We had a leisurely start to the day as we were leaving at 8.00am to catch our Air Mombassa flight to the Masai Mara. We were greeted by Mount Kilimanjaro as we left our tent - it had emerged from the clouds so we had great views of the mountain, if not with greatest clarity, while eating our breakfast. Eric who collected us on day 1 transported us back to the airstrip - the plane arrived on time and luckily we were the next stop, Keekerok - so it was like a hop on and hop off service for us - which the passengers already on board had to endure as they waited for their later stops.
We were met by Ennoch, a tall Masai, who would be our guide for the next 3 days and his side kick - a younger guy and our spotter.
We had a 'sighting loaded' trip back to the iconic and traditionally furnished Cottars camp where we were staying.
The wildebeest migration was definitely in full swing at this end of the Mara and we saw thousands including hundreds crossing the Sand River (today's picture) which is far easier than the Mara crossings for the wildebeest. The herds also had smaller herds of zebra, topi and eland mingling amongst them.
We watched as a lioness unsuccessfully stalked zebra drinking at a waterhole, making her approach via a drainage channel then saw her slope off with another female and male from the pride. All were later chased from their resting spot by an unsettled herd of grumpy buffalo. Later we saw another pair of lions mating with a lone male under a bush hoping, no doubt, that the other would run out of energy.
We eventually arrived at the camp in time for a late lunch. After lunch James, the camp manager took me to the house where there was a 25 m pool he had built so I could have a really strenuous swim - and that pool was really cold but great for exercise!
Our evening activity was a walk led by Moses, a man in his late 60s who had been poacher, hunter and now game keeper and worked for the Cottars for many years. He was armed and led us through the trails then made a camp fire for us making fire in the traditional way before we had a return night drive with spotlights. The main activity was from hyena who we could hear laughing and greeting each other from somewhere behind us - we later found and saw some of them.
New on the bird front we saw hartlaubs turaco and an olive pigeon.
After a communal dinner we returned to find a lovely hot water bottle in our bed.