We began our festive season with the distant roars of the famous Sopa pride. We knew they were close to camp so we planned to head out on a very early morning game drive to try our luck in spotting them. The soft light of dawn provides lions with some cover and reduces the visibility of potential prey. They normally utilize this to their advantage so this was the best time for us to head out.
We made our way into the National reserve starting off with the few famous spots they are known to hang around. It was tough to see into the distance as it was quite a foggy morning, however behind the misty fog emerged the lustrous golden-coloured mane of one of the Sopa pride males. He looked slim and drowsy like he had not had a proper meal in a while.
We knew the rest of the pride couldn't be far away so we searched the area to see if we could find the others. All of a sudden our safari guide Dennis jumped up and pointed to some big rocks nearby. ''LOOK UP THERE!'' he said. Lo and behold it was one of the females of the pride with her sub adult cubs as well as very small cubs. We spent a good 15 minutes watching the little cubs with their distinctive spotted pattern sleeping on top of the large rock.
After we managed to get a couple of nice snaps of the pride we continued our game drive heading in the direction of two male topi antelopes who seemed to be fighting. We stopped to watch them fight, contemplating which one of them would win the battle. We noticed that we were not the only ones watching the two topis fight. One of the males and females of the Sopa pride who were mating nearby noticed them too.
They crouched down making themselves almost invisible as they slowly approached their prey. The lioness pounced onto one of the topi antelopes but the antelope's quick reaction saved its life and they both managed to escape. Nature can be bittersweet - in this case we exhaled with relief that the topis managed to run free, however this also meant that the lion pride missed the opportunity to a vital meal.
We went on with our game drive stopping every now and then to take snaps of the diverse wildlife the Masai Mara has to offer but still ensuring we stayed in close proximity to where the Sopa pride was just in case they decided to attempt to hunt again.
After a hearty breakfast in the bush, we decided to head back to camp. On our way back we noticed a number of game viewers parked on one of the bridges close to camp as they looked down at the stream pointing towards a lone buffalo standing in the stream. We were not sure what they were all looking at. Suddenly, one of the Sopa pride lionesses raised her head and we understood what was unfolding. Some of the lions of the pride had surrounded the buffalo ensuring they blocked its way out of the stream. They waited in agony for the buffalo to attempt his escape. The buffalo however, was not going to give up without a fight and we knew it could be a matter of hours before one of them gave up. We decided not to wait and headed back home.
The next day : We woke up very early again and made our way to the National reserve for another attempt to witness an exciting encounter with the Sopa pride.
Our gut feeling told us that they had to be close to the bridge where we last saw them the previous morning so we scoured the area. We were right! They managed to kill a buffalo that morning and with that had earned a well deserved meal - enough to feed the whole pride.
The little ones could not contain their excitement as they proudly sat on top of their prize and gnawed away at whatever their teeth could grab.
The wait paid off and we got the exciting and adventurous start to the year that we were hoping for.
Comments