Masai Mara Part 2: The Predators

Meal Time for Lions

Morning Growl

  When people ask me what a good time to visit Kenya is, I tell them pretty much anytime. With places like the Masai Mara, Kenya is a wildlife lovers fantasy world. There are so many parks, game reserves, and fence-less plains here where you can see wild animals grazing. And where you find grazers you will inevitably find predators lurking not too far behind. Or in the case of lions, they might be so sure of there place in the wildlife hierarchy that no lurking is necessary.

Fresh Kill

Vultures got too close

Our first indication that predators were about here in the Mara was the sheer number of carcasses strewn about the savanna. We drove past so many wildebeest, zebra, and buffalo skeletons which were still intact but picked perfectly clean on our way into and around the reserve. Then we hit the motherload, a pack of lions with a fresh kill!

Typical scene in the Masai Mara

Sleep Time

Play Time

This pack of lions was eight strong, with a few year-old cubs. When we pulled up it looked like the adult lionesses had recently killed a young zebra, eaten their fill, and now the cubs were chowing down. The lionesses had down their work for the day and had passed out. They didn't even bat an eye as we drove up.

Golden Lion, Golden Grass, Golden Hour

Backlit in the morning light

These lions stuck around this kill area for two days so we were able to come across them on the next day's morning game drive as well. This gave me an opportunity to photograph them in the golden hour just after sunrise. They strolled across the dirt road to drink up at a waterhole, and had their eye on a closing group of zebra as we had to unfortunately drive away to get back to the lodge in time for breakfast.

Black-backed Jackal on the move

  As we watched the lions greedily devouring their kill, we also were able to see a bit of the hierarchy that goes along with the levels of predators. Black back jackals hung around the kill area waiting for all of the lions to drift off into a food induced slumber or to wonder off completely so they could move in on the remaining meat. But the jackals were not alone. It looked like they would have to fend off about twenty squawking vultures who were nearby, anxiously awaiting their turn as well. No doubt hyenas would descend upon the kill during the night when they are up and about, but as long as the lions stayed near, they remain the 'king of the jungle.' We even witnessed two young lions chase some overzealous vultures out of the area.

Tuckered our Hyena

Hyena face poking out

We didn't get to do any night drives this time around, but we were still lucky enough to find a nocturnal predator, the spotted hyena, on several occasions as well as enjoy a bit of nocturnal predatory action right at our lodge. Opening our window at night at the Masai Serena Safari Lodge, we could hear a lion roaring from somewhere nearby. Looking at a lion's rippling muscle certainly shows off the strength of the big cat, but hearing the roar gives off so much more of the raw power that lions possess.

Nice find Lea!

Got our Cheetah sighting!

 The one predator we hadn't seen very much of, just some brief glances in Amboseli, was the cheetah. The fastest running animal in the world had been evading us at the different parks around Kenya. For three days it evaded us here as well. We asked around to other drives, went way off-road to places it had recently been seen, and still no luck. Then on our very last morning game drive, Lea shouted out 'there it is!' We all turned to left and sure enough, strolling up over the hill was not one, but two adult cheetahs. I willed them to come closer and not only did they walk towards the road, but they ended up crossing right in front of our vehicle. It was the perfect ending to our eight park, whirlwind Kenya sampler safari. We had some amazing encounters and photo opportunities that only Kenya can provide.

  On our way out we crossed over the famous Masai River, which is home to another kind of predator. This one lies in wait for that time of year when hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of hoofstock is crossing the river on their migration to greener pastures. This is the Nile crocodile. And these are the big ones. They would have no problem taking down a full grown wildebeest, zebra, or even a buffalo if they got close enough. For now these crocs looks satisfied with hauling their massive bodies our onto little mud banks and resting after what must have been a busy migrating season.

Huge Nile crocs