Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya

Wow!  I love the Maasai Mara.  The views and animals here are amazing! We left Lake Naivasha and drove quite a few hours on some fun African massage roads (so bumpy I smacked my head on the side of the van). The very first thing we saw was a cheetah.

This cheetah is escaping the hot, African sun under a shady tree. Our afternoon game drive was filled with buffalo, zebra, wildebeests, and our first lion sighting! (For those of you keeping score, we now have seen 3 of the Big 5- buffalo, elephant, lion; still need leopard and rhino).

We spotted a crazy looking zebra among the crowd who decided he didn’t like us taking pictures of him very much.

He showed us how powerful and male he was (warning: zebra porn!)

Don’t mess with the strangely striped zebra!

We were on the lookout for a lion most of the day when this lioness came meandering out of the bush.

She had just eaten a porcupine so her mouth was all crazy swollen from the prickly quills.  Her mouth really looks sore- maybe next time she will think twice about eating a porcupine.

Roar!

We saw hyenas scoping out leftovers for their next meal.

The Maasai Mara was full of animals although most of what we saw were wildebeests.  For a few months every year the wildebeests migrate through the Maasai Mara on their way to the Serengeti.  Right now the Serengeti is very dry so they are eating/drinking here where it is more lush currently.

Tens of thousands of wildebeests everywhere.  The predators in the area like this because then it is easier for them to hunt.  This wildebeest was someone’s meal not too long ago.

The time around sunset was my favorite time to explore.  It made for some pretty background.

The obligatory picture of a solitary tree.  These pictures were really fun to take.

Zebras everywhere!

Male ostrich (right) and female ostrich (left):

Antelope and Topi at sunset:

There is much more to come from the Maasai Mara so stay tuned.