Having visited Tsavo six times, I decided it was time to visit the the most famous wildlife reserve in Kenya, the Masai Mara. The Mara is known for one GREAT MIGRATION of wilder beast which happens during July/August every year. Over 2 million animals cross the Mara river which is festered with crocodiles to graze the grassy plains of the Mara. Its a feasting time for the big cats and the Mara has the highest density of big cats anywhere in Africa. The entire Mara comes alive during this period. Enough of me talking about the Mara, lets talk about the trip. My colleague Daniel & myself decided to make a trip to the Mara during the last weak of November. It was the last weekend of the off-peak season thus we wanted to capitalize on the low hotel rates since we were on a tight budget. Daniel, being a Kenyan had never visited the Mara before, so this trip was very special to him. There is a reason why hotels call it off season. Only the resident animals were there. All the migratory animals had left and the Mara had once again gone to sleep. It was cold and rainy. Even which such negatives Mara still stands out because of the shear abundance of big cats!
We reached our lodge just in time for lunch. We had a two hour game drive in the evening. We saw a pride of lions within a couple of minutes. But the most memorizing part of the drive was the scenic beauty of the Mara plains. That evening was rainy and cold. Next day we began our early morning game drive.
What we saw was a bit controversial. A pride of lions had killed a Masai cow. The Masai is a tribe which lives around the Masai Mara and they have thousands of cattle. They are not allowed to bring the cattle inside the park, but I guess not everyone follows rules. As the story goes, some Masai bring their cattle in the night inside the park to graze. Its not like the entire park could be fenced? So for the lions its a easy kill. Now the problem doesn’t end there. As per Masai tradition if a lion kills a cow that lion MUST BE KILLED! So if a lion kills a cow it has singed its own death sentence! I am not sure what happened next but what we saw was pretty unique and amazing.
Since it was a full day game drive what we saw was just a glimpse what was yet to come. We saw Zebra, Giraffe, Buffalo, Elephants and many more animals.
As we progressed all of a sudden, there was sighting of leopard. Our safari van flew to the location. And there it was chilling out on a tree. This was my sighting of a leopard. Personally the leopard it most resourceful and beautiful cat you could ever think off. The eyes of the leopard just hypnotize’s you!!
After our leopard encounter we saw more lions and lions. There were four Cheetah’s who were chilling out as well. After spending nearly 30 minutes near the Cheetah’s we headed towards the Mara river. During this migration this place would be packed with over 2 million animals. But the entire plain was empty. But the scenic view, wow no words to describe!
As we reached the Mara river, we saw plenty of hippo’s in the river and on the banks. There were huge croc’s as well. How many animals met their demise at the jaws of these prehistoric predators? Countless I guess.
We didn’t realize it was time for lunch. We had a picnic lunch in middle of the Mara plains under a shade of a tree. It was a breathtaking experience!
After lunch we headed towards the Kenya-Tanzania boarder. The Kenyan part is known as the Masai Mara and the Tanzania part is known as the Serengeti. As we were on are way we saw a Y shaped tree and there was something in-between the tree. As we got closer we realized it was a male lion!
Personally is the best shot I have photographed so far!! As we got closer the lion got down and guess what there was a another male lion chilling on the grass. These were two male nomad lions who are brothers.
Next as we went on we saw a black Rhino in the Serengeti! This was rare sighting because there are only a handful of Rhino in the area.
What a day it was!! We returned back to the camp by around 5 in the evening. It began to pour! I had never seen so much rain!! We were very luck to have sunshine during the day and just made it out in time. Next day we began our final early morning game drive. We saw a pride of lions stalking some Topi but their cover was blown and the Topi made their escape.
After spending time near the pride of lions we were on way out of the park when mother nature treating us to one final spectacle. There were two Cheetah’s chilling by the side of the road.
Overall it was an eventful trip. Our driver/ guide said we were one of his most luckiest guests who saw the BIG 5! Even though the migration had concluded a couple of months back, Mara was abundant in life. At the Mara, you don’t have to go in search of the big cats. They literally come to you. The Masai Mara is not only a national treasure in Kenya but it’s also a world heritage where the hunter and the hunted co-existed of thousands of years and we must protect and preserve the Mara for future generations.
Lalindra De Silva 
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