The Pig Yard
The Masai Mara, Kenya - November 2011
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We flew into Nairobi on Sunday morning after a night flight from Heathrow and our taxi driver was waiting to whisk us off to Wilson airfield to catch our flight to Little Governors camp. We were the only passengers on board and it felt like a very special beginning to our brief stay. November is the short rains season however this year the rains were certainly not short and several of our game drives either started in the rain or finished in the rain. |
Our
second holiday in the Masai Mara and probably our last. We were concerned
that going back wouldn't be as exciting as the first and possibly we
wouldn't see anything that we hadn't seen before. How wrong we were.|
We had a five minute walk to get to the vehicle and this involved crossing the Mara river in a small boat. When it is raining this heavily we soon got very wet despite the umbrella. |
The lions laze around on the plain waiting for a passing meal. This one was in a pride of about ten lions and with plenty of Wart Hogs and young Topi around they were not going hungry. |
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Just
to prove the point about the rain we took a photo of the regular afternoon
rains.
The
wet weather didn't stop us getting up close and personal with some really
big beasties.
The
plains are devoid of the wildebeest at this time of year as they've all
migrated to the Serengeti however this makes room for the Topi to have their
young. This little chap is only a day old and already able to run when there
is danger around.|
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Rhinos
are a rare sight and it was towards the end of a long morning game drive
when we came across this very large specimen. He crossed a small stream and
came towards us at which point the driver moved the LandCruiser around to
make a hasty retreat. There was no need to panic as the Rhino headed away
from us.
The
elephants roam without any threat however their youngsters can fall to the
many predators around. This adorable baby elephant was less than two weeks
old. As part of a large family group the risks to the youngsters are
minimised. 
There
was a large number of zebra still grazing on the plains and we couldn't
resist these two had their heads together. At first glance it's difficult to
discern between the two - where does one end and the other begin.|
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 The
hyena is a really brutal animal. It doesn't kill its prey but eats it alive.
Its method is to chase after its prey until the target becomes too tired to
run any further. We saw an instance where the hyena chased a Topi and its
youngster for over 2 miles until the Topi sensed its young could run no
further so it turned and attacked the hyena. This was sufficient for the
Hyena to leave the chase. |
It would be intriguing to know how they find their mates over such a vast area and moving so slowly. |
Giraffe
are incredible creatures and when people say that a camel was a horse
designed by a committee then surely a giraffe was designed in the halls of
local government.
Not
everything on the savannah is large or fast. This little chap was spotted on
the top of a small termite mound.
 The
wet weather suited the hippos. There was plenty of lush grass and the
marshes were full of water. The area in front of the tents was a marsh last
time we were here but this time it was a lake and the hippos loved it. At
night they were very raucous and Jane described them as having a pool party
as they splashed about, ran into the water and kept us awake at night. |
 The
Jackals are lean, mean machines but they still look like man's best friend.This guy was sitting by the edge of a track with a family hidden in the bushes behind him. He looks like he knows where he fits in the structure of life and is happy with his lot. |
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The
Bat eared foxes were a new sighting for us. They were really cute with their
extraordinary big ears and faces that look like they had a broad grin the
whole time. Maybe they were a happy family.
 The
logistics that go into making a successful balloon flight are well tried and
tested. After take off the crews set off in pursuit and the vehicles carry
the kitchen equipment to make the lavish cooked breakfast as well as this
tractor which carries the basket and envelope back to base. |
 As
already mentioned the short-rains season was longer than usual and the
tracks along with the
landscape was changing into a marshland more reminiscent of paddy fields.There were several vehicles that got stuck in the mud but our skilled driver never had a problem despite slipping sideways on many occasions. |
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Three
years ago the Marsh Pride was the star of the
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The weaver birds are bright and busy making their upside down nests on these very thorny bushes. |
 Wherever
we looked there was something different. This bittern was fishing just
outside our tent on the edge of the lake.We quizzed our guide about the bird and it seems its a visitor and not a native of the area. No doubt attracted by the very wet weather and the multitude of frogs about. |
Our
driver told us that there had been no reports of Cheetah in the area for
over a month but on the way back from our second balloon flight this chap
was just visible from the track. Cheetah are such majestic animals.
Part
of our enjoyment of the area is the vast array of birds.|
All the time we had a clear view of the pilots and the controls which thankfully made the return journey very interesting. Our overnight stay in Nairobi at the Country Lodge hotel was comfortable and we had a relaxed start to the final morning before being picked up by our taxi and whisked off to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Our flight back with Virgin was comfortable and we really enjoyed the opportunity to watch "The Inbetweeners" film because we'd missed it when it was at the cinema - great fun. |
All
too soon our week in the Masai Mara was over and we found ourselves sitting
in the Landcruiser in the rain on the edge of the airstrip waiting for our
flight to take us back to Nairobi. Normally the flight back to Wilson
airport in Nairobi takes an hour however because of the bad weather the