TUESDAY 5TH JUNE

We were all so tired after a long day's ride, that as soon the head hit the pillow I was asleep. Tuesday began VERY early, five thirty a.m., thankfully I still operate at IST so it wasn't a big problem. We get up have a hot cup of coffee/tea ( milk in my case) and get into the car by six forty. The early morning drive was from 6:40 a.m. to about 9 a.m. Unaccustomed to the cold climate, I wear socks, shoes, a jacket and a shawl on top of it all to cover my ears.

By this time, we are accustomed to seeing gazelles jumping around so it doesn't seem like a good enough reason to stop the car. We drive past and see a herd of elephants just off the path. One of them seemed very old, and with great sadness in its eyes. I always feel that elephants looks very sad. It didn't seem very pleased that we were interrupting its snack time, so we took our pictures and left as fast as we could.

Interesting facts about elephants-
They live for 60-70 years. They are very protective of their young and always live in groups.The gesation period of an elephant is 22 months and their milking glands are between their front two feet, like humans. Elephants don't have any predators as they can toss the largest of lions by a few meters with their tusks. They die a natural death unless poached by humans for their tusks ( that contain ivory). The age of an elephant can be calculated by the size of the tusk ( that starts to show only after the age of 2). They have six sets of molars that grow in their lifetime, when each wears out, another erupts. When the last set of molars wear out, the elephant can no longer chew food, so die of starvation. I also heard froma guide, that when an elephant dies, the entire herd goes into a period of mourning. They bury the dead elephant, and sometimes, after a while dig up the bones and scatter it all over the jungle. this is their way or remembering the dead.

The giraffes we saw, on the other hand, love to pose for photos. The peep out of the trees and always make sure you get a good look at them. The giraffe has a very well developed set of hind legs, so they can kick any predator away. Only when they bend to drink water are they most vulnerable, because they spread their feet, and that particular position is very unstable. A giraffe's saliva is very stickyand supposed to contain antiseptic.

We saw other animals, like topis, wildebeests, buffalos and wild boars.

As we moved on, we got a page from another car, that they had spotted a lepoard on a tree. The drivers have a wonderful system of communication like the cab drivers in Chennai. They are all tuned to a frequency, and can let others in teh vicinity know if they have spotted anything special.

Lepoards, unlike cheetahs and lions are very shy animals. They run at the sight of humans. As we rushed to the place where the lepoard was spotted, we clearly saw it climb down from the tree and hide way in the grass. By this time, there were about 8 cars circling the grass all around to try and spot there the lepoard exactly was, because the grass is so long, it can easily camoflage itself inside it. We drove around, in all directions, and finally spotted it moving slowly. As soon as we went near and stopped the car, it sprang and sped away, leaving us dumbstruck about the speed of this animal. We got to see the lepoard in its true form... running at about 80 kph!

We also drove around so another part, getting word that a pride of lions were sitting on a rock. We could only see it from a distance as they were offtrack, but could see three lionesses distinctly with our binoculers. We returned to the same point in the evening drive, and went so close to them, two feet away and look a video of the entire pride, which was not 3, but close to 15 lionesses and cubs.

Another very exciting moment, was in the evening game dive, when we came across to cheetahs havind dinner. We just missdthe kill but got there to see them finishing up. Later, we returned to the same spot, saw them walk away with my brother hoping they go for another kill. A kill is a very rare sight and only the very lucky get to witness it. We got to see the 2 cheetahs walk right beside out car, across and away without a care in the world.

By the end of the day, we were excited only to see carnivores and none of teh herbivores seemed to interest us anymore. When we saw a car stopping to take a photograph of a bird, called the secretary bird( the name due to the way it walks), I had to comment "Are they stopping for a bird!!!!" The same person, who the previous day had stopped even for a cameleon!

I think we were very lucky, as we got to see all the animals, from a very close range. Only two feet away.... I believe what they say is true... Masai Mara never disappoints!