Capturing the Moment

  We are here in the Masai Mara, which is Kenya's top notch destination for a wildlife safari. It is Day 9 of our safari, and by now we have seen most of the big animals in this part of East Africa. So the group was thinking, 'what else could be possibly see, that we havn't already?' That is when the Mara served up something special, lion cubs. This picture captures the essence of our morning game drive. Encountering baby big cats is one of my all-time favorite things while on safari. There really is not much out there that is cuter than a baby lion, or cheetah, or some other big cat. We got word about possible baby lion cubs, but they were down a very muddy path. Luckily we had the right vehicle and the right driver. Jackson tore down this slippery, muddy track, off the main road. It was like Tokyo drift as we tried to keep some speed so we wouldn't bog down. The exciting driving paid off as we came across our target, two mother lions with five cubs. They were very...

  Shot of the day. Finding the cheetah was hard work today, but Jackson prevailed. We got an up close look at two cheetah. This one gave us a brief look at its incredibly sharp teeth during this yawn. Luckily I snapped the photo right as it happened and captured the moment.    It was a tough wake up for everyone this morning here in the Masai Mara. And by 'tough' I mean our butler woke us up with coffee and biscuits at the requested time. We may be camping in tents, but here at Kichwa Tembo Luxury Tented Camp, it feels like glamping to the extreme. After the early morning pick-me-up, the group met Jackson at the vehicle, ready for a big morning game drive. Our plan was to cover a lot of distance, maybe searching for cheetah, and seeing if we got lucky with any lions on they way. I would say lucky was an understatement. Sunrise view from our camp.    Our first big find was three young male lions, sleeping and basking in the early morning sunshine. Shortly after, ...