Maasai Mara: a feast of wildlife sightings in Kenya

​By Roxanne Reid
You’ve read the stories, seen the documentaries. Now you want to experience a safari in the Maasai Mara for yourself, in real-life technicolour and surround-sound. If it’s a feast of wildlife sightings you’re looking for at Mara Plains Camp in the Mara, you’ve come to the right place.

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​It’s impossible to come to the Maasai Mara and not see lots of buffaloes, zebras, giraffes and gazelles. Wildebeest too – even if you’re there before the migrating zebra and wildebeest herds arrive from the Serengeti. That’s because there are lots of resident white-bearded wildebeest who hang out with the zebras and topis and gazelles all year round. ‘They’re not very smart,’ said guide Edwin Senteu. ‘They have bad memories and quickly forget they’ve seen a lion and then move off a little way and start grazing again.’

Wildebeest are not very good at making decisions either. At the start of a game drive from Mara Plains Camp we watched some of them wanting to cross the Ntiaktiak River close to camp. If one moved, others would follow. Then they’d see a zebra going the other way and turn around and follow that, to and fro. ‘They have scent on their hooves so they follow the scent of those that have gone before,’ he said.

​Because of this confusion, they’re much more likely to fall prey to lions than a topi (a tsessebe cousin). Topis stand on termite mounds to keep watch for predators, and they’re also fast runners, so not a huge part of a lion diet. Except perhaps when they’re sparring and the rest of the world falls away. We watched them spar in the cold morning air, first one pair then another, then running around to look for another wrangling partner. 

Topi getting some height to check for predators

Topis sparring

Lions and leopards
There are so many lions in the Mara it’s almost possible to get bored with them. Almost. Think of anything lions can do and we saw it while staying at Mara Plains, from sleeping and feeding to playing, squabbling and mating. 

Lion sightings begin before sunrise and continue all day

Lion cubs are full of energy in the cool of early morning

As the day warms up, lions spend a lot of time resting or sleeping

There were multiple sightings of two leopards in the area too. We had a wonderful sighting of one of them, but the other was more cautious, hiding in the bushes of a riverbed where it had slung a kill in a tree. No matter, it was fun searching for her even though our only reward was a cryptic ear among the shadows.

Picnic meals
Just when you think the excitement is getting too much and your cheeks are aching from grinning, your guide will find an open spot on the plains, with good visibility so he can keep a watch for predators, and unpack a picnic breakfast or lunch. It’s a chance to relax and refuel for the next batch of thrilling sightings and wildlife interactions.

Picnic breakfast on the Mara plains

Cheetah cub
Early one morning we saw a cheetah and her cub with the remains of a baby Thompson’s gazelle that she’d killed. An icy wind was blowing the cub’s mane as it worried at the meat, doing more chewing and licking than actual eating. They start eating meat at about two months old, though they still also suckle till they’re about four months. 

In a sneaky move, the cub tried to eat an already chewed piece from its mom’s mouth. It had blood up to its eyebrows and on its paws, but mom later gave it a good licking to clean it.

Frisky in the early morning air, the cub pounced on and try to ‘kill’ what was left of the carcass, a small rock, a tuft of grass. Then it bit mom’s tail before racing through the middle of a bush, around it and back for another dash – as energetic as a small child hyped on sweets. 

Hyena cubs
One of our best sightings happened late in the afternoon – a small group of spotted hyenas that kept growing with the arrival of new ones till there were 14 of them. Among them were a few six-month-old cubs and one of two- to three months, still brown before it will start to get spots at four months. 

The youngest spotted hyena cub

​Two of the six-monthers suckled on two different females, but a third hyena wouldn’t let the tiny one suckle, just pushed it away with a hind leg. It was interesting to watch the greeting and subservience behaviour, with little pink penises dangling and lots of sniffing at the hind quarters. 

We spent an entertaining hour with the clan before sunset. The little one was very curious and brave for such a young animal, coming toward vehicle to sniff our tyres, investigating termite mounds, small shrubs, biting a stick, and generally having an active play date all of its own.

Sunset after watching the hyenas

Vehicles for photographers
Great Plains Conservation’s Beverly and Dereck Joubert are keen photographers so all their open-sided vehicles in the Mara are customised. Think fold-down screens, raised roofs, adjustable camera rests, bean bags, multi-plug inverters, and places to stash one camera while you’re shooting with another. There’s a Canon 7D with 100-400mm lens in each tent at Mara Plains Camp, and one for each vehicle at sister camp Mara Expedition. 

Mara Plains Camp guide Edwin Senteu with one of the customised vehicles

This is great if you don’t bring your own camera. At the end of your time, they’ll give you the card with all the photos you took. Since the limit on luggage on small planes in Kenya is just 15kg – and cameras are heavy – this is great news. The guides are keen photographers too, so they’re good at placing the vehicle for shots with good action and good light.

Another sunset, this time from Mara Plains Camp

Let’s face it, no matter how good or bad a photographer you are, photos of the wildlife, landscapes, camps and people are important. After all, once your safari is over, your photos will be there forever to remind you of your time in the Maasai Mara.

See more about Mara Plains Camp

Note: I was a guest of Great Plains Conservation’s Mara Plains Camp for two nights, but I was given free rein to write what I chose. I paid for my flights to and around Kenya.

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