Day broke bright and chilly on the high hills on the far west of the Mara. As the impala, waterbuck and marabou stork made their way to the waterhole below the verandah of Mara House, sunlight sparkled on the droplets left by last night’s rain.

The journey east across the Mara was a delight. The vehicle slowly jolted down the granite-strewn track and the almost Afro-alpine habitat gave way to community land alive with cattle, goats and their brightly dressed herders with a few wildebeest and impala round about. With the unseasonal rain that has been falling on and off since July, the streams are still flowing and the Mara is greener than usual for this time of year.

The resident wildebeest remain in the Mara North Conservancy, where we saw Thomson’s gazelle, a solitary bull elephant, several trios of giraffe, spotted hyena, buffalo and paused to watch a group of banded mongoose standing upright and then scurrying about in search of food. The guide, Tim, said he liked the way that topi walk like giraffe, which we watched, followed by a sizeable herd of Coke’s hartebeest.

Crossing into the national reserve, where the last of the migrating wildebeest were congregating and grazing, beginning to form the long lines for their journey south, we found a group of safari vehicles in a semi-circle around a bush shading a dozing cheetah.  –Which seemed the signal to get to camp and spend the heat of the day watching the river.

Clea, one of the managers, told me about the lion kill in front of camp this morning. A group of zebra were crossing the river when one lioness sprang from the bush on the far bank and called to her sister for help in bringing the zebra down. The zebra was food for three lionesses and their seven cubs. Maribou storks and hordes of vultures were waiting patiently when I arrived and, from time to time, a lioness emerged from the thick bush to chase them off.

The lionesses had taken a wildebeest at the same spot yesterday morning, taking advantage of this season of plenty, and you couldn’t find a better seat from which to observe the drama than Rekero.

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