Last full day in The Mara… Today we had a very intense morning full of cats. We started off with the same female cheetah and three cubs we saw performing a successful hunt a few days a go. Again, they were prowling the savannah looking for potential prey and made a half-hearted attempt on a few hartebeests which were doomed to fail before it even started. It was still interesting to see the build-up and they were kind enough to attempt this hunt in glorious morning back-light.
We followed up this rather catty morning by visiting another cat. A full family of lions including the pride’s male roaming the open plains. Its a wonderful experience to see these large cats walking by your vehicle just a few meters away. It’s pure and raw power on 4 legs.
After lunch we set out again for our afternoon drive. If our morning was a bit hectic, the afternoon was more quiet. There are always wildlife around here and when things are quiet its time to try to be a bit creative and work with what you have. We did some bird photography and found a small family of elephants to work with which yielded some great results.
Before knowing it the sun started to set and the chase was on for a striking animal-on-the-horizon-with-a-striking-sunset-behind-it-shot. We found 2 beautiful male impala antelopes up on a ridge close to the car, directed the driver to position us properly and managed to get some lovely shots. We continued working with the sunset, the ever present zebra and the lovely acacia-trees littering the plains. A slow start to the afternoon developed into a creative evening session and with that we headed back to camp.