19.11.2019 Mara
We had a very early morning start and after a cup of tea were off to the ballooning place which was 15 minutes away from the camp . On the way out of the camp , in the ink darkness , we saw a hyena within the camp ! So much for the electric fences .
At the Ballooning site we were greeted by an Englishman called Nigel and made acquaintance with two Kenyan ladies who told us it was their first time Ballooning , Dorothy and a friend . We were explained the rules .
The Balloon took about 15 minutes to get fired up and it looked spectacular in the still dark skyline with first traces of a beautiful clear African morning adumbrated by the fast improving ambient light .
It was fun watching the Kenyans holding down the basket after we had climbed in . The pilot explained about taking up the brace position while landing while the town women looked apprehensive , I and Huvida were quite insouciant as this was to be our third such flight after Sossusflei and Atacama !
Soon we were aloft! As long as the gas was not been fired up , everything was absolutely quiet . It was just breathtaking and mesmerizing from the top.
As the sun rose in the eastern sky , we saw wildlife below a plenty ! Plenty of gazelles , buffaloes and hippos all startled by the site of the balloon not very high above their heads . A group of eland bounded away in the verdant green plain below .
The pilot deftly maneuvered the flight up and down , catching the breeze and drifted us towards the Mara river .
We took pictures and soon we sighted another two balloons in the sky .
We drifted up and down for perhaps over an hour watching the landscape and the earth slide by , below us while we drifted over in eerie silence , with only the sound of the gas getting fired up from time to time in the balloon . It was absolutely magic in that cold fresh morning . Dawn was spectacular as the sky changed so many colors .
The wide plains below , the escarpment in the distance , the bird life in the air and the wildlife ion the ground : this was bliss !
The pilot slowly got the Balloon to drift over th Mara river and soon we saw pods of hippos and buffaloes and giraffes on the ground . The Buffaloes scattered in panic while the birds rose up to fly with us .
The pilot landed us , absolutely gently on to a dirt road after crossing the Mara .
It was a memorable beginning to what turned out to be a beautiful day .
We were then driven to a site close by where they had set up a splendid Bush breakfast !
On the way to the Bush breakfast we saw a really rare creature . A Serval cat was out hunting . This lithe leopard like cat with , yellow and black stripes is truly a rare sighting . It was hunting birds and we saw it jump up easily onto a tree . We managed to take some hurried shots but I wished I was better prepared . It was rare sighting .
We celebrated our flight with. champagne and were given certificates . While we sat down in that refulgent warm sunshine , we got to know each other a bit better . Turned out that the pilot traveled all over the world flying balloons and he had to leave the next day to see his dying father !
The two ladies we were told in a stage whisper by the pilot were the wives of the local governor who was apparently a Big Chief !
Beautiful starlings and shrikes visited us while we breakfasted on eggs to order pancakes and fresh fruits, sausages and bacon and warm cake washed down with a Mimosa .
In the distance we watched a solitary Tusker mock charge couple of tourist vehicles, who hurriedly drove away and then beautiful Masai giraffes sailing across the plains were a sight to behold .
Soon Akatch came along with Kay and we set off in pursuit of our days adventures .
The first thing we saw apart form the groups of Giraffes standing by the roadside were herd of elephants which were a joy to behold because of the numerous babies in the herd of various ages ! They gamboled and fought with each other having fun.
The elephants were all females led by a matriarch and babies . They looked majestic in the mid morning sun and were very close to our vehicle without seeming to threaten .
We left them and went Black Rhino spotting . We were told that there were only nine black rhinos in the park and they had been reintroduced after their population was decimated through poaching . I am given to understand that they are now thriving . We drive through muddy roads , slip sliding away in spite of the four wheel drive . The two rhinos, a mother and a year plus baby stood blinking with their short sighted eyes about 50 meters away looking completely unworldly . They are just magnificent creatures with two horns , armor plated creatures from a distant past , walking amongst us .
