We were on the road by 6am! Energy levels were high as we were going to see the wildebeest crossing at the Mara River. The day started off extremely well as WE (well, most credit goes to Juancho) discovered a LEOPARD! Leopards are extremely hard to find so it was an incredibly exciting find. The leopard ran across the field and climbed up on a large rock. We drove right over to the rock and had an awesome view . Before we knew it, cars were gathering left and right. You quickly learn that if you see a car stopped for more than a couple minutes someone must have discovered something BIG. Cars filled with professional photographers lined up so we decided to take a picture with me and my little point and shoot camera. It’s one of my favorite pictures from our trip! – Side note: people tracked this leopard for at least 3 hours because by the time we came back from seeing the crossing, cars were still lined up watching the leopard walk through the bushes.
Our next stop was the Mara River! When we pulled up we were all shocked to see the river full of dead wildebeests. There had to have been a hundred dead carcasses floating down the river or stuck between rocks. It was a dreadful sight and at times quite stinky! Some of the wildebeests had been killed by crocodiles but others were drowned as they were trampled during the stampede across the river.
Thousands of wildebeests and zebras were gathered at the edge of the river when we arrived. We were so excited and expected the action to begin immediately. Little did we know that we would have to wait SEVERAL hours to see a mass crossing. Looking back, I really don’t blame them for taking their time. Crossing the river was literally a life and death situation. The timing and location had to be absolutely perfect in order to survive the crossing. For hours we watched a few brave wildebeests approach the river, get spooked by a couple of hippos lounging in the river, and then retreat back. Once in awhile a small group of wildebeests would leap into the water and swim across but inevitably one of them would get scared and retreat...causing all of the other wildebeests in line to do the same thing. A few minutes later that same group would return to the river and swim back to the other side to rejoin the larger pack....risking their life once again. Finally, after several hours, the timing was perfect and we saw a mass crossing. It was a pretty awesome sight to behold even if we didn’t witness a crocodile attack.
On our way back to the lodge we saw three young lions attempting to hunt a herd of wildebeests and zebras in the rain. We were sure we would see a kill but once again the lions were discovered before they were close enough to make a run for the herd. We continued to track the lions after the hunt was over and found that they were part of a larger pride of lions which had already made a kill. We watched 7 hungry lions devour a wildebeest. Incredible!!!
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