Lions and Zebras and Gazelles, oh my!

Eight hundred and twenty-five square miles of land, Masaimara is one of the best places to take a safari because there are roads all over the property to allow close viewing of the animals. Masaimara stretches all the way across the southern part of Kenya meeting the Serengeti in Tanzania. In Tanzania, there is only one road around the whole area so travelers look from afar at the animals. Luckily for us, we went during the wildabeest migration.
This can only be seen from August until September when the wildabeests migrate from Kenya to Tanzania trekking around 250 kilometers. They have to cross the Mara River and take on the crocodiles and intense currents. The river itself is not very wide, but it has caused quite some harm to the migration (not enough to hurt the actual population of wildabeests).
Such amazing creatures they are that they run and migrate in single file. Truly amazing to watch as well as the mingling with zebras, buffalos, impalas and gazelles.

Our first day, we drove the six hours to Masaimara and went on a dusk excursion for 3 hours. What luck that on our first night, we saw 4 out of 5 of the Big 5. The Big Five are the five animals that were considered to be the most desired to hunt. They are the lion, buffalo, elephant, leopard and rhino. We saw all but the rhino. In all of Masaimara, there are only 32 rhinos and there are the rarest of them all, the black rhino.
Leopards and elephants are also considered to be rare. We saw lots of elephants and had them near our campsite since we heard them one morning. Leopards are extremely rare and are different from cheetahs in their shorter tail length, facial markings and inclination to climb trees. Cheetahs have longer tails to aid in their running speed. Leopards usually hunt and live by themselves while cheetahs can be found either alone or in groups of two or three.
Buffalos are one of the only animals were the females have horns as well as the males. The Grand Gazelle, Thompson Gazelle and wildabeests are also known for the females having horns. Gazelles are divided up into family clans and bachelor clans. Bachelors are all the males that have to fight to get into a family clan. (I know it looks like I superimposed my face onto this picture of the lion, but I swear I didn't. The family clan has one male and many females. The male watches over all the females and will be fought by a male from the bachelor clan in order to take over. Impalas are smaller versions of the gazelles and the females do not have horns. The male ostriches are marked by black feathers and an orange beak, while the females have gray feathers and a gray beak.
In all we saw ostriches, warthogs, zebras, giraffes, lions, elephants, a cheetah, a leopard, buffalos, wildabeests, hippos, crocodiles, guinea fowls, a hyena, monkeys, baboons, impalas, gazelles, buzzards and vulchers. I think that's everything with the exception of some other birds and little critters.

We almost witnessed the wildabeests actually crossing the river except they became spooked when a bird flew by right as they were about to cross. Instead, I was able to get great footage of the wildabeests running, hundreds of them, in single file, the following day.
Unfortunately, I cannot upload videos to my blog at this point. What was interesting was a lion was hunting the wildabeests while they were running. They halted immediately upon four safari cars stopping. The wildabeests stopped causing the lion to stop. Interesting how they tell us that man hasn't affected life in the Reserve. Eventually, the two lionesses crouched down while the wildabeests took a different route and ran right in front of our car. We also had the luxury of seeing an actual lion pride. The striking male, the female and their three, 5 week old cubs. It was absolutely beautiful. The mingling of the animals is also very touching and completely natural.

On our second day, we are driven about 100 kilometers to the Tanzania border where they actually briefly drive us over the border and allow us to take pictures. To go farther than that into the Serengeti requires permission and official entrance.

Although we were grateful to see the animals so closely (at times it seemed we were about 10 feet from lions or zebras) it is quite alarming to see the impact of humans. A lioness walked right passed all our cars and was not even fazed by us. The leopard we saw did the same thing. Trust me, those are hippos behind me. Wildabeests and impalas seemed more alarmed by us and would curb their route or journey until we were no longer a threat. Male lions slept within 15 feet of our motor running and barely looked up to see the noise. Because of the emissions tests or lack thereof, trucks emit such pollution right in the vicinity of the animals.
At one point, the exhaust pipe of the other van that held the rest of our group blew off and puffs of smoke and exhaust pumped into the air, not far from some zebras. By the end of our tour, I felt quite uncomfortable and decided it was time to move on. One of our last sightings was the lion pride and the trucks kept going around and around in circles of the bushes trying to get the best shot.
The family continued to move, of course to protect their cubs, as the cars followed them. It was amazing to see them but after we continued moving and following them, I felt it was time to move on. On a different note, hunting and poaching are illegal in Kenya and those found committing the act are put to death.

All in all, this has been an extraordinary experience for me. I learned an abundance and we were fortunate to have an amazing guide, Douglas. He did an excellent job getting us the closest he could without crossing the limit on how close we could get. I had to continue reminding myself that these animals were wild and actually had to hunt for their food or walk miles to get to water. We did see some carcasses but I will spare you all of those stories (though I do have some pictures if anyone would like to see them). Just like most everything we've done, I would definitely recommend going on a safari, especially in Masaimara. There's nothing like watching hot air balloons rise over the sunrise with the peaceful picture of zebras, wildabeest, elephants and impalas all convening in the same area.