Masai Mara, Aug. 13

There is no such thing as sleeping in when you’re on a safari. I admit to some (unvoiced) grumbling when Edwin informed us last night that we’d begin our morning game drive at 6:30, but I’m sure glad that we did!

We were reunited with Popo yesterday – he’s the man who expertly drove us around Amboseli, sharing his in-depth knowledge of the animals and plants – and this morning, he sped us to a rise where we caught an iconic African sunrise. Sleep is overrated!

The animals of Masai Mara, of course, don’t waste a moment of the cool early morning; they were out in abundance. In addition to the usual suspects, we were treated to a rare rhino sighting, and then a bit further on we came across a pack of hyenas, snouts raised to capture scents on the wind.

All of a sudden, the pack tore off, quickly followed by several jeeploads of tourists. Then the pack stopped, milled around, and raced back in the opposite direction. Perhaps they were in fact laughing hyenas, having a chuckle at our expense; it was a true “ha, ha, made you look” moment.

Racing hyenas. I apologize for the blurred picture – I usually shoot in aperture priority, and the shutter speed chosen by the camera wasn’t up to capturing a sharp image of the hyenas in motion.

After this initial flurry of sightings, we watched some lions for a bit then headed back to the lodge for breakfast.

It’s hard to get steps in on a safari because, particularly in Tanzania, the lodges aren’t fenced and returning from a walk isn’t guaranteed. Thankfully, the Serova Mara’s extensive grounds are both fenced and beautiful, so I took some time after breakfast to go exploring.

I found one aspect of the grounds off-putting: the plaques honoring people who donated plantings make the grounds look a bit like a cemetery

The lodge grows most of its produce and fruit in a lovely organic garden on the premises.

While wandering among the plants and trees, I came upon a mob of mongooses. (“Mongooses” is the standard plural form, though it sounds wrong to me. Goose becomes geese, moose stays as moose, and mongoose becomes mongooses. English is weird.)

After several luxurious hours of leisure, we began our afternoon game drive at four o’clock. The primary quest: leopards. We visited their usual haunts – trees and thickets alongside creeks – but they were not receiving visitors. We did, however, see lots of other denizens of the Mara, including lizards, several kinds of birds, an ancient Cape buffalo, a family of elephants, and a pride of lions.