Tailless Elephant,he could have lost to lions when he was young or attacked by crocodiles when crossing Mara river.It will never grow back nor cause any negative effect on daily life of this elephant daddy.
On my afternoon game drive we found this herd of Elephants near Musiara Marsh,and one unique behavior was two calves of different ages suckling from one mother who was very comfortable with it.Elephants can cross suckle their young ones,and this has been witnessed where some fully grown mama elephants adopt the young elephants who they have lost their mothers.
African Jacana with two chicks,also called Lilly trotters/Jesus bird because of walking on floating vegetation.On the picture is a male with young ones.Males does the incubation of the eggs and helps in rearing of the young ones while girls move to different find males to lay eggs with and move on.
One home and one restaurant,Baboons,Black headed heron and Impalas are residents here and they all interact very well,but male Baboons can kill the newly born baby impalas and they can also feed on the Herons' eggs!
This lions cub was left behind by the pride members,at one point we thought he was not feeling well but we discovered that he was very well only that he might have been exhausted from the distance that they had covered.He catched up with the rest of the pride members few minutes later.
Lions as they get old get some marks on their bodies mostly from fighting,and this lioness has her ears tattered,and one very visible mark next to her right upper part of nose.She is called Bibi,one of the oldest girls in the well known Marsh pride of lions,almost 15 years of age.Very few lions get to this age as some get killed by others,poachers,human-lion conflicts and declining prey species through pressure on their territories leading to starvation.
Owl like head and yellow eyes would tell you it is a snake eagle,and it is Black chested snake Eagle.They would kill snake,and swallow it whole,to feed on it later.Their eyes are so strong in thta they are able to spot their prey from very high heights.One day i spotted one pulling it out for the chicks.They are common birds on the acacia plains of the Mara.
Telling the difference between a male and a female elephant for the first time visitors can be tricky,but males have a sac in between the hind legs that the front part of the "stick' is located.Elephants fall in group of animals called Testicondas because they have internal testes.
I love cheetahs and being non territorial would at times make them hard to be spotted,and on this day we had been looking for one for several hours with my guests who they really wanted to see one.They were so excited when we found this one in the middle of the day panting very heavily,trying to get rid of excess heat in the body.
Hippos basking,from this group there is a male that has fresh wound on his neck(Second,big one from left)The wound is from fighting with another male,they have huge teeth often referred to as tusks that are very useful in their defence.
Young male waterbuck,you can approximate their ages by looking at the size of their horns,this one is about 18 months of age,horns keep growing and in full length at about 4-5 years.
Female waterbuck,hornless.They have large ears to pint point the source of any sound especially from predators or alarm call from the other herbivores who they associate with daily.
They give birth any time of the year.Young ones under 2 weeks would remain hidden among the thickets,and in Musiara marsh Leopards have occasionally be taking down some.
This is Malachite kingfisher that it got a dragon fly.Kingfishers feed not only on fish but also on some invertebrates.
This old bull is giving Cattle Egret a ride.Note that Cattle egrets do not feed on the ticks on his body,but they feed on the insects that are disturbed by his movement.
Male Bohor Reedbuck,they are always found lying down among the thickets.And if scared by any of the wild animals,they can give a whistle that would carry for hundred of meters thus warning everybody to be on a safe zone.
Hamerkop hunting,it was so special to find it in this pool looking for its meal.They feed mostly on frogs,especially the Platannas who are common in small pools after heavy rains.
This spotted hyena came running out of the bushes from other hyenas who were after its snack.She had a baby impala,but i thought they had snatched it from Leopard who was seen hunting in the same place in the morning hours of that day.
Hyenas are so selfish in that they will never share with the rest of the clan members.This one was followed by about 3 other hyenas for about 2 km,and we lost them when they went to a thick bush.
It was too hot when we found this paradise pride of lions on very open plains.There was no nearby tree that would provide any shade.we had parked our vehicle 25 meters from where they were but they moved for the shade from our vehicle.
This lioness from the above pride had full belly,and we suspected that they had just fed on something.It is unusual to find cats on open plains at the hottest part of the day,but if they spot easy meal they will go for it.
Ruppell's Long Tailed Starling,They are common here in the Mara and are so friendly and beautifully colored birds that would always attract the eyes of all of our visitors.
Old hippos who have been kicked out of the Mara river would occupy small and temporary water pools on the plains.Be cautious of these guys as they are very aggressive.One on this picture had his pool drying up,as you can see the depth of the pool could not cover all of her body.He had to find another pool or go back to Mara river and find unoccupied stretch on the river.
When you are in the Mara you will never miss to see Topis on top of termites mounds.This female was giving her calf a lesson.When they are up here,they act as lookouts.
Elephants will never have their hot parts of day enjoyable if they do not take mud shower.This one had just had one and when the mud would dry on the his body he will find a tree to have a scratch on and it will have the ticks that could be on his body scratched off.
Not a nice picture though,this is the Martial Eagle and the same Eagle that killed 3 cubs of one of the Marsh pride lioness.Look at some previous postings.
This lion was looking for his mate when we found him,and lucky enough that he spotted his brother 2 kilometers away,they have very good eyesight and if they can not find each other roaring is the best way to reunite.
We came across this big herd of elephants one afternoon.We enjoyed our time with them since it is not common to see such a big group.It was composed of several family units with different matriarchs.
Three species of birds,Sacred ibis(white one),Black headed heron(Taller one) and Glossy Ibis on the background.We do not have many Glossy ibises the mara,but Hadeda Ibises are common.
One of the Paradise 4KM,They were about 3 km apart with his brother(below) who was mating.Although they work together as a team,they can be in different parts of their territory and if one of them would be got by the non-territorial nomadic male lions,chances of getting overpowered are higher.
This male together with his brother(above) operates on both sides of mara river.They swim across the river which is infested with both hippos and crocodiles and they always have to be very careful before crossing.
These three male Giraffes were licking one old bone,and they had to push each other to get to the bone.They feed on the bones to get some nutrients that they lack in their bodies activity called osteophagia.
African Fish Eagle scanning the Small stream for any Cat fish that they mostly rely on as their main source of food.
You do me and i do you is the rule here.Grooming is part of daily social activity practiced by zebras,it helps in the removal of the external parasites such as ticks and also to help to strenghten the social bond among themselves.Incase of any predator stalking,these zebras would be safe for they are facing opposite direction.
