my travels in pixels

Masai Mara, Kenya Day 3 Before sunrise in the Masai Mara Sunrise in the Masai Mara There was a gorgeous sunrise this morning and we watch a number of hot air balloons take to the sky. The sun rises around an orange glow. We watch some zebras fight. Not as brutal as the wild horses but they do bite each other. Two jackals have a kill and keep watch nervously as they eat just in case someone comes to steal their find. A Maribou Stork stands close by waiting patiently until they have finished - he's not a vulture but is still part of the clean up crew. What did I do to you? The pride is lazing about as usual In the long tall grass we come across a pride of eight lions but you can only see seven. When they lie down flat, they are well camouflaged. There is a reason they are the colour of dry grass as they frequent the savannah plains and you could quite easily be a couple of metres from a lion and not know it. The grass is very long this year. A woman has take...

What camera gear did we take? Canon 1D Mk4 - a cropped sensor - which has a fast frame rate, used with a f/4 600mm lens and a f/2.8 70-200mm. (Lindsay's photos) Canon 5D Mk3 - a full frame sensor, used with a 300mm f/4 prime lens (Jane's photos) Canon 5D Mk2 - a full frame sensor - the frame rate is too slow for animals, so it was used with a 70-200mm for taking close ups and landscape. We wouldn't take this camera again. A tripod that we didn't use. We either hand held or used bean bags (provided by the safari company) to rest our cameras on the car. Video of the Masai Mara a 9 minute video towards the end of our Masai Mara trip Photo Slideshows: Samburu Lake Nakuru Lake Naivasha Masai Mara

Masai Mara  Our last day was the most amazing day. It happens like that to make you want to come back! First up was a stunning sunrise, then the Rekero lion pride with the 9 cubs were playing out in the open.  Then we got word that the cheetah cubs were playing out of the restricted area. It was a long drive there and there was a possibility that we would miss all the action, but we were rewarded, and were able to spend quite some time with them. The cubs were playing with each other, over logs and with mum. It was fantastic. Later they moved into the restricted area and the Ranger made us all leave.  Word on the bush telegraph told of a pair of leopolds quite some way away. A long drive away but the male was still there when we arrived. The pair had conspired to bring down a Topi which is quite a large prey for one leopold, so it made sense that they tried with the two of them. They had been mating earlier on but we miss...

Masai Mara  There is a cheetah with five cubs in the park but park wardens have forbidden most people from going to the area where she is. Brian has a permit that allows him to go to this spot. He has been here for over 30 years and has built up relationships with the Park Rangers. People in the Mara affectionately call him Mzee which means old man in swahili. When he was in camp he would take a few people to see the cubs each morning. Today was our turn. We had to leave at 5:30am to travel to the other side of the park to find the cheetah cubs. The mother had got a kill the night before so she was eating when we arrived. Even the cubs who are about two months old were just starting to eat meat. They played in and around the shrubs which made it very difficult to get good shots - we were actually surprised at the photographs we got. Being there early it is difficult to get enough light into the camera to get the speed up. If the speed isn't fast enough, the photos are just b...

Masai Mara  The sunrises in the Mara are just beautiful. The Mara is a land of so many personalities with stunning landscapes and amazing wildlife. People think of Africa/Kenya as a land of the big 5 but the bird life here is stunning. We were lucky enough to see another crossing today, and the apprehension in the animals could be felt. Were the wildebeest saying to themselves "is this going to be my last crossing?" We all have seen the wildlife shows with the crocs taking animals as they cross and if a croc is there it just increases the panic in the herd. It's something that has to be seen. In reality, not many are taken by crocodiles, it is often the scrambling up the banks that breaks a leg. Superb Starling  Elephant calf Bee Eater The wildebeest went right down to the river and we really thou...

Masai Mara  First thing this morning we caught up with the Rekero Pride as they have six cubs. It was difficult to get any good shots as they were playing in the bushes.  So we went in search for a mating pair and found them with the Serena Pride. We photographed the mating pair twice. They mate for four days and this was their second. They do it in intervals of about half an hour to begin with but apparently the frequency dwindles as the days go by. Neither of them look like they are enjoying themselves and towards the end - she says "enough" and bites him. I don't know, it just doesn't look that enjoyable! the short cut out of the river, was straight up! We were so close to this elephant, I couldn't shoot it, Lindsay had to use the 70-200mm. Two wildebeest fighting - a rare sight We found a leopold in a tree and could see it briefly, but there were too many large rocks to go in and even if we had, we wouldn’t have been ab...