Photo report “In search of big african cats”.

October 2013

Days spent: 14

The route went througth Kenia and Tanzania. Expedition numbered 6 persons.

So, we begin our yet another expedition to Africa. This time we are going to get to know the nature of Kenya and Tanzania.

Having arrived to the airport of Nairobi – the capital of Kenya, we went straight to the north-east of the country to the Mount Kenya in order to take a helicopter flight to its top.

On our way we decide to buy some fresh fruits and vegetables, so our first stop made us dive into the local colour of roadside sellers’ life.

So, the cameras are set up and we begin our first flight to one of the most beautiful mountains in Africa – Mount Kenya.

After spending the night at the picturesque “Naro Muro river lodge” situated at a height of 1970 m above sea level, we go further to the north-east of Kenya. Today we hope to meet greater flamingos that have settled on the salt waters of Lakes Bogoria and Nakuru.

Lake Bogoria is situated off the Kenya’s beaten path, that is why tourists do not visit it that often, and this is just what we need, all the more so, because there is a large colony of flamingos settled here.

Next we are going to the National Park of Lake Nakuru, where we hope to meet the sunset together with the feathery tribe living here. We make a few stops along our way.

When we finally made it to the National Park of the Lake Nakuru, we regret to learn that it was already closed for visitors that day, however, our driver managed to persuade local rangers into letting us take shots of the sunset. And it was amazing!

Mount Elgon National Park is situated on the west of Kenya, along its border with Uganda.

There are not so many tourists here, whether or not, there was only one tourist group from Netherlands a week before us. Meanwhile we are going to the root of the mountain along the picturesque yet very rough path.

So we made it to our overnight stop at the height of 3700 m.

Today we will have to take a four-hour trip over the scenic Mount Elgon National Park.

Further we are going to the south of Kenya, to one of the most visited National Reserves of Africa – Maasai Mara. Vast number of animals inhabits this place, and we hope to capture life of Great African cats on video.

Together with our guide Anthony, Maasai tribesman, we go on a safari in National Reserve.

We begin our acquaintance with the animals of the park by meeting a herd of elephants slowly making their way to the watering site.

Herds of hoofed are peacefully grazing nearby.

Not far from a peacefully grazing herd of buffaloes, we saw a flock of vultures flying above one of the carcasses unfinished by predators. When approached, we understood that it was a buffalo, that means that lions can be somewhere near.

This time we were right. At the nearest watering site we saw a lioness, and then a lion – nearby in the shadow of a bush.

It was noon – lunchtime, and we decided to hide in the shadow of a giant tree in the centre of the reserve in order to have a bite and relax.

After lunch we asked our guide Anthony to go to another part of the reserve, inhabited by cheetahs.

One can rarely see these graceful cats even here in Maasai Mara.

While we were exchanging impressions of everything we’ve seen today, right in front of us, near the road, there were two cheetahs, that came to the local pond to quench their thirst. And that was true luck! We managed to film an entire spot featuring the life of cheetahs.

And this meeting was truly unexpected. It is nearly impossible to see a serval in the wild!

Finally, Anthony brought us to the hyenas’ lair, where they hide their cubs from predators.

And in conclusion – night meeting with a young lion.

We take farewell of the Maasai Mara National Reserve.

Next we are going southwards, to Tansania, Serengeti National Park. We will spend three days there and we hope for new unforgettable meetings with Great African Cats. In the meantime we are saying goodbye to our friend and guide Anthony and are ready to travel through Kenyan province…

So, without event noticing it, we made it to the border with Tanzania. All procedures related to visas and our car took about forty minutes. And we went further to the Serengeti National Park down the roads of Tanzania without any delay.

Serengeti – is the best known wildlife sanctuary in the world.

Europeans had found out about it for the first time in 1913 and it quickly became the place of mass pilgrimage of hunters from Europe, which led to uncontrolled extermination of Serengeti wildlife. Only in 1951 this territory obtained the status of national park, and in 1981 Serengeti was declared to be the site of UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Nowadays Serengeti takes up almost 14,800 sq. km. There are prides of lions with golden manes inhabiting vast expanse of plain pastures, while loner leopards are ravening among acacias growing along the Seronera river. We hope to get lucky and to see the wild life of these Great African Cats.

Thus we begin our acquaintance with Serengeti, and first of all we go on search for one of the lion prides.

Near one of the watering sites we saw a lot of zebras slowly making their way to the site, so we decided to stop for filming. And, as it turned out, we did a right thing…

Yes, this is a brutal sight, but that is the wildlife in Africa… And we have to go. An unforgettable meeting with leopard is ahead…

Today we were at the peak of emotions. We didn’t expect such a close acquaintance with lions and leopard and never thought that we could film unique moments of their life.

In high feather we head towards our camp, where we are going to cook authentic Moldovan zeama with rooster, all the more so, we have all the ingredients for it. And tomorrow at dawn we are going to fly on a balloon above wide spaces of Serengeti plain pastures.

Now we have to say goodbye to Serengeti National Park and head towards Ngorongoro crater, where is situated the homonymous National Park with its unique animal world.

On our way we decided to stop at one of the villages of Maasai people, in order to come in touch with their culture and traditions for a little. Without it our video could barely reflect this complex wildlife formed in Serengeti.

The crater of Ngorongoro volcano had been formed two and a half million years ago. Its total area is of 265 sq. km.

Abundant animal world of the crater attracts great number of tourists from all around the world.

We are going on a lion hunt, hoping to film a video about one of the prides inhabiting the crater .

This is the end of our expedition and it is time to take farewell of Africa. We will hope it is not for long…