The Common Hartebeest, one of dozens of types of antelopes in the Mara.
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Monthly Archives: October 2012
The Tawny Eagle, one of 9 eagle species, and 6 more eagle-hawk species in the Mara.
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A bank full of hippos at the Crossing. Why do they gather here where the wildebeest cross and where dozens of monster crocs wait patiently for their feast? Major enemies. I read an account where a hippo rescued a wildebeest calf as it struggled in the current…. As crocs circled to catch the weakening calf, a hippo emerged from the froth of water to use its nose to push the calf onto the bank. Once rescued, the same hippo once again returned to the frothy water, chock a block with wildebeest, zebra, and hungry crocs and, rather than get out of the fray, instead entered the fray. A young zebra was now floundering. The hippo again used its nose to push the zebra calf onto a rock outcropping on the shore. Compassion? Emotions on the part of the hippo? Snubbing its nose at its arch-rival enemy the crocodile?
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A Hippo cow with her calf at her side having a stare down with a not-so-hungry croc… no love lost between these co-habitants of the “Crossing”…
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The African Wattled Lapwing… amazing and uncommon here.
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The Lilac Breasted Roller (to the right) and the Suberb Starling side by side. Two of the prettiest birds in the Maasi Mara.
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Tens of thousands of wildebeest everywhere slowly making their way to “the Crossing” of the Mara River… where the crocs are waiting. As seen previously, the crocs are already pretty full…. But with every passing day as the wildebeest kind of mill around, the crocs are getting hungry again…. The majority of the crossing has already occurred. These are the residual population that is still tens of thousands.
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Huge, but not terribly hungry right now, they have fed hugely on previous wildebeest crossings. They will be hungry for the next lot as they fill their fat reserves for the long lean times ahead.
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Dozens of these guys of all different sizes—including unbelievably large ones, and none that were small….. waiting their time…
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We came upon this pond in the middle of a very dry plain. Surrounded by all kinds of Egrets, Marabou, and others looking for—something!! Then, one of the smaller Marabou found a fairly good sized pond turtle (somehow it had survived this environment long enough to get this large). This began a 25-minute struggle between, ultimately, 3 of the Marabou and the turtle….. we were routing for the little guy…… what happened?
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