I was a toddler when I first encountered the wild, albeit in a zoo. The Mysore Zoo. Propped up on my father’s shoulders, clasping my hands around his head, I saw a Giraffe at the entrance of Mysore zoo. That is my first and most fascinating memory of the “Wild”. It fascinated me to see this tall creature with a long neck and never-ending long legs!! That scene is somehow etched in my memory. Then I went on to see the zoo’s African elephants, big cats, and other species. Somehow it stayed in my subconscious. In my growing-up years, I read National Geographic books and watched Natgeo on TV. I had this dream to visit Africa, Masai Mara to be precise. I had never imagined I would ever in my life visit Masai Mara..until 2019. It was in 2019 that the photography bug bit me and I bought my first camera. I joined a few online social communities on photography. I met like-minded wildlife photography enthusiasts who had visited Mara. That’s when that dream of visiting Mara awakened and I started to believe that it was possible. I made a plan to visit Masai Mara in May 2020, but, Covid 19 struck, and the plan got postponed. I thought I couldn’t travel at all due to a few unexpected events in my personal life. But as destiny intended, everything finally fell into place, and I landed in Kenya in 2022.
My first pit stop was Amboseli. With Mt.Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, in the backdrop the Amboseli landscape is very diverse. It ranges from a dried-up lake bed, wetlands with sulfur springs, savannah grasslands, and wooded areas. I could see all around me different species of wild animals. Amboseli is home to Zebras, Giraffes, Wildebeest, Gazelles, Lions, Cheetahs, scores of beautiful birds, and hundreds and hundreds of African elephants among other animals. To be in this elephant country was beyond my imagination. It was magical to see these Majestic creatures walk the earth free in their backyard.
The dream shot is to get an Elephant against the backdrop of the mighty Mt.Kilimanjaro. The snow-clad peak covered with clouds cleared out for us to capture that beautiful scene. The luck was on our side, we got magnificent views and decent pics of elephants against the mountain. Also got a Giraffe with a mountain backdrop. Being about herds of elephants was a feeling I can never forget. It was surreal to watch their graceful walk, flap their huge ears, pluck/feed, and bathe with their trunks and those gorgeous ivory tusks which shone brightly in the morning sun. The famed graceful gait of the elephants is a sight to behold. I saw huge herds of elephants, with at least 70-80 elephants, walking single file across the Amboseli landscape. The formation was such that ensured the young baby elephants were protected by matriarchs on all sides.
Was lucky to see some of the famous tuskers of Amboseli like Teejay, Vronsky, and one of the last remaining super tuskers of Africa – Craig. To be around him and watch him so up close felt like a privilege and a blessed moment. He personifies the proverbial “gentle giant”. I felt he was kind enough to allow us to share his space, came near us, acknowledged us, and then went about his way. He was so gorgeous and those famed tusks of his swayed with his every step. His tall presence against the cloudy skies and Amboseli backdrop transported me to another world. Spending time with Craig will be the most memorable moment of Amboseli for me.
The second stop was Lake Nakuru. It is a gentle undulating terrain with open bush and woodlands, typical of the dry rift valley vegetation. The drive from Amboseli via the scenic route was beyond beautiful. We took a short halt at a spot that gave a superb view of the entire Great Rift valley. The weather was cooler than in Amboseli. You could see a variety of birds within the property itself. The first glimpse of Lake Nakuru National Park is of a beautiful lake on one side and a wooded forest on the other and further down you will see grasslands as well.
Within a couple of minutes of entering the park, we spotted a Black Rhino. The Rhino seemed injured. There were flies swarming and oxpeckers pecking away at its body. It struggled to get up and change its position, its hind legs wobbly. With great effort after some time, it got up and walked towards the water body, and sat down. On the first evening, we also saw the endangered white rhino or square-lipped rhino. The rhino sanctuary in Lake Nakuru National Park was the first Rhino Sanctuary in Kenya. Kenyan Government established the Rhino Sanctuary in Lake Nakuru as an initiative to address the catastrophic decline in the endangered rhino species. Black rhinos(browsers) feed in bushy areas while white rhinos(grazers) feed in grassland areas. Both rhino species cannot live a day without water, thus their need to be close to a water body all the time.
