Photos from Safari 2023

Yesterday I wrote about our first three lion sightings while on safari in Kenya. Today I want to share our other lion sighting experiences from our time in the Masai Mara.

We did not see any lion activity for most of our game drive on the second day. There was some interesting activity, but no lion activity.

Then, several hours into our game drive, we noticed an abnormal amount of vehicles parked in one area. We drove over to check it out. I am still not sure what the people in those vehicles were spotting, but as we approached the area they were searching in, we noticed another large collection of vehicles a little further away.

As we scanned the area surrounding the second cluster of vehicles, we saw a lion. Then another. Then another.

It was an entire pride!

We pulled up right where the other vehicles were, and we found ourselves absolutely surrounded by lions! They had no fear. Some of the lions walked right between the vehicles. They kept moving a little bit, then lying down, then moving again. We asked our guide what they were up to and he informed us that they were preparing for a big kill.

Apparently a hunting party of that size is looking to take something BIG down. Maybe an African cape buffalo. Maybe an elephant. Who knows.

Off in the distance, slowly making their way towards the lions, were animals of all shapes and sizes. 

It was pretty wild watching all of those lions getting into formation and waiting for something big to walk right into their trap. I could have watched them all day, but we had to get moving.  We were on a search for a rhino!

(Spoiler alert: we did not find any rhinos.)

On our way out of the camp we had our final lion sighting. We watched a cheetah hunt its prey, only to then watch the cheetah run for its life from a lion who was coming to steal the cheetah’s prey. Apparently this happens quite often, at which point the cheetah has to decide between leaving its prey—or becoming prey.