Capturing the Moment

  It is often very easy to understand why people refer to the Masai Mara as the crown jewel of Kenya's wildlife areas. The Mara was our last stop on this safari. We had already seen all of the big cats (lions, leopards, and cheetah) and one small cat (caracal). Our big cat encounters in the Mara would bring our experience to a whole new level. Lioness carrying the head of a young wildebeest   We were able to see and spend time with three lionesses eating a freshly killed young wildebeest, and taking turns going down to the waterhole to drink. While they walked back and forth by our vehicle, Sean was scanning with binoculars and suddenly said, "there is a leopard in that tree!" So we drove away from the lions until we were right under the tree. Sure enough a beautiful leopard was lounging high in the branches, looking pretty nonchalant that lions were staked out nearby. We got some great looks and picture opportunities before continuing our drive.  Sean spotted this leopar...

Lions at the waterhole Early morning hijinx   So far the Serengeti has lived up to all the hype. It is 'Big Cat Week' on National Geographic channel but the Dillon's lived it on this day. Where we are staying at andBeyond Under Canvas proved it was the real deal as we heard big cat noises in camp at night and woke up to lion prints, among others, around the  tents.    On our early game drive we started off with four females and one male lion at a water hole. I noticed one of the females had a big radio collar on. It turns out that this is one of the lions that the local lion researcher follows. Solomon told us that this lioness recently had cubs, although they were absent at the waterhole gathering. Sometimes lion mothers will leave their cubs hidden while they head out on a hunt. They don't want to leave them for long though because hyena or other lions could easily kill the cubs if they find them.    The scene was beautiful with these powerful...

Geranuk Silhouette of a eagle Let the African safari begin! Last night we picked up my sister Lea, and Rebecca and Alison from the Nairobi International Airport. We said goodbye and good luck to Joe after transferring one more baseball4africa equipment bag hand carried over by Lea. Then the three girls, Jack, Jim, and myself all piled into a taxi van and jetted back to Acacia Camp for one more night before hitting the road for an all-out wildlife tour of Kenya.        We were able to see zebras, gazelles, and wildebeest on the night drive into Acacia camp as well as tree hyrax, bush babies, and a couple of genets that were expertly spotted way up in a tree by Rebecca. In the morning we had just enough time to eat a quick breakfast, introduce the girls to Eliot, the pain-in-the-ass two year old eland, load our stuff into our safari vehicle and head out. Male Lion framed by the bush Intimidation or just a yawn?     It was a ...