Another highlight of Lake Nakuru has to be the endangered Rothschild’s Giraffe. The only place where you will find them. When you spot the Rothschild’s Giraffes in Lake Nakuru, it looks like a scene straight out of a fairy tale. These beautiful creatures with their gorgeous brown-orange patterns on their bodies, eat away at the acacia tree leaves and wild apricot trees a sight to behold. Two male Giraffes were fooling around one minute and indulged in a mock neck fight the other, must say one amongst the two was teasing and asking for a fight, which the other finally obliged with!! The Giraffes are known to have unique patterns, like a perfectly put-together puzzle. The entire morning, I spent looking at these beautiful Giraffes, Partly smiling and completely overwhelmed that my life had come a full circle. That memory from my childhood came rushing back. I called my father and thanked him for introducing me to Wildlife when I was a kid, which led me to this wild adventure. What a day it was!
The next day we saw a Gazelle newborn calf chased by the Zebra. Looked like one of its hind legs was broken. When the Zebra chased Gazelle’s calf and almost trampled it, the calf ran towards our car. It stood right below the window of our car. It looked up at us for a few seconds and stood there almost shaking with fear. I can never forget those eyes… they had a scared and vulnerable look. It was disturbing. After a few excruciating moments both for us and the calf, its mother came by and both of them ran into the bushes. Don’t think it would have survived long with a broken leg, but such is nature and its rules in the wild. Poignant but a harsh reality. Seeing it on NatGeo TV and watching it happen in front of your eyes is completely different. It left me wondering for days. One of most unexpected scene was to see a young sub adult lion with an empty toilet cleaner bottle in its mouth. Was baffled as to how did that end up in this pristine Lake Nakuru National park and in that lions mouth!! If the bottle had any cleaning liquid left it could be fatal to the lion. To see that such protected areas too are not safe leaves you truly worried about how the serious the issue of conservation is!
Our third shortstop was at Lake Naivasha, where we went on a boat safari. The idea was to see “Fish Eagles” fish in the lake!! While I didn’t get even a single decent shot of the Fish eagles fishing, I thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride. I saw scores of Hippos lounging in the lake almost submerged with their nose outside the water. There were a variety of birds, waterbucks, Zebras, and a few Giraffes as well near the lake shore. It was a lovely morning and an awesome boat ride.
Next was the dream destination of Masai Mara. The moment I entered the park I was Gobsmacked by the landscape. Large swathes of the famed Savannahs were a sight for sore eyes. Never-ending grasslands go on and on till your eyes can see beyond the horizon. Tall green-brown grass covers every inch of the land. The landscape is sparse, strewn with umbrella acacia trees in most cases the landscape had a lone acacia tree which breaks the monotony of the grasslands. The grass was so tall it covered almost half the body of the elephant. Do you remember that wallpaper of Windows on Desktops/Laptops with green/brown grasslands and a blue sky with fluffy clouds? The Mara grasslands are exactly that and much more beautiful than that image. In some places, you see a patch of forests with rocks and boulders which works as a perfect perch for the pride of lions. I visited Masai Mara in monsoons, hence the grass was green in most places which acted as a perfect backdrop for my images. The lions are so damn gorgeous lying there on the green grass, with a drizzle falling on them. That wet mane and piercing gaze makes for an image that imprints in your mind forever. And just then when it shakes off the water and those droplets fly…your heart is sure to skip a beat.
How do I describe Masai Mara in words, I wonder? Every moment was more enchanting than the other. Every scene that unfolded was more fascinating than the other. Every animal I saw there was amazing. The weather was perfect. Bright and sunny mornings, Rain drenched beautiful mornings with the perfect diffused lighting needed to capture awesome images, stormy evenings with dark clouds, thunder, lightning et al. Some afternoons were warm and sunny with blue skies and clusters of fluffy white clouds adorning the skies. It revealed Masai Mara in different lights and layers and helped capture the beautiful creatures in different moods. Wilderness can be so beautiful and mesmerizing, you have to see it to believe it.
