Left at 6:15 for ALL-DAY GAME DRIVE

Lion dragging its kill into bushes is the first thing we see; amazing!

Lions - So many separate sightings. Lots of food for them with the Migration. Wildebeest are everywhere from horizon to horizon--Unbelievable!

Lioness lying by a kill and yawning, two young males, Male right next to road that got up and walked away, Female with impala kill in bushes. Moses drove right next to them and they totally ignore the truck. 

Can't believe we saw so much and it's only 8 am! Definitely worth getting up early.

Topi - only found in Mara. They call them blue jeans and yellow socks

Pride of 8 Lions - the lions in the Mara are so much bigger than the ones we saw in Nairobi, Samburu, & Solio

Wildebeest all along the Mara River. They sure look like they are ready to cross.
Moses said it could be another several hours so let's eat breakfast. 
Wondering why we are traveling up a hill away from the river; a bit panicked that we could miss seeing them cross.
Breakfast--After driving way up on a hill under a tree, Moses & Mrufa get everything out and the bacon is frying.
Moses suddenly says: "Hurry up, put everything on the ground and jump into the truck, the Wildies are going to cross now." You've never seen four people move so fast. In a flash tables were removed from truck, food and everything just left on ground, jumped in truck, rushed down to river. 
They parked the truck in the exact spot where the Wildebeests crossed. Should never have wondered "Why we were going up the hill."  These experienced guides knew exactly what they were doing. From up on the hill, they could tell by the wildebeest's movements that they were ready to cross.

A "MEGA RIVER CROSSING" of about 500,000 Wildebeests took place directly in front of us. Impressive seeing it on tv/pictures, but unbelievable seeing it happen in person.  

A Hippo was in the river where a Wildie jumped right on the Hippo's head. 
One Crocodile tried many times to get a Wildie with no success. A Wildie went right over the Croc's head and a baby swam right in front of it--never got a one. We called it the most inept Croc ever.

The Wildies came out of the water right next to the front and back of the truck; we were surrounded by them in an absolutely perfect location to see everything. About 7 more trucks pulled up around us, but we had the ideal spot.

Watched the entire crossing thanks to these amazing guides; we are in awe of their abilities. Thanks to them we were blessed enough to have this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Moses told us a man has come ten times to the Mara and still hasn't seen a crossing. All this by 10:00. 

Back to the hill for breakfast. Hurray, the food is still here. Amazing having such a delicious breakfast from a camp stove in the middle of the African plains.
Couldn't dream of a more PERFECT morning!

On to more GAME DRIVE:

Lilac-Breasted Roller - Kenya's national bird; 7 colors; beautiful

LUNCH
Long-tail Rauppel Starling - Brilliant color. They serenaded us during lunch.
Elephants we saw walked fairly close to us. Fun watching the babies.

They came close and we must have made a noise the mother didn't like because she bellowed and flared her ears. Moses had us put our food down and jump into the truck. They moved on so we finished without any problem.

GAME DRIVE continued:
--Warthog and her piglets - when then run, their tail is straight up in the air.  
Moses claimed "the warthog is saying Kenya is #1"

Thompson's Gazelle ready to give birth - watched for a while but she laid down and didn't move. Moses said it could be hours

Stopped at River.  Lois was joking around, "Let's take our shoes off and put our feet in river since it is so hot." To our surprise, Moses stopped and we all walked out on the rocks (shoes on, of course).

When we went to go back, rocks were starting to get covered with water. Moses & Mrufa really were careful with Lois so she wouldn't fall on the slippery rocks, holding her hands the entire way. Sure was nice to stretch our legs after so many hours in the truck.

Mwazda - flat headed Agama Lizard sitting on a rock as we crossed a gully in the truck. Even the lizards are colorful.

Lions: 2 young males.  Don't know how Mrufa spotted them. They were hidden in trees watching the Wildebeest walking right next to them, but not the least bit interested 

4 Lions lying in open field - mother and her 3 sons about one-year old.
Great to be so close watching them play while the mother slept.

Cheetah walking toward the Wildebeest. Too many trucks, one of which scared the Wildies away so we didn't get to see a chase.

Cheetah - another one; we are right next to it eating a baby gazelle

Lions way far away. Mrufa, who we nicknamed "Hawkeye," spotted 4 males.
Away we go to see them up close. 4 males--1 in grass; 3 sleeping in brush until our presence woke them up. Incredible the amount of lions in the Masai Mara.

Rain storms all around us, but no rain on us. Reminds of Florida in the summer.

What an unbelievable day! A Mega River Crossing and 23 Lions.

Moses said this was on of his BEST days ever!!

It sure was more than we ever dreamed we would see and experience!
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Back to camp around 5:30 pm. Love sitting by the fire.

Evening Campfire

Tulishia joining the campfire

Dinner--lamb chops--with Debbie.
We are only people in camp tonight.
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That night around 10 pm, we hear Lion growls.
So cool; just what we wanted our tent experience to be!

In the middle of the night, heard the brush being crushed by something big.
Next morning the staff said probably elephant or buffalo.  
Love this place!!