We had coffee, as usual, on our veranda before brekkie and took off around 7:30 a.m.
Before 8:30 a.m., we saw a cheetah. She (or he) was lying in some tall grass. Another vehicle had spotted her/him so we drove up and watched her for a few minutes before she got up and moved to a shady area under a tree among the rocks. We watched her for a while then took off.
With our mission for the day already having been achieved, we started driving through the rocks where lions and lionesses can be found.
Not too far into the rocks, and we spotted a lioness with a zebra kill. The male lion had already eaten, as had the other lionesses who helped with the kill. The lone lioness was charged with protecting the carcass. And even though she had an injury (we think she might have been kicked by the zebra, and her leg was injured), we watched her drag the carcass about 150 yards. She would drag a bit, then stop to breathe. We could hear her panting. She finally got to a crevice in the rocks and dragged the zebra into the crevice before climbing the rock to protect it.
We then spotted a troop of baboons eating in a ficus tree, which is a type of fig tree that doesn't grow fruit large enough for humans but the baboons like them. We tarried there for at least a half an hour, watching the baboons feeding and grooming. There were some tiny baboons, too, that attempted to climb the tree, and they were fun to watch.
We began driving along the Mara River and saw a large harem of impalas that we watched for 15 or so minutes. The dominant male was being pretty pushy, challenging the "bachelors" and herding his harem across a small river. There was a juvenile male who had taken off with a female, and the dominant male took off after him. He was bellowing at the juvenile and sounded a lot like an elk. The female took off back to the harem, and the dominant male stalked the juvenile. We were hoping to see a showdown but no go. The dominant male eventually returned to his harem without a fight.
We got closer to one of the areas where the wildebeest cross the river and sure enough, we saw a herd of wildebeest so we stopped and watched, hoping they would cross. As they did previously, they went back and forth, back and forth and were indecisive about crossing.
So we took out our box lunches to eat while watching. We had barely begun eating when the crossing started. It wasn't nearly the size of herd we watched cross on Tuesday but it was sizable.
Severin positioned us just above where they were crossing so we got a good view.
This time, there were several crocodiles in the river just waiting to get a wildebeest, and we saw one latch onto a small wildebeest. As you can see in the photo, he barely had the haunches of the wildebeest in his jaws so he couldn't take it down. He had to hang on. We watched for about 20 minutes to see what would happen (we also were eating our lunches), and the wildebeest did not go under.
It began raining but not nearly as much as the previous day.
The wildebeest with the croc on his butt struggled to get up the embankment but dragging his weight and the weight of a six-foot crocodile just wasn't working for him. Eventually, the croc was joined by at least eight other crocodiles.
Together, they tossed the wildebeest over to disorient it and drown it. They tossed it twice before it went under. The crocodiles had a good lunch.
It was pretty exciting to watch. There was a vehicle next to us in which a woman started crying. Go figure. She couldn't watch it so the guide moved the vehicle. Okay, so you go on safari and you can't watch animals doing what they do in order to survive? It's like going on safari without binoculars. What are you expecting?
Anywho, we started back along the river and spotted several birds we had never seen. We wanted to see another secretary bird, close enough to get a good photo, but never saw one.
We returned to where the zebra kill was located, and there were two lionesses hanging out. They had eaten again and were lying around with full tummies.
It was a little before 4 p.m., and Severie headed back to camp. Everyone is really quiet about this time of the day on a full-day safari. We're all tired but still alert to seeing something.
And indeed, we saw something. Something very unusual. I sighted a civet running through the grass. A civet is a small cat, and it is nocturnal. Even one of the staff guys at camp has never seen a civet. But we did. We stalked it for a while so I could get some photographs then let it go its way. No one knew why we saw him in late afternoon but it was special.
Back to camp, shower, download photos. It began getting cloudy again and threatening rain. By the time we got to the campfire, we could see a pretty good lightning show in the west.
There was only one other couple in camp tonight besides us. They were young. He worked for a travel agency, she was a digital marketing person. They are moving to Dubai later this week to begin new jobs. They said they couldn't afford a home in London, and Dubai is a good step up in terms of salary, and it's a "challenge."
The sky tonight was just glorious. The rain clouds left, and you could see the Milky Way and thousands of stars.
Perfect for our last night in the bush and probably, our last ever safari.
We're off to Stone Town tomorrow in Zanzibar, and we're just four days from the beach in Jambiani for the remaining time of our adventure - on the beach with a little snorkeling.
Uploading takes forever, here's three photos of the day's activities:
The second wildebeest crossing the Mara River
A cheetah resting.
A civet, which is a nocturnal cat. This was a bonus!
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