Moving over from landscapes to animals, it is a whole new wonderland. No wonder I was smiling and in my happy space the whole time. Watching them from such close quarters fills your heart with so much happiness. It is such a joy to watch the smallest of gestures that each of these animals makes. A lion yawning, the cheetah snarling, the flick of the head of Big cats to shoo away the annoying flies. A giraffe munching on tall trees, rhinos grazing and browsing. When a zebra bares its gritted teeth and kicks the life out of its sparring partner, trust me you‘ll want to stay way out of its path!! It’s a mixed feeling of euphoria and ecstasy when you see a pair of giraffes necking, a cheetah stretching its legs, an elephant raising its trunk, with a giant leap a cheetah climbing down the tree, or see a mating pair of lions roaring at each other. It’s intoxicating to watch an elephant or a giraffe walk in their graceful gait, a Cheetah sprint, and a lion walks with wild abandon befitting the king of the jungle. The stealth stalking big cats, the leap of Antelopes, the trot of the hyenas, the flick of the tails of cheetahs or leopards. One gaze of these animals towards you is enough to stop your heart. They were beyond gorgeous. I lost my heart multiple times overseeing those gorgeous lions with their tousled mane and piercing eyes. Oh, how stunning they were.
One such evening we were following a pair of Cheetahs. They were lazing when we first saw them, then they got up to climb a mound to survey the landscape for preys. Suddenly the sky started to turn grey with thick clouds. Storm was brewing up and it became more dark. A sliver of sunrays piercing through those dark clous lit up this cheetah pair making their eye glow a fiery orange. They looked absolutely stunning against the backdrop of dark clouds. There was thunder and lightening , cool breeze blowing through and then the rain showers descended in a crescendo drenching the entire landscape. That was one of my most unforgettable evenings. Almost 4 out of our 5 evenings in Mara were stormy. One evening though we were able to capture a beautiful sunset silhouette.
Then they were these unique animals that add variety to this beautiful ecosystem. We saw Jackson’s widow bird which jumps up and down the grass with its fancy tail flopping about to attract its mate. You wonder about what animals must do to attract a mate :-). Small passerine birds like the Lark, glide and hover through the air above the grass at our eye level. They have the most melodious bird song I’ve ever heard. The Hyrax’s were scampering about our property. I didn’t know that these rodent-sized animals are closest relatives of Elephants no less!! I was itching to see a Hippo with its mouth open and my wish was granted! On our walk on the banks of the Mara river, Two hippos were fighting it out in the river with their mouths wide open trying to attack each other. I also got a chance to get up close with a crocodile basking on the banks of the river, it had the most gorgeous green eyes. The Topis and Hartebeests with their pointy horns make for excellent subjects to photograph. Did you know that the Vervet monkeys have bright blue testicles? I also saw large birds like the secretary bird, a terrestrial bird with tall Ostriches sprinting about. A spitting cobra slithered across the road and went inside a burrow. This gorgeous colorful Rock agama was doing its push-up routines to scare us away. Had a fleeting glance of a Caracal as it sped away behind the bushes. Also saw Honey badgers one of the toughest animals and dwarf mongoose. I had this wish to see Meerkats standing on their hind legs, but the Banded Mongoose fulfilled my wish by standing on its hind legs. What a sight it was!
What makes you lose your heart is the babies. Adorable fur balls of all kinds. The Lion cubs are so naughty, tumbling down the small rocks, trying to chew on twigs, rolling and climbing upon each other, yawning, suckling on their mother, chewing and biting their mother’s tail, and generally running about. Their stomachs were so full that their tummy was almost reaching the ground. It makes you go aww looking at these tiny monsters. Then there was this elephant calf, a few days old. It was moving about with Z+ security surrounded by the herd with its mother beside it all the time. It was so endearing to see it explore its trunk, wiggle it, and play with it. We saw the calf skid on the post-rain slush and fall, promptly helped back on its feet by the matriarchs around it. It got up and went about as if nothing happened. The best lesson of life is to pick oneself up from the fall and move on with your head held up high isn’t it 😊. The Giraffe baby is a stud, with that funky hairdo and the most adorable eyes and eyelashes. It looked a few days old only and held close to its mother, walking between or around the legs of its mother.
