We are up at 5:30 A.M. and out of camp by 6:15. Today is Rada and Kent's last day with us. I will miss them. Rada has been the consummate trooper throughout. If anything bothers her, you will never know. She is invariably positive and fun. Kent is just plain fun. He has a great sense of humor and incredible timing when dropping his one-liners. They have made this an even better trip for all of us.

At 7 A .M. the rays of a warming sun reveal nine members of the Double Cross lion pride. There are six cubs and three females dozing peacefully. Romeo II and Mohawk are known to be companions of these females but we do not see them this morning..

We drive on and pass a lone Cape buffalo bull, a handsome Water Buck, a colorful yellow billed stork and a hippo & giraffe sharing a dry river bed.  

At 8 AM we spot three lions - two females and one young male. One of the females is stalking a warthog for breakfast. It is exciting to watch as she meticulously sets up the attack. All her work goes for naught when a Grant’s gazelle detects her presence and blows the whistle. The attack fails and the warthog will live to wallow in mud for another day.

We stop in the middle of the plain and watch as three lions approach. One of these is a young female who begins jumping around like her paw is on fire . We are mystified until we see she has captured a small field mouse. From our vantage point it is difficult to tell if she is playing with the mouse or trying to eat it. That question is soon answered when she begins to screw her face into all kinds of weird expressions.

Bill has the answer. The lioness is experiencing neophobia. This condition occurs when a young lion tastes a type of food which has not been introduced by the mother. Our lioness’ taste glands are trying to determine if the substance is safe to eat or not. In the end, she decides to leave the mouse on the ground and walks away.      

At 9:30 we rendezvous with our camp staff and enjoy breakfast on the Mara. Following our meal we drive toward the Mara River. Along the way we pass a handsome male waterbuck; another Saddlebill Stork; and, a number of grazing Topi, some with babies.

We arrive at the Mara River to find the gargantuan crocodiles lined up along the river bank like parked tractor trailers . These are the same crocs made famous by Nat Geo Wild. TV usually makes objects look larger but not this time. Many of these crocs are over eighteen feet long. I will never again wonder why migrating wildebeest and zebra are helpless against these behemoths.

The Migration is still months away from this section of the river. These are lean months for the crocs here. Ordinarily, it would be months before their next meal. This year is different. A huge hippo has died and is wedged between the river bank and some rocks. Crocs surround the cadaver. They grab a prodigious mouthful and spin to rip the flesh. We leave them to complete their gruesome smorgasbord.

A safari vehicle belonging to another camp is stopped next to a clump of tall grass in an otherwise open plot of ground. They tell us a Serval Cat is hiding in the grass. Indeed, we see him….barely. He is a master at using his surroundings for cover.

There is a great deal of game on the Mara today . We pass a mother warthog and two youngsters. Warthogs live in groups called "sounders". The male is called a boar and the female a sow. Babies are referred to as piglets. The average litter is two to four. Here on the Mara, a sow often has five or six in a litter. Many piglets fall to predators before reaching maturity.

Every African plains animal has defensive capabilities which contribute to its ability to survive predators. It may be speed or coloration or acute smell or hearing. In addition, all animals benefit from a cooperative alert system which is much like our “Neighborhood Watch”. The Watch is made up of creatures with super keen eyesight who call out a warning when predators are near. The jackal is one such creature. Baboons and Vervet monkeys also have excellent eyesight and their ability to climb trees adds to their value on the Watch. The Go-Away bird is another sharp eyed, vocal sentry.

On the ground, few animals are more effective members of the Watch than the Topi . The Topi’s eyesight is superior. The Mara is dotted with thousands of termite mounds and, often, a Topi can be seen atop a mound surveying the neighborhood and watching out for its grazing brethren.

This afternoon we return to camp to pack and prepare for tomorrow’s departure. By 6 PM we are back in the field and observing a family of Maasai Mara elephants. We spend some time with the elephants but our real target this evening is the Moniko lion pride. We find some of the pride resting along the flanks of a densely vegetated hill.

This is a large, formidable pride. We have seen seventeen of its members over the last few days. Our Guides tell us there are twenty four pride members including six mature females, two mature males and the balance being sub-adults and cubs.

There are several other safari vehicles in the area this evening and we learn that other pride members are holed up on top of the hill . Ping and Daniel are determined we will stay until the pride hunts. We sit, watch and wait. Other vehicles come and go but, as night descends, we are alone. Beth and I use our binoculars to keep track of the pride members as best we can. I see several of the females yawning. Bill says the yawning always precedes movement. We pass the word to be vigilant.

All at once there is movement high up on the hill. The rest of the pride is descending. Slowly and silently they file down the hill through the brush and over the stony outcrops. They reach the bottom and begin to fan out onto the plain and toward our two vehicles. Steadily, they file past us like ghostly mirages. The silence in our vehicle is so complete we can hear their pads contact the ground. Then, the darkness swallows them and they are gone.

Ping is not deterred. Our vehicles move off but not directly behind the pride. If Bill had not alerted me to Ping’s uncanny ability to anticipate lion behavior, I might have wondered where we were going . I said nothing…and waited. It is now so dark photography is impossible. To see, one looks to the horizon and hopes there is enough ambient light so our eyes can detect a shape or a movement. It is that dark.

Ping has placed us perfectly. We see their outline in the dark and feel – more than hear - as they move relentlessly past us and toward some unknown destination. First, the hunting females move through followed by the male and female sub-adults. Several baby-sitting young females pass with the cubs in tow. Finally, a senior female brings up the rear making sure no one is left behind.             

The vehicles are repositioned once more. Again, Ping and Daniel have us perfectly placed as the pride materializes out of the haze. The humidity is so high there is a mist hanging heavy in the air. Our Guides have left the headlights on low beam and pointed away from the approaching pride. The females slink out of the mist with their yellow eyes reflecting the ambient light from our vehicles. They are only a few feet away from us. No one breathes! I have never seen – nor do I ever wish to see - a more ghostly sight than I did that night. The hair on my neck still stands on end at the very thought of it. Exciting? Oh, yes!

The pride passes us for that last time. They enter an area where our vehicles cannot follow. We leave them in peace and wish them well in their hunting. They have given us an experience none will forget.