The African Water Buffalo

I was so impressed and amazed by the grace and beauty of the African Water Buffalo. They're such a proud big ole beast. They know they're big and bad. And I love em for that.

I am an African Water Buffalo.

I am Proud.

Animals matter. Especially this big ole giant of a beast.  

More Masai Mara Shots

A few shots from Masai Mara. I have yet to go through all my photos and videos, but I'll get there eventually and will post anything interesting here.

I watched this handsome male lion for a long time, wondering how he could stand all the flies that seemed to be a permanent fixture on his nose. Finally he yawned and I think you can even see the flies' wings as they buzzed around. I think a few ended up as lion lunch - you can see one or two on his tongue. The female lioness that he was with didn't seem to mind his fly breath at all.

There's a funny story behind this shot. Everyone in our group (mostly professional photographers) was trying to get a good close-up shot of a hippo when it surfaced. I was one of the more inexperienced photographers and definitely more lax in my approach. If I get a good shot, bonus.  I happened to be the only photographer in our group standing where I was and I was just taking in the sights, looking around, laughing at stuff. Then all of a sudden this hippo pops out of the water right in front of me - just a few feet away. I was able to get this shot but after that he became more elusive and wouldn't come as far out of the water as he did in this pic. Here's to quick reflexes and luck. I'm sure there are much better hippo-peeking-out-of-water shots, but I was happy with this one. I especially love that he has a sleepy/lazy look in his eye.

I think this guy is a Cape Griffon or Cape Vulture, but if I'm wrong I'm sure someone will correct me.

I was honestly amazed at the detail in this photo because I wasn't anticipating it to be a decent shot. These are the guys that we'd see swarming around carcasses. The hyenas were constantly trying to chase them off but these guys are pretty quick.

This mother cheetah was very protective of her young 'un and this pose perfectly displays that. 

This was the first time I had seen cheetahs in the wild so it was pretty damn cool for me. The cheetahs would perch on top of these termite mounds that appear all across the savannah so they can get better viewing of any game they want to hunt.

Ah, this big beautiful matriarch elephant was one of my favorite sights. I told our Maasai driver that he could just drop me off with the elephants. I'd hang with them all day and be perfectly happy. Elephants are my all time favorite; their sensitivity and intelligence are just amazing. Rumor has it they're telepathic.

This "cute" little hyena cracked me up because he reeked! Stink doesn't begin to describe it.

It was quite frankly like something out of Satan's ass. Or, what I'd expect something out of Satan's ass to smell like. After seeing the look on his face in this shot, it made it even funnier. It's as if he knew he reeked and was in on the joke.

Animals Matter. Even the stinky ones.

Elephants!

During the first two or three days of our stay in Kenya, we had only seen a lone male elephant from time to time but no large groups of elephants (much to my dismay). Then, on the fourth day, to my delight we came across a family of elephants. I told Wilson, our driver, that he could just drop me off to stay with the elephants and pick me up on the way back. I loved just being in their presence, just watching them. Their social interaction is so fascinating to me because they're highly intelligent, sensitive and social creatures.

Once we saw the first group of elephants, in the days to come we began seeing more and more elephants. Mike, a professional wildlife photographer who was also staying at the camp, was able to answer my question about why there weren't more elephants around. Apparently the elephants don't particularly like the massive herds of wildebeest and zebra that come thundering through and they move to other areas where the wildebeest and zebra aren't migrating. Makes sense to me. Hopefully on my next trip I'll be able to spend more time with the elephants. I was able to get a few decent photos and get my elephant fix.

An elephant in the Mara in sepia

An elephant mom and her calf

A small elephant family procession

Africa and Its Wonderful People

I often write about the beauty of Africa and the amazing animals and scenery, but it's also the wonderful people of this continent that make it so memorable. At our camp, which is on Maasai land, we had Maasai guides who also served as bodyguards of sorts. If it's after sunset, they'd walk us to our tents, carrying their spears and a flashlight to illuminate the pathway. They were always there to greet us when we returned from our game viewing drives and would ask how our days went and what we saw. I'd honestly be hard pressed to find friendlier people anywhere in the world.

