2011-09-26 – Masai Mara N.R.

Amazing day, with some extraordinary sightings for us. It all started as we looked for the two mating couple of Leopards. There we found a single Hyena starting to chase a small group of Wildebeests. As the chase went on, the Hyena singled out a Wildebeest. The chase went on up and down two ridges, until more Hyenas joined in. There was no escape for the Wildebeest, despite its amazing stamina, the Hyenas have more. They quickly surrounded it and started tearing its abdomen and biting its rear legs. The struggle went on for a while, until the poor Wildebeest was on the ground with the Hyenas eating it alive. That’s as cruel as it gets in nature, but it is still nature and so it must be accepted. After some mating Lions and the Leopard Pacha with a Wildebeest kill, in the afternoon we had another amazing interaction. Olive, our resident female Leopard, was out in the open with her 27 months old son, Ngayoni, calling for her younger daughter, Bahati. Ngayoni was clearly happy to be with his mother and he greeted her repeatedly, rubbing his head on hers. She snarled at him all the time, but at times she let herself go and grabbed his neck and played with him. Bahati didn’t show up before sundown on a great and eventful day.