Capturing the Moment

  Its hard to pic a photo of the day, but this might be it. We put in our time after finding this leopard resting high in the branches of this fig tree. It moved once to an open branch, which was great. But climbing down the tree to grab a drink in a nearby creek was better than I could hope for. Patience pays off again. Our day in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve began with one of those sunrises you don't forget. It reflected off the infinity pool and over a lone acacia tree in the savanna beyond. After a big camp breakfast, and plenty of Kenyan coffee, we climbed into our open sided Land Cruiser with our expert guide, David, and set out for a full day safari.

The cutest picture you will see all day.   Have you heard of Africa's Big 5? They are often the biggest, most dangerous animals in the park here in Africa. Its a term left over from the Great White Hunter days, where if you shot one of these animals, but didn't kill it, it could charge you and kill you. The Big 5 are lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and cape buffalo. Well today, we saw all of those and more, here in beautiful Masai Mara. This is truly the gem of Kenya's wildlife parks, and something that every animal or nature lover should experience in their lifetime. We started off at 5:50am, in order to be the first one's crossing into the park at 6am. Being the early bird paid off with our first encounter with a rarely seen black rhino. David positioned us perfectly so the rhino would cross right in front of us. Luckily it turned and looked at the perfect moment for a photo, before disappearing into its usual bushy habitat. We were still riding a high when we came ac...

  Day 1 in the Masai Mara, and we've already seen something that belongs on a BBC wildlife show. Two brother lions were resting, but we noticed a herd of elephants closing in on the lions' position. The suspense built as we watched. Finally the lions had played chicken long enough, and they got up and walked quickly away, keeping a close eye on the elephants as they did. Then one younger elephant took off from the herd and charged the lions, trumpeting and flapping his ears. The lions moved farther away, before lying back down again. As we caught our breath, David our guide, reminded us that this was just another day in the Masai Mara here in Kenya! There are travel moments that stay etched in memory forever, and our first day in the Masai Mara is one of them. We are staying at Kichwa Tembo Luxury Tented Camp, where the canvas walls open up to sweeping views of the East African savanna. It felt both indulgent and raw, like being wrapped in comfort while standing at the edge of ...

  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, ...