We then drive to the Mara river to see wide bend in the river , where the Wildebeest crossed , at great peril for the place was full of danger . We stopped frist at a wide hippo pool full of noisy hippos and huge Nile crocodiles . We were told to be very careful . A Masai guard was at hand to explain about the hippos . An African fish eagle toiled to get catfish which are to be found in abundance in the river . A grey heron and a yellow billed stork hunted for them too on the rivers edge . The hippo opened their jaws from time to time and some got up on to the bank looking for fresh grass . The hippo don’t fear anybody and because of their short sightedness , their aggressive instincts are greatly feared . More humans are killed by Hippos then by other predators in Africa , we learnt .
Around another bend in the river , and we came across a magnificent lion sitting in the other bank . This bend in the river is where the Wildebeest cross the Mara in great numbers and ford the river trying to elude the waiting crocodiles and lions ! This place , now looking so peaceful , is the place of violent drama often captured in film . There was a camera from National Geogrpahci kept permanently in place . We joked about getting into the river and I suggested that Kay could get enough dollars by taking on my bet of going down to the river in her best bikini . It was all fun and made for a superb morning .
We drove to another area along the the river .
We slowly made our way back to the camp for another warm welcome and bit of rest and lunch . Lunch in the open deck was fantastic watching all
manner of birds . We were told that earlier in the day a herd of elephants were visible in the plains in front of the swimming pool deck .
We rested for a bit and then set out again for the evening game drive . On the way In , we were suddenly accosted by loud strange sounds . Three large black and white masqued hornbills we’re fighting amongst each other flitting from treeto tree . Quite a sight .
Juliana met us .
Akatch told us that the lion pride that we had seen the previous day had made a kill close to the camp . The kill was discovered around one o clock in the afternoon by another guide .
The kill was a big bull Eland with one horn, and a looked like an injured leg . We had know that it’s days were near but little did we know that we would see it again in very different circumstances .
On the way we saw all the trees had vultures , mostly white backed vultures and lapid faced , on all the trees surrounding the dale where the carcass lay , surrounded by the lions guarding their kill. A marabou stork had also joined them , its legs shiny with its own poo to protect it from sunlight ?
The lions , four of them , had eaten so much that they just flopped in the long grass with their bellies full . The carcass was half eaten with almost surgical precision . Once the hyenas and the vultures get their jaws and beaks on the carcass , nothing would be left .
It is a sheer miracle that nearly a ton of bull eland could disappear like that . After watching the scene and the beautiful nearly white lionesses for a while, we moved on.
Soon we started tracking another lioness at another part of the wide open savannah . We saw lilac breasted rollers , baboons on the prowl , impalas and Topi’s on the way . On a dry branch , high up , we saw a beautiful Brown parrot which had an emerald green tail .
The lioness that we were looking for was with a cub . The lioness has been out hunting and had left its cub behind hidden in the bush for the fear of hyenas and other predators .
The lioness , having lost sight of its cub , having wandered afar , started roaring , so that the cub could hear her . From time to time she would stop and listen for its cubs cries and thus try to locate it . She slowly walked across the large open plain and stopped and roared again and again , with a long series of coughs getting shorter and higher pitched . An impala stamped its feet and gave its warning and stood watching.
Our vehicles tried to follow the lioness . In the distance I saw two ostriches dancing and feeding . We made our way back as the clouds gathered . A hyena scavenged near the entrance gate of the park , the security guards oblivious to the predator just behind their tents . Then more Cape buffaloes and antelopes , before we finally reached the camp .
After a quick shower and change , we went to have dinner .
Huvi was already talking to Juliana by the time I arrived . A nice roaring campfire was set out in a clearing , surrounded by tall trees with spreading canopies . In those branches , Juliana pointed out a bushbaby which was a resident and a tree hyrax ! I got to see the tree hyrax with Juliana but not the bushbaby !
We spent time chatting with Juliana over drinks and we got to hear about her life in sports and outdoors . She grew up on a thousand hectares farm in Bloemfontein .
Huvida’s visa for Tanzania had not come through yet and we were quite anxious about it . Juliana assured us that we could get a Visa on arrival and somebody would be there to help us . With that assurance we settled down to dinner , after a cigar and a single malt . Excellent Fish and vegetables and African bean stew with salads was our mainstay of our candlelight dinner . We went to sleep that night with to of sound of Hyenas in the bush echoing in the darkness of the bush , a reminder of the drama that was an African bush at night !
Poolside and open Savannah
Travels with Huvi et Tufan 