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.

Alfred's Maasai Mara Safaris on 11th,12th,13th,14th and 15th of 0ctober 2012.

 This is Marsh pride lioness with cubs on the lugga.Not that easy to spot cubs under 8 weeks,for their mums hide them until when they have enough strength to follow the pride members.At this stage they are vulnerable to nomadic male lions.

 This is another female with her older male cub of about 15 months,we enjoyed watching them.Mum was so curious as she has to protect her cub for he is still depandant on mum,but not as much as the smaller cubs above.

 Mara scavengers,the bigger bird is Marabou stork others are vultures,they were enjoying the early morning sun before they would beginn their daily duty of scavenging.

 A school of hippos on one of the Mara river meanders,too enjoying the sun,but too much of it would lead to negative effect on their skin.

 After having a shower in one of the small pool of water,the leader of this herd decided to lead the group to another grazing field.It is her duty until when she will die or get too old.

 We found this 5 months old piglets without their mother that she might have been killed by Cheetahs,Leopard, or Lions.For sure chances of making to maturity are very minimal,not experienced on how to escape dangers although warthogs are not smart when it comes to their safety.

 This two young male Elephants were play fighting as the sun was going down.They will have to determine their rank before they leave their mothers at around the age of 12.

 The victor and loser is determined.All solitary male elephants or herd of bachelors knows their ranks through fighting.

 What a luck for this lioness on the hottest part of the day to get her lunch.she attack a mother with 2 piglets and one piglet was caught.Look she got hold of the neck to suffocate her!

 One of the marsh pride lion,on top of the termite mound,on the background is Oloololo Escarpment.The rest of the pride were no where to be seen near to this place,but as long as he his in their territory he is safe.

 Where is the mother of these boys?we did not spot her but she might be some where.Later on one of them was killed by the Marsh pride males.

 Ostriches do not construct their nest,but they lay their eggs on a bare ground.The major hen and cock who were to do the incubation were not around.Few days later i discovered that they abandoned the nest,poor eggs>chicks

 A little showere on this herd who they were matching in to the National Reserve from Mara North Conservancy.They feed as they move.

 Marsh courting couple,on this day they did not mate but on the following day they did.Courtship,take few hours to almost two days.And the actual mating goes for 3-5 days.

 Lone young boy heavily breathing on the hottest part of the day.Lions sweat through their tongues.

 Zebras feeding as the male waterbcuk act as their look out.Male waterbucks at some points live solitary and he would have to rely on other herbivores for his safety.

 Walking,feeding,sleeping alone is part of this elephants life.He was having a drink when we found him.

 More dark-maned lion near mara paradise plains courting,we saw the action but i did not capture the best photo.

A clan of hyenas scouting among the wildbeests,they must be looking for easy meal like sick,injured,new-born or even abandoned carcass.

Lovely day spotting Elephants,Lions,Buffalos and Hyena feeding,on the 10th.October.2012

 Elephants browse and graze,and we found this Matriarch of a herd of 14 individuals debarking the green heart tree,this would eventually cause the tree die because the bark has the cambium layer which transport both water,nutrients and manufactured food which are necessary for the growth and survival of any plant.

 Hyenas scavenge and they play a big role in any ecosystem by feeding on the old carcasses.This female hyena was feeding on the Baby wildbeests skull.

 This Cape Buffalo with her young one was staring at the lions in the bush thickets.Lions would not attempt to attack a big buffalo herds,but they can go for the solitary ones.Later on the lions went to the bushes after buffalos approached to where they were hiding.

 Marsh pride lioness with 3 months old cub.Not sure if these are her cubs,because the pride at this time have several cubs and lions being social cubs would help in rearing of each others cubs.

 During the hottest part of the day Elephants would look for any water point to cool down,and by mid-day at Mara River this herd marked our day when they came down the river to drink.A fully grown One can consume 220 litres of water,but in about 5 times.

Changing of feeding fields is a regular routine in Elephants lives,this herd came out of the mara-river riverine forest after having enough of twigs and leaves to the grazing field.