We stayed in the Sopa Lodge for two nights, after visiting Maji Moto a Masai camp, and outfitter destination where ,Sankale Ntutu, our guide and a Masai Warrior Chief instructor who is about to join the elders council in the Masai community, since he’s trained three generations of Masai warriors, and is about to finish training the fourth generation. After arriving at Masai Mara and getting some much needed rest in a bed we did not feel quite as fatigued coming from the tents and basics at Maji Moto. Even though we woke up as always early in the morning to get a full day of safari from 7:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Which saw a miscellany of animals grazing or hunting. Some of those animals included: zebras, gnus, gazelles, black rhino, lions and even leopards. We were extremely lucky to see three black rhinos, since there are only two thousand black rhinos in all of Kenya, and only eighteen in the whole of the park we visited. The exact number of animals we saw was difficult to calculate. Although it was challenging to stand and shoot in the vans, we got some amazing shots and footage of gorgeous wildlife and terrain before heading back to our hotel.
After a great lunch including many native Kenyan dishes, we broke off in order to experience the second round of safari periods known as “magic hours”- (dusk and dawn)- when many of the large grazers and predators are most active. The safari started as usual with gazelles and gnus, followed by zebras and different kind of birds. We drove through the beautiful Kenyan landscape getting many good photos again. All of a sudden, our driver Felix stopped next to another car not belonging to our group. The two drivers were talking about something in Swahili. I concluded that their conversation might be about trying to locate a cheetah because right after their talk, we made a u-turn and followed the other car. Immediately after, we saw the cheetah. This was a fantastic start to the afternoon because it was difficult to find and even harder to take pictures of the cheetah, since it was hiding so well. We were able to take some nice photos of the cheetah. The driver left this spot soon after, knowing where to go next. Suddenly, we saw an animal we haven’t seen before on our trip, a leopard – the most illusive animal in the reserve. The leopard looked so amazing and stunning especially in its natural habitat, but photographing it proved to be extremely difficult. Although everyone got his or her images, I felt sad for the leopard, since we were clearly invading its space. Of course everyone wants to have the perfect images and the best views but also should respect the life of animals. We then headed home. It was dusk and so the sunset was exquisite. Halfway back, we saw something everyone dreamt of seeing but would never believe that we had the luck to see it; lions eating, and they were right next to us! The lions were eating the gazelle and making loud groans and guttural sounds. Despite this unforgettable situation, we had to leave the reserve. We left, but seconds later the driver stopped again because we saw elephants. We shot a bunch of nice images of an entire elephant family, with a beautiful pink horizon in the background. We had to leave this spot earlier than we wanted to, but the park was closing. It is hard to believe that the beginning of our day both started and ended so extraordinarily. For all of us in the group “Silent Zebras”, today was the best day in Kenya so far.
Vince and Philipp
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