The alarm rang out and it was time to get up, get dressed and make our way up to the tea and coffee station for a hit of caffeine before our 6AM drive out in to the Mara. At 05.30am it was still dark and there was a nip in the air, the rain was still falling as it had been all night, we just new it was going to be one of those days!
As we drove out of camp and headed into the bush, we heard over the radio that two Black Rhino had been seen not far from camp, so we headed off to find them. Once we arrived at the area they had been spotted, there were several vans parked up and all were looking in to the bush area beside us. The Rhino had made their way in to the dense bush and could not be seen. We decided to stay for a while in case they came out, but after nearly an hour we decided to move on.
For the next hour or so we were slowly driving around on the look out for any animals of interest. Then suddenly over the radio, “Godfrey, come in Godfrey…….” it was James, one of the rangers we gave a lift to earlier in the week. James was asking Godfrey to meet at a certain point in the Mara. Godfrey turned to me and asked if we wanted to meet up with James. We had nothing to loose, maybe there would be some game or with a bit of luck one of the big five over in that direction, so we decided to go and find out what James was calling us over for.
When we arrived at James’s location, to our surprise James had found four lions feeding on a kill from earlier in the night. 80% of the wildebeest was gone, this was a big feed for the whole pride. As we sat in our van next to James’s van, James told us he heard Godfrey on the radio asking if any one had seen lions this morning, and to show his appreciation for the lift we gave him on our way in to the Mara, he wanted share his find with us, hence the lack of information given over the airwaves. So it goes to show, if you do a good deed the favour will be returned when you need it.
We sat and watched the Lions feed for almost an hour before any other vans arrived. When they did it would be time for us to leave and make our way back to camp for our own breakfast.