Hippos do make a reliable alarm clock – the farting, belching, and harumphing starts every morning outside the tent at 4am. Then they hit the snooze control until 6 when it all goes off again. Just a pity you can’t select any other time than 4am, and also they are a bit big to put on the bedside table. I guess feeding them may be an issue as well, unless thay have access to the breakfast buffet at the Fairmont Mara Club.
This morning a cold start as I had to lend my beanie to Gill who lost hers yesterday – odd being cold on the equator, but as the sun comes up it quickly warms. Spent the first hour or so looking for leopard – in the end saw one briefly as it was off on a hunt through the trees – great looking cat. A battered looking cheetah sitting on a mound was next, just before she set off on a hunt. The cat was injured and had a skin problem (don’t we all) – the rangers were planning on bringing a vet in from Nairobi to sort it out. Apparently before it heals it has to hunt and opens up its cuts and sores again.
To finish off the morning stopped by a lazy lion couple having an early nap. Gill thought it was such a good idea it was back home for breakfast and a good snooze.
After a lunch watching the house cat (Pakka) stalk a monitor lizard and then think better of it. headed out for a last afternoon in the Mara. Thousands upon thousands of Wildebeest now – drawn by the rain on the grasslands. Now where there are wildebeest there are… smells, noise, oh and lions. Several mail/female breeding pairs were just collapsed in heaps, not worrying about the passing game, just having a cigarette and sleeping. A female on an ant hill spotted wildebeest in the distance and switched to hunting mode in an instant – we followed her along, but she was spotted by an alert beest and off they went.
Lovely sunset as we drove across the last plain and dropped down to the river and the comfort of the tent. Outside “masai” shower again in the rain – luxury!