17th - Masai Mara

We left the lodge as planned at 0730 but reaching the park registration booth a couple of minutes later things started going south. Apparently the staff at the registration office (which was basically a large shed at a gate) hadn’t had their systems updated correctly so they hadn’t registered any transfer from the bank as payment for us (all 3 groups). They were not willing to let us through despite the guides being able to show a paper trail from the travel company and bank that the money had been sent.  This resulted in several phone calls. Then discussions. And more phone calls. Group 2 ended up going to the local town where their guide retrieved a wad of cash which was given to the park staff as payment instead – and off we went, almost 3 hours delayed.

Despite it being depressing that we had to wait for so long, less than half an hour in the park we managed to stop right in front of a small bush where two young cheetahs were relaxing in the shade.

Throughout the day we had several sightings of lions, buffalo, elephants, giraffes and what else one would expect to see in such a place.

Unfortunately no leopards we seen but we found fresh tracks from one that had crossed a road not 10 minutes earlier.

In the afternoon the drivers must have received a call over the radio because they suddenly started driving at a much higher pace than usual. After ½-1 hours of hectic driving (which probably felt much worse than it was due to the bad road conditions) we ended up in a cluster of vehicles watching a rhino with two calves (I only saw one of them and it looked like a dirt mound).

We were back at the lodge at 1900, ready for another drive tomorrow at 0800.

Wildebeest.

Plains zebra (common zebra).

Buffalo.

Cheetahs.

Southern ground hornbill.

Masai giraffe.

Grey crowned crane.

Egyptian goose

Young male lion.

It's hard work doing nothing.

Storks.

Spotted hyena.

Rhino. The small dark bump you see to the far right is one of the calves.