3 weeks have passed and its time to say farewell (Until December)

Sadly this will be the last post of our recent 3 week photographic expedition to the Masai Mara, The time has passed so fast with days of endless excitement to look back on. It never gets any easier to say goodbye to the cats we follow as the last night is always marked by puffy eyes! Andy and I, in all of our 5 years of coming here have grown to see the Mara as our second home. In the time we have known the cats we follow you just can't help but get attached as you get to know their characters and we will especially miss "killer Bogie', Notch and the two little gutsy female cubs who have grown remarkably in confidence and technique along with the other 7 cubs from the Mgoro pride.

We spent some time today again with 'our girls' (Mgoro pride) who relaxed on the plains as there was again another big crossing at Cul De Sac. We had another good look for Notch and boys but we are fairly sure (and a few sources confirm) that they are still the 'other' side. still. A shame that we have not seen them in the last three days but the boys clearly have business to attend to elsewhere.

Just two days ago the plains around Rhino Ridge and Paradise plains had become empty of wildebeest. All of a sudden and overnight (probably driven by the rains in the central Mara area) a huge mass of wildebeest has gathered back on the plains and are slowly heading south. We can only think that these herds have come from the Keekorok area/Look Out Hill area and are making there way through the Narok side and now south back into the Mara Triangle. There is certainly going to be plenty of excitement in the next few days and today the size of the crossings at Cul de Sac and Upper main had grown in size in comparison to the last two days. We are sure there are going to be some BIG crossings over the next 2-3 days.

Sadly Andy and I will not be party to this excitement as tomorrow we make the 6 hours drive back to Nairobi, a few jobs to do in town and the land Rover to clean we leave in the happy thought that in December we return back to Kenya.  We look back on what had been an incredible trip, thank you Mara Triangle for such an adventure and we cant wait to be back to see how our cats are fairing and of course just to be back camping in the bush.

We are of course looking forward to going home to be united with our own cats (of the smaller variety!) and have a massive 125GB worth of pictures to deal with on our return. All of the best shots from this trip will be posted on our website (imagesofwildlife.co.uk) in the next 2-4 weeks and a post will be placed here when they are 'live'. Dont forget to also check back on the blog late December for our next trip.

So as we prepare our tent for the last night in the bush its time to say kwaheri from the Masai Mara and a huge thanks to all those who have patiently read our often rather lengthy posts, we hope you check back on the photos and there will be a feast awaiting Notch fans!

I will leave with a final video of some cute lion cubs who we came across today for the 2nd time on this trip and when we return home to our 'ID shots we will be able to confirm if this is the 5th Mgoro female or one of the Serena females, regardless its highly likely these guys are both offspring from Notch or boys, given they have mated with both of the aforementioned females. Just after this video was taken a third tiny cub rejoined the family making three tiny cubs.

Thanks all and we look forward to showcasing the photos from our trip.