We encountered a Cheetah mother with newborn cubs who had to feed her babies. She had to hunt to provide for herself and her young ones. We saw her stalking the Impalas and Gazelles. The Topis had sensed something was going to happen. The rangers ensured that none of the cars could go close to her lest we disturb her hunt by alerting the prey and the babies to go hungry. Sometimes we don’t realize how the actions of tourists affect the animals and interfere with their survival. We waited for some action. Our wait wasn’t in vain, through our long-range Tele lenses we could see her as a tiny speck. She dashed off from her stalking position towards the Impala and succeeded to put down one. To our shock, right at that moment, we saw a hyena come from nowhere and grab the kill from the cheetah. The rangers tried to shoo away the hyena to avoid it from taking away the kill but by now the cheetah mother gave up her kill and decided to live and fight another day. Fighting the hyena at the cost of her life was not worth it. Such is the rule of nature someone else enjoys the fruit of someone’s effort. Still panting due to the hunt, she walked away to the horizon. We saw a raging lone male Cape Buffalo trample, flick and kick a lion. The Buffalos of Mara can give lions a run for their lives. It’s a miracle it survived and walked to live another day.
My first leopard sighting in the wild was at Masai Mara. A male leopard named split nose due to a tear in its nose, due to a fight, lazing atop a tree. It was a blazing sunny afternoon with harsh light. We waited for a long time for this leopard to come down the tree. Finally, after a long wait, it came down with a giant leap and right away chased up a Warthog, albeit in vain. Then it passed by my jeep into the grass. The grass is so tall that you can’t even see the leopard unless you are standing in your seat. God bless you in case you are walking in the grass unawares like its prey and you won’t even realize it’s a leopard until it pounces on you. Same with lions, we passed by so many lions sleeping in the grass and we didn’t realize there was a lion until we saw it right beside our vehicle. Such is the advantage the big cats have in the grasslands. One side of Masai Mara borders the Serengeti National park of Tanzania. There is a borderstone indicating the demarcation. Across the border Felt so lucky to catch a glimpse of the rolling grasslands of Serengeti stretching beyond the horizon. I stood there gazing and trying to absorb as much as I could.
I felt a range of emotions when I got as annoyed as a lion trying to shoo away those incessant irritating flies from its face. I could feel the anguish of the Cheetah’s mother when she lost her kill. The fear of life in the eyes of that Gazelle calf. I felt affection from the tender moments the mothers-babies spent with each other. The camaraderie of the coalition of Cheetahs. The sibling love of lion siblings. I winced when that buffalo trampled the lion. I hated the zebra that chased that gazelle calf. I lost my heart to some of those gorgeous lions in the Savannahs. I was humbled and grateful when I saw Craig. I was overwhelmed with tears in my eyes when I saw the Giraffes. I was ecstatic when I finally saw my first leopard in the wild. My heart was so full of these emotions that I carried back with me a lifetime of memories.
I could truly understand the definition of wild. Living on their own terms, uninhibited, natural, minding their own business, fighting each day with a survival instinct, have their version of a family unit, the caring instinct of protecting one’s own, face challenges but bounce up from the downs and face life and death situations every day. Their resilience inspires me. Their natural defense mechanisms intrigue me. Their behavior fascinates me and I want to keep knowing them more and more. The sights, sounds, and speed of the wild are thrilling. The vast wilderness humbles me and reminds me that I am a tiny speck in this vast scheme of things. Every second I spent in Kenya and every breath of the grassland air I took in is a dream come true. I am so glad I went on this adventure and lived my dream.
This trip wouldn’t have been this memorable if hadn’t been for my friend, mentor, and skipper Sachin Rai who led this tour, and the amazing group who were great companions on this trip. Traveling solo with like-minded groups has been cathartic to me on many levels. It has helped me experience my newfound passion for photography, live my dream of traveling to those amazing places and somewhere keep that zest for life alive while I find myself over and over again as I lose myself in this wilderness.
References :
MoonlitNight 