We were up by five and to the Land Cruiser by 6 ready to head out into the morning mists of the savannah. Got up to the wide-open savannah in time to see the sun thundering up into a clear, cloudless sky. Wildebeest and Impala were silhouetted black against the heavy orange globe as it hung for a moment on the horizon. As the sun rose quickly, the hills blushed lilac and the daystar’s heat burned off the morning ground fog and lifted the dew from its quiet night of rest on the grass and leaves. Another day had begun on the Mara.
We saw 6 spotted hyena cubs and 3 adult females at their clan’s communal den. The babies are cute but apparently quite fierce. Born with incisors and canines, they swiftly eliminate their same-sex competition within their litter. Generally 25% of the young cubs are killed in the first month of life due to same-sex sibling rivalry.
Several weeks after birth in a secluded den, the female moves the young to a communal den that can be shared by as many as 10 females. The den is a social gathering place for them and their dependent offspring, but the members seldom offer communal care or suckling. In the golden light of dawn, we watched one female continently suckle her young only a few yards away from our vehicle.
It’s hard to believe that these cute little cubs will grow up to be one of Africa’s most formidable predators with the strength and cunning to pull down and kill a healthy 500 pound bull wildebeest, an animal nearly 3x their size.
As the sun rose higher in the sky we continued on to Double Gorge to photograph the Hammerkop nest building in the morning light. The pair was still working hard, tirelessly searching the gorge for sticks ands grass then transporting them back to the nest where they were then carefully and expertly woven into the emerging structure.
We took the rest of the morning to visit the local market at Aiton, a village about an hour away. Every Friday the village serves as the major local Maasai market for the region. It was not a tourist market but rather a combination local market and livestock auction. There were crowds of Maasai there with their traditional brightly colored robes and jewelry selling their cattle, sheep, and goats. The price negotiations and bargaining among the men looked to be loud and intense. Other areas were loosely fenced off and set aside for the sale of food supplies – vegetables, sugar cane, potatoes, onions, yams, spices, bananas and cabbages.
In still other areas there was a visual cacophony of brightly colored displays of clothes and cloth. Still other areas had nearly anything you could think of for sale - car parts, dishes, pots and pans, water bottles, and the ubiquitous sandals made from recycled tires. The recycled tire sandals are the preferred footwear of the Maasai. They swear by the sandals since the stout thorns of the acacia that can often penetrate the soles of boots and tennis shoes will seldom penetrate the sole of these stout sandals.
We returned to Serian Camp for lunch and opted to stay in camp for the rest of the day. It proved to be a wise decision. We were able to enjoy an intense afternoon thunderstorm deluge from the luxury of our warm dry tent.
The hippos and lions were noisy in the night with much energetic snorting, bellowing, roaring, and growling going on - all with a background chorus of crickets and frogs in the moonless night. The land was gently illuminated by fireflies and starlight. I slept well.
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