It's Nearly Over

The Fast Five in their Habitat

Our last full day of the trip started out by meeting up with the Double Cross/Enkoyonai Lion pride. We had some gorgeous golden light and concentrated more on the juveniles for our shots. Their location gave us the chance to capture them both on open flat ground and also in some of the fine longer grasses.

However, Lions weren’t our target for the day, there were more pressing engagements awaiting us. On our trip in 2017 we had seen a coalition of five male Cheetahs on a few occasions and were keen to see them again on this trip. Our efforts had been frustrated up to now, as they had moved into an area of the Mara where we were unable to go, but the day greeted us with good news.

Overnight they had been spotted back in the area we could access and so that was where we headed. To get there we had to cross the Talek River and go through the town of Talek, then back out on to open plains. On our way to the Talek gate, we had a couple more avian sightings.

The first was a Rufous-naped Lark, perched beautifully in great light and with a nice clean background, but even with a 600mm focal length, a bit distant. Not long after that we were treated to what is possibly the best Secretarybird sighting we are ever going to get. For a change, it wasn’t moving away from us. This bird was perched on the top of a tree, facing us and with a clean background for fully twelve minutes. In that time I shot over a hundred frames, before the bird flew off.

This was our signal to head for the gate and get on the trail of the Cheetahs, who have become known as the Fast Five. Within 75 minutes, we had located them. We tracked them as they walked purposely through the long grass of the open plains until they found some shade beneath a few bushes, where they took a break.

Time was getting on and our guide assessed they would stay in this location for a while which would give us chance to adjourn to a safe distance for breakfast. We found a position where we could still see the Cheetahs, but for a change took breakfast in the vehicle for safety.

We returned to a closer position after breakfast, but it was another thirty minutes before they decided to move having spotted a herd of antelope on a nearby hillside. They gradually approached their prey and as they did so we moved position again to get a better view once the hunt began. In all, we spent nearly three and a half memorable hours with these guys, but we were approaching a time where a decision had to be made.

Our plan for the trip included a visit to a local school to deliver over 18kgs of pencils, books, notepads we had taken and football kit donated by both Weymouth and Dorchester football clubs. We had some distance to travel and were in danger of not arriving before the children left school for the day. So we abandoned the Cheetah sighting and headed off. Later on, we learned from the rangers who were overseeing the sighting that the Fast Five never did hunt the antelope that afternoon.

It’s no surprise the visit to the school was memorable. The happy smiling faces of the children and the gratitude conveyed by the staff for the items we had taken were reward enough. They danced and sang for us and posed happily for photos, it was a good visit.

After we moved on, the afternoon turned out to be a similar bird-fest to the previous afternoon. In quick succession we had Croaking Cisticola, Lesser Striped Swallow, Red-necked Spurfowl and African Grey Flycatcher.

Time was moving on now and we were within around ninety minutes of darkness. It was also apparent there were some heavy rain showers gathering around us, distant for now, but ominous. We started to head back to base.

It was only about five minutes after setting off we encountered a Female Elephant with a juvenile male and a baby that could only have been weeks old. It was so small, it could fit underneath mum’s body virtually without touching her. Given Rose’s love of Elephants, this was a heaven-sent opportunity for some stunning shots. We were grateful for our Canons’ low-light capability as we shot usable images at ISO’s up to 6400 and witnessed some amusing antics from the baby.

By now the showers were getting closer, so we moved off to batten down the hatches, before we got soaked. Not long after, the rain started and it was torrential to say the least. We were still some way from camp, but dry inside.

Suddenly though, we became stuck as we negotiated a dip in the track that had become flooded. We could neither go forwards nor backwards and were in the same situation as the truck we’d encountered a few days before. Our guide swiftly arranged some assistance from a nearby vehicle that managed to pull us out backwards. Our guide and his spotter were absolutely drenched in the process as they attached and detached the towing rope.

A relaxed drive back to camp was in order and we arrived without further incident, in the dark and also, it was dry. A day to remember for some time to come for many reasons, not all including wildlife.