Alfred's Maasai Mara Safaris On 11th,12th,13th and 14th of November 2012.

 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.

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