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[Sully]

Masai Mara: Enter The Lions Den
Oct 7, 2013

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the lion is the king in the Masa Mara
Lions are the top predator in the Masai Mara , where almost every other animal is a dinner. So it was fascinating on this safari to witness a lion chase, and a large pride eating together. This was my second visit, so knew the great wildlife spectacle to come. The Masai Mara did not disappoint, with a large male lion and his pride feasting on the remains of a buffalo kill that was seen the night before.

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Leaving the lions to eat the remains, you continued driving through the African savannah. Plenty of zebra and antelope were spotted, as well as a huge herd of buffalo and wildebeast. The best thing was to find a cheetah, trying to cool of from the heat in the shade of a bush.  The cheetah is such an elegant cat, the fastest land animal, and is always exciting to find one.

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The cheetah moved closer into the shade and let out a big yawn as it relaxed, getting ready to take a nap.

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Further on, driving through more herds of zebra and wildebeast, a fast movement was spotted running in the distance. It was a lion chasing a zebra. Racing to the scene the zebra escaped, and the lioness was panting hard. But with so many herds around, the lioness is soon stalking another group of zebra. You shadow the movements off the lioness for twenty minutes from around thirty metres away, watching her drop in and out of the bush stalking.

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The lion chase in the Masai Mara
The first group of zebras spotted her(zebras have excellent eyesight), and run away shouting warnings to the others. A group further ahead didn’t notice the commotion and the lioness moved towards them.

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Suddenly there was a burst of movement ahead, the chase was on. The lioness charged into the zebra, who ran for their lives. Arriving to see her exhausted in front of some zebra, she had not made a kill. Even though there was no kill, the sheer excitement of watching the stalking and the chase was amazing to see.

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In hunger she ends up chasing away some vultures from a half eaten wildebeast. Picking it up and moving it into the shade, she probably wont eat it, lions like freshly killed meat, not rotting corpses.

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Spotting another lioness a hundred metres away watching on, it became obvious that they were trying to work together to hunt, but just didn’t have the best plan for the recent hunt. The second lioness spots a young zebra walking not so far behind her, but even with all the good bush around as cover, she doesn’t bother giving chase.

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Having seen buffalo kill the day before, and lions appearing everywhere, it really is the lions den in the Masai Mara. A safari there never disappoints.

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