We had four Maasai drivers - Dominic, Henry, Jackson, and Wilson. They're so knowledgeable and can quickly point out animals hiding in bushes or in the tall grass. I love talking to them and learning more about their heritage, their customs, and their love of the land. Before leaving Austin, I made sure to download a Swahili app to learn a few phrases (although many speak English as well, plus other native languages). I learned the basic phrases, like "please," and "thank you," and "how are you today?" And of course the greeting "Jambo!"

The other people who worked at the camp included the cooks, the wait staff, the camp managers Toby and Maxine, and other Maasai who fulfilled various other duties around Entim. They were always extremely courteous and able to help in any way possible. I'm from the South and we consider ourselves to be very friendly and warm, but everyone I've spent time with in Africa has been equally nice and hospitable.

After returning from afternoon drives, we'd congregate around the fire with a drink in hand and share stories about our day, stories from back home, jokes, anything that came to mind. I was fortunate to be sharing this experience with a wonderful group of people from all around the world and it was wonderful to sit around a fire laughing at jokes or stories. By the time the trip was drawing to a close, we had all become good friends and were sorry to have to say goodbye. Maybe we'll meet up again one day in Africa. Fortunately, with Facebook and social networking, we've been able to locate each other, share our photos, and keep in touch.

The tents were on a double occupancy basis unless you wanted to pay extra to have your own tent. Another traveler was a female from Austin and although we didn't know each other prior to the trip, we shared a tent and had a great time swapping stories. The tents are, well, tents ... so you can hear each other at night when it's quiet. Bethany and I would return to our tent each evening and one thing or another would send us into gales of laughter; this seemed to be a nightly occurrence with us. We called ourselves the Two Hyenas because of our laughing bouts and silly antics.

The food was so good that Valerie and I had to go check out the chef's tent to see where he created all these dishes we enjoyed every day. I was surprised that it wasn't a large tent; it was actually smaller than the tent Bethany and I shared. But it had all the workings of a professional kitchen and they did a great job of keeping us well fed and happy. We even had steak one night, although it seemed to curse Bethany and me later that night in the tent which (of course) sent us off into more laughing fits.

If you left your tent after dark, as soon as you zipped up the flap one of the Maasai guards would magically appear in front of you. We found this humorous since they really seemed to appear from nowhere, even when we thought we were being as quiet as mice.

One night when walking on the pathway back to our tent after dinner, I looked down and saw these tiny little things glowing in the grass. Much like fireflies except they didn't fly but they did twinkle. They're little glowworms, about a centimeter long. One of the Maasai told me that they absorb the ultraviolet rays during the daytime. They were absolutely beautiful and yet another magical thing about Africa. Even the tiny glowworms were quite beautiful.

Me outside our tent

The female photographers in our group

L to R: Valerie, me, Susi, Vanessa and Bethany

David Lloyd, our tour leader posing with the camera equpment

Masai Mara 2012 Photos

Here's a few preliminary photos from my recent trip to Masai Mara. These photos have very little, if any, post-processing done to them. I need to learn Lightroom or Photoshop!

http://www.flickr.com/people/wildfolio/

Cheetah mom and her young

Giraffe strolling by

One of my favorites - an elephant matriarch - a beauty!

A big beautiful male lion and lioness of the Marsh Pride

Our group of photographers and our Maasai guides

Elephants - Finally!

Many of the Masai Mara elephants leave when the migration comes through because they're not particularly fond of the thundering megaherd of wildebeest and zebra.  After being in the Mara for about three days, we started seeing elephants. Then in the upcoming days we saw more and more and I was ecstatic. I love the big cats, but elephants are my all time favorite. Here's a photo of a family of elephants, one of the first groups of elephants we spotted.

The Marsh Pride

This gorgeous male lion and lioness were lounging by the water early Friday morning.  He tried unsuccessfully to mate with the lioness but she apparently wasn't in the mood.

Cheetah and Cub

Here's a shot of the mother cheetah with one of her cubs. While the cubs ate the dinner their mother caught for them, she paced around nearby on the constant lookout for other predators to ensure the cubs could eat uninterrupted.

The First Wildebeest Sightings of The Great Migration 2012 in Kenya

The Great Migration of 2012 got off to a late start due to rains, but the wildebeest are already arriving in parts of Kenya.

Here's another blog post of the progress of the Megaherd.

