Our next 2 days in Lewa was nothing but fabulous with long game drives in the early mornings and evenings including checking out the local village where the Maasai tribe people live (another separate post on that). Expectedly, not everyone in the group opted to go for every game drive, but Y and I was pretty enthusiastic with WT and his mummy and we went for every game drive just to soak in the moment. Everywhere was just so picturesque and serene and I felt so humbled to be in this place. I was glad that I managed to take quite a few videos of the animals in action, only pity is we did not get to see any animals mating or killing, that will be a true National Geographic moment, but our guide Alex told us it’s not easy to see it as they don’t happen everyday, so it is like striking lottery if we did chance upon that. Often in the early morning drives, one of the first animals we tend to see is the Ostrich running around. With its fat body and long neck, this animal totally amuses me. Here in this video, you will see the jackal eyeing the Ostriches.
On our 2nd day in Lewa, we were treated to a lovely safari picnic at the top of a hill, all set up by Alex. It was nice to sit on the blankets that’s provided in the car, that doubled up as mats and help ourselves to some cereal, fruits and sandwiches. I think they all looked yummier served out of the classic silver container, would love to have one of these for a picnic in Singapore, how classy it is! Felt like a royal for that moment. And yes, many asked me if there were animals around us during the picnic, probably but not in close proximity, that’s one of the precaution the experienced guides take when letting us go for rest stops and pee breaks.
We had quite a fruitful journey this morning seeing Elephants, Cheetahs, Giraffes and Common and Grevy’s Zebras. We chanced upon a female elephant eating slowly, and we learnt from Alex how to differentiate female elephants from the male elephants. With the female elephants, their forehead is more pointed.
We were so excited when we saw a cheetah next, possibly it was eyeing the elephants. Later that day we saw a whole group pof cheetahs resting quietly in the field, doing what they do best, hiding well to catch their next prey.
First sighting of a Cheetah on our morning drive.
As you can see in the next few images, where we chanced upon a group of Cheetahs, initially they were sleeping but once they heard us near them, they started to awaken. It was pretty thrilling to be so near them. I wanted to do a selfie with them, but Alex told me it was too dangerous, clearly!
We trailed the cheetahs in our jeep for a while, and I have to say they look really elegant and powerful just looking at their side profiles. I guess in the animal kingdom, I could say they have one of the best figures! Alex explained to us they are pretty disciplined eaters like they don’t believe in having buffets. Once they kill an animal, they usually only eat what’s sufficient and leave the rest of the carcass behind, definitely unlike me, if it was left to me, I would eat up the whole animal, there’s no wasting!
We chanced upon my favourite animal – the giraffe, eating away at the tree. Love this shot!
Shortly after, we came across a herd of grevy’s zebras and common zebras. Contrary to what many of us assumed, these 2 types of zebras don’t exactly get along and we had a chance to see the grevy’s zebras ‘scolding’ the common zebras to get out of its territory, very apparent from the noise it makes. Strange how it has no problem hanging out with the antelopes but not with animals that look like them.
We finally made our way to the marshland, where we saw lots of elephants, antelopes just grazing away. Here, as it is like a swamp area with more water, the grass is greener and lushier, with denser forestation. There were beautiful birds spotted as well. The elephants are a rather disciplined orderly lot, even when they drink water, they line up in a single row, it was so cute observing them drinking water from their behinds.
I love the pink bird, it’s probably the prettiest bird I have seen with pink and blue hues, a pity I forgot the name. We always cross the same river on route back to the hotel, and we had also the opportunity to chance upon a crocodile (shudder). It looked like it was sleeping, but I was so sure it was looking at me.
We noticed that we will always find the white rhino around the lake. We had seen some black rhinos which was a rarer sight, but from a far distance and it is a pity I could not take great photos of them. But I love this image I took of the mama rhino with the baby, it is so similar to humans where our mummies will protect us, just like Y loving me.
We had the chance to see a young lion in the evening drives, sleeping and by himself. When it yawned, it looked pretty scary, look at all those large white fangs. Very likely it may have been targetting the baby rhino, just hope that mama rhino protects baby well!
Every late afternoon drive during this Lewa Safari trip ends with a scene like the above, a gorgeous view of the sunset in Lewa Downs. Soaking in this with the wind against my fur, was pretty amazing. Look out for my next post on my visit to the Maasai tribe village in Lewa, a truly eye opening experience.
