"I have a problem with my shaft"! ......

Our first blog comes two days into our trip to the Mara and its been quite an eventful one already! We had arranged to travel down to the Mara with our friends Aatish and Aashit Patel. Its a journey we have all both done many times but travelling to the Mara in convoy is always a good plan if that option is there and so we decided to met early doors in Nairobi and make the 6 hour trip together.

All was going well, making good time through Narok and then making it onto the corrugated gravel road into the Mara. At this point our fortune was to change slightly as Aatish, who travelled in front in "beauty' (Their Land Rover) pulled to a stop around one hour down the dusty and bumpy road. "I have a problem with my shaft!" exclaimed Aatish. After overcoming the initial laughter of his random statement we stopped and Andy helped to investigate and it turned out that indeed the Land Rover had a faulty differential and half shaft, basically meaning they had lost 'drive'. This was not a good thing and so out came the tools and jack to try and make a fix. It became apparent that a permanent fix was not possible without replacement parts and so plan B came into action, that involved a hammer and forcing the half shaft into place. We set off again and then around a few KM's later the half shaft became dislodged and now a plan C came into effect. In good old bush style a plan was made to try and wedge the half shaft in place. For once we were all grateful of some old discarded water bottles that worked to temporally stop the part from being dislodged again. Just over 7 hours or so after leaving Nairobi we then all arrived, dusty, tired but happy to be back in the Mara.

As we arrived into the Mara storm clouds started to brew, and the roads were wet from recent rains. We had hoped that the clouds would evade us but sadly this was not to be the case and since arriving we have had some quite torrential downpours, mostly from around 3pm.  Our vehicle is well equipped to deal with these conditions but after a few weeks now of wet weather the tracks in the Mara were all quite washed out and the black cotton mud was playing its usual games. Its all 'part and parcel' of travelling in Africa on bush roads but the effect of the constant afternoon downpours has meant we have had to restrict our movements a little more than we would have hoped. Several of the river crossing have been impassable immediately after the rains and therefore meaning some areas have been accessible. Rather than worry about something we cant possibly affect we have still continued on and made the most of our time here and with the help of some of our local friends have been getting our bearings as much as has been possible of where the game and predators are located since our last trip in July,

Despite the rains and having to stay 'local' much of the time we have been reasonably lucky so far with sightings of some familiar faces. We have caught up with some of the Olkiombo Breakaway females (The Lionesses whom we 'blogged' about in March 2012). Seeing 4 females so far and one with a very cute 6-7 month old cub. In addition Olive the beautiful 12 year old Leopard made an appearance resting high up in a tree and this morning briefly seeing Maliaka and her one remaining cheetah cub not too far from Look Out hill and far from where we saw here in July. Both looking well.

There are still quite a few wildebeest in the Mara, most now being located on Possee Plains above Mara Intrepids and Naibor Camp as well as some large herds being reported on Paradise Plains (although as yet we have not been down this far) and in addition we hear that one of the 4km males is also in that area mating with one of the Paradise lionesses and who we hope to catch up with in the next few days.
However, the most notable numbers of Wildebeest though at present are to be seen across the Mara River in the Mara Triangle and are slowly making their way back toward the Serengeti, no doubt being tempted by the thunder and lightening that is also occurring down in the Serengeti. In a few days time we will likely be heading over this direction and hope the herds remain there for a while yet. Although it is likely that by then many of them will have passed across the border to continue their ongoing migratory routes.

So for now this is just a short blog to catch up on the last two days and more to follow soon, including the most hilarious and awesome evening tonight that involved a close encounter with lions (when you least want it!) as well as an evening with one of our favourite lions, Notch!

So for now its 'lala salama' until tomorrow...........

Investigating the problem....

 Bush Repairs start

Bush Repairs 'African Stylee'!

Olkiombo 'Breakaway' Female and cub

Playing in the rain

Olive

Thousands of Wildebeest across the River in the Mara Triangle

Malaika & her cub