meal when we spotted her.The grass was too short in at where she was and when she was walking all of the gazzelles in a distant fled.

 Enjoying her meal,the pride had killed a wildbeest and because it was not enough for them,the above female got a leg of their prey.

 She is the one that made the kill.And in the pride were cubs and two males who they all shared the meal peacefully,nobody was hungry since they have been killing on daily basis because of the huge migratory geme.

 Males watching from few metres from the kill,mothers grooming each other and cubs feeding.What a happy family?

 Cubs feeding from opposite angle.They at this time of migrations they are very healthy.

 This is the group of Zebras that lost one of theirs to the lions.Although safe in numbers,lions are comouflaged in that Zebras would easily pick them in the grass,too lions sight in the night is better than the Zebras'.

 The wattled plovers mobbed the Kori Bustard who was close to their nest.The plovers are so noisy in that they can chase human beings from their nests through annoying sounds.

 Nile crocodiles with full bellies enjoying the afternoon sun in mara river,one on  the furthest point with mouth opened is the feeling the warmth most and by opening the mouth she get cooled down.

 Smile,a roar from this paradise male.H e has been mating for the last 3 days and he is getting exhausted.He has to go and find food for he has not been eating.