Our final stop on this amazing trip was the Maasai Mara. The Maasai Mara is a continuation of the Serengeti plains (with the Ngorongoro Crater area to the south – see map) but in Kenya, not Tanzania. What surprised us the most was how green (and less dusty!) it is here in the Mara compared to the brown of the Serengeti.

We flew from the Serengeti to Arusha, Tanzania and from there to Nairobi where we spent the night. The next day we flew to our final destination.

I have never flown in such a tiny plane. I took this photo from the front passenger seat, immediately behind the pilot. This is the WHOLE aircraft!

The flight was smooth and after the zebras were cleared from the runway, so was the landing.

We stayed for four days at the Mara Bush Camp which is another great place for safari-ing. Again, it is in the game reserve so animals freely wander about especially at night when it is quiet. We all had personal Maasi warriors to ensure our nights were peaceful and to walk us to and from our tents after dark. The warriors carried spears and flashlights. I trusted mine completely!

We saw  many of the same animals we spotted in Tanzania so I will post new sightings and more interesting behaviours. However I saw many birds I hadn’t seen before so shall post lots of them.

There are mongoose (mongeese?) all over the Maasi Mara, but it took to my last day to see one. They blend in well with the ground covering.

Our guide explained that giraffes splay their front legs when they drink to stop the flow of blood to their heads. Their hearts have to pump very hard to supply the head with blood; too much blood would flow to the brain when the head is below the heart. Thus the giraffes can only drink for 30-40 seconds and then must raise their heads to restart the blood flow.

I’m putting in another leopard photo because sightings are rare, and we were lucky to catch this one at such close range.

One reason my friends and I chose the July safari was to see the migration of the wildebeests from the Mara to the Serengeti. Sadly, most of the millions of wildebeests had already crossed the Mara River, but we were lucky to see this mini-crossing. We were a bit anxious for the animals who stopped to drink as there were a few hungry-looking crocodiles nearby.

I have showed the secretary bird in earlier photos, but this is the first with his/her black nape feathers up. The bird raises them when s/he is hunting. These birds are very large – they grown to around 150 cm ( 5 feet)!

My photo of the day from the Maasi Mara. Tuonane kesho.