It is Day 5 and you are at a small and intimate Purni Mara Bush Camp put up within the award-winning Ol Kenyeri Conservancy. This private Conservancy lies on the eastern side of Masai Mara National Reserve and is supposedly the most beautiful region in the entire Serengeti-Mara ecosystem.
The luxury of gaming within the conservancy area is that you may go off-road whenever and wherever you feel it to be necessary.
It is 6.30 in the morning and after breakfast; you are in the jeep with Keith and Jakson, ready to explore this part of the savannah, home to a wide range of wildlife, including lions, leopards, elephants and giraffes.
Incidentally, the conservancy also supports several community-led projects, including education and health initiatives among the locals and helps promote sustainable development.
No sooner are you out; you come across a pack of hyenas to your right, gutting away their recent prey.
You wait for a moment and then allow them to be busy in their endeavor and drive forward.
Moving ahead as the sun rises from the horizon, you see this attractive large African Fish eagle with its white head and brown body, perched on the tree to your left.
With alacrity, you click the pictures of this National bird of Namibia and Zimbabwe and move on.
Immediately thereafter, you come across a couple of more attractive avian viz. African White Backed Vulture and Tawny Eagle.
Soon this beautiful Striped Kingfisher with a distinct powder-blue tail and white under-parts and an insect meal within its beak is before you.
Closely followed is this pinkish-white headed Hooded Vulture.
Then, as you meander aimlessly, a couple of Bee Eaters stay perched on a single branch.
And this Olive Baboon is busy picking up things from within the grass and putting them in his mouth. Oblivious to your presence nearby.
Moving still ahead, you are then greeted, one by one, first by the Elan, followed by a Monkey and an Ostrich.
Now comes an interesting part. Suddenly, you notice a male lion and a female lioness sitting under the shade of a tree. Your guide exclaims! These are mating lions.
So, you stop at a distance and watch them carefully, even while taking their pictures at regular intervals.
Soon the lion comes into action and, with lioness willing, they mate.
Deciding not to disturb this loving couple for too long, you leave, taking with you some memorable pictures.
It is 9.30 am, and you notice, albeit at a distance, below a large tree, a female cheetah named Selenkei (that means – beautiful girl) along with her equally beautiful young cub, feeding on their recent kill, an Impala.
As in any conservancy, there are few tourists and, as mentioned, one can go off the road. Your driver takes you inside and near these two to help you take as many pictures of them being in action and from as many angles as you like.
After spending considerable time in their company, you then decide to leave for your own breakfast that was taken along as you left the camp.
After breakfast, you visit the place once again to see both of them still hogging on their prey while a few white Backed Vultures hang around waiting for their turn to come.
Later in the afternoon, at some secluded location, you see a large hyena family, including two cute young hyenas with their loving mother.
Then, as you drive to yet another location, you see this handsome lion with an attractive mane sitting behind a dead tree, allowing an impressive frame to capture.
A female lioness, too, is in the vicinity, presumably waiting in anticipation for the lion to come and copulate.
It is not too long for the lion to respond and their foreplay, followed by copulation, begins.
It is getting dark, and your camp is not too near. The driver of your jeep then speeds up to get back and reach the camp in time before it gets too dark and thus dangerous.
Once back, you get fresh and reach the dining hall, created within a large tent for some drinks and dinner.
Satiated, you get back to your tent for the night’s rest only to be ready early next morning for another foray into these captivating spaces.
