After an early rise and an early breakfast, we set off at * AM to drive to Nanyuki Air Strip. Our Air Kenya plane arrived on time at 9:30, and after 3 short hop stops at various camps in the Mara, we disembarked at Governor's airstrip at 11:00. On the en-route game drive we spotted the following:
baboon, warthog, impala, elephant, baboon, cape buffalo
Little Governor's, our camp for two days, was actually on the other side of the Mara (the Kichwa Tembo side) but game runs are done on the airport side of the river - interesting! To get to the camp, you have to go down about 50 cement steps, take a rope-pull boat over to the other side (dodging the crocodiles) and then hike up about 50 stone steps and a bit of a hike to get to the camp. By the time we did all this, we were pretty hungry, good thing it was lunch.
The camp is wonderful though & worth the effort.
After a delicious lunch and a bit of rest, we did the reverse & went on a game on the other side. Jim and I have never explored this side - it is where the Marsh pride resides and that was our goal this afternoon.
On the game run we saw the following:
impala, defasso waterbuck, topi, cape buffalo, elephant. crowned crane, impala, zebra, giraffe, Thompson's gazelle, a very young lioness, an older lioness, one of the males of the Marsh Pride (not Scar or Hunter though), a cheetah sunning on a rock, jackal and - bonus - a leopard!
The lions were amazing to watch, we spent a lot of time watching them. Even more amazing though was the leopard that was in the bushes by the river on the way back to the camp - we spent a lot of quality time with that leopard - at least an hour, with only one other vehicle there. It was amazing.