The Great Migration

on Wednesday, 25 July 2012. Posted in Properties, Mara West Luxury Tents, Entumoto

THE MIGRATION IS NOT A SINGLE OCCURRENCE; IT IS A NEVER-ENDING CYCLE WHICH BEGINS FOR A WILDEBEEST WITH ITS BIRTH AND ENDS WITH ITS DEATH.

A little later than in recent years, the Great Migration of 2012 finally kicked off just over a week ago. Due to heavy rains in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem since early this year, the Plains grass has been long and has hampered the progress of the wildebeest, delaying their arrival north into Kenya.

However, as of 17^th July, the herds have been making steady progress into Kenya with the first reported arrival in the Mara of a group of around 10,000 Wildebeest on 17^th and 18^th July. From the Sand River area, isolated concentrations of Zebra and Wildebeest were observed congregating in the north of the Serengeti. According to sightings in the area, the current migrating herds have split into three distinct groups with one making its way up from Grumeti in the eastern Serengeti; another moving north from Bologonja (approximately 10 miles south of the Masai Mara in the northern Serengeti) towards the Sand River; and a third approaching from the eastern side of the Kuka Hills. This third group started trickling into the Mara on 17^th July. On 20^th July guests at Porini Lion Camp reported having seen several hundred wildebeest crossing the Mara River and on 24^th July thousands of Wildebeest were seen crossing the Sand River between Sala’s Camp and the Mara River South Bridge, very likely part of the group which had been coming up from Bologonja - so the action has most definitely started!

On a slightly disappointing note, anger and dissension was triggered a few days ago when Controlled Burning in northern Tanzania was falsely and maliciously reported in the local press as arson and an “attempt to stop the Migration” (yes, really!). This is emphatically not the case and Controlled Burning, or “Swailing” as it is also known, is a technique widely employed both here and indeed worldwide as a responsible method of not only preventing hotter and more dangerous fires later on but also, and equally importantly, clearing the way for the germination of fresh grass – thereby renewing the plains and actually helping, rather than hindering, our Game.

The Great Migration

Throughout the Serengeti and Masai Mara, approximately 1.5 million wildebeest, 400,000 zebra, 500,000 Thompson gazelles, along with numerous other species, are on their epic annual journey. It's referred to as The Great Migration and is an annual movement of animals - a megaherd - migrating to areas with more abundant rains, vegetation and food. The megaherd moves in a huge clockwise circle, starting from the southern Serengeti plains in January.  By February movement has slowly begun. The herd stays in the Serengeti during calving and is moving again by April. By June the megaherd has begun crossing the Grumeti River before making its way north towards the Masai Mara in Kenya. By July many have arrived at the Mara River but the animals often wait for more to arrive so their numbers can grow. The term "safety in number" definitely applies here, since predators await them at every turn. At water's crossings that includes crocodiles. They're "not out of the water" yet, even after crossing the treacherous waters filled with crocs since prides of lions lie in wait on the other side of the river hoping for a meal.

I'll be lucky enough to be in the Masai Mara very soon and will be experiencing this wilderness spectacle for myself. I hope to get some great shots, as well as video, and will be posting them here live from the Mara.

A semi-animated map of the migration can be found here; you can click on each month to see the herd's route:

http://www.wildwatch.com/great_migration/

This site has a fully animated map showing the animals as they move:

http://www.africasafari.com/great_migration.cfm

For more updates on The Great Migration of 2012, please check back here in the coming weeks. I'll do my best to provide some entertainment along with viewing of the migration and the assorted array of animals that I encounter out in the bush.

Animals Matter.

Masai Mara in 2012 with David Lloyd and the Burrard-Lucas Brothers

This year I'm going to try to get to Africa twice - hopefully once in April or May and then again on a photography expedition to the Masai Mara in August with David Lloyd and the Burrard-Lucas brothers. All three are renowned wildlife photographers so hopefully I can soak up some of their talent just by being around them!

I'm absolutely intent on going in August; this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If you're a wildlife photographer, you may want to consider going. Information about the trip can be found on David Lloyd's website at this link:

Masai Mara Photo Tour

Wildebeest Crossing, an image taken from David Lloyd's camp site in the Masa Mara, Sept 2010

Photo by David Lloyd

Animals Matter.

Wildlife Matters.

Africa Matters.