Kenya 2023: Chapter 18 – Make Way for the King

Ruppert's Starling

Gray-backed fiscal

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering the grasslands. At one point we got into another suck, spatting huge wads of mud up onto the truck as we tried to keep from getting stuck. However, we were not near the edge of a lugga, so we were unlikely to find ourselves in a potential rollover again.

 At 17:00 we came back to the lion wedding we had been at in the morning. The King and Queen were having a stroll and a cluster of trucks was constantly jockeying to get the guests the best view. The male found our truck to be enticing enough to urinate on. Twice. They paraded down the side of the road, paparazzi at their side until the pair found a shady spot beneath a bush and sacked out again. The paparazzi dispersed. We headed across the lugga to find a sleepy boy atop a hill under a bush. Like any good cat, lions sleep a lot during the day, especially when it’s hot.

Greg flexed the big lens to oohs and aahs from other trucks, mostly Chinese tourists who love cameras and loved taking pictures of us with the big lens. We chatted up a group of young people next to us who instantly followed us on Instagram.

Ground hornbills

We found one cheetah and some hornbills as we started making our way back towards camp. A single wildebeest was the harbinger of things to come. While we saw close to or more than 500,000 wildebeest last time, this would be the only one we would see the entire trip. The Mara was truly a different place.

The only wildebeest

 A grand sunset was on display as we got back to Keekorok, sore and hungry.