Mara North video, Dec. 2012

Another short video to complement my previous post about Meru. This time about my stay at Offbeat's Camp in the Mara North Conservancy. It is interesting to compare the two landscapes, the Mara is very dry and bare and Meru was lush and green, it should have been the other way round!!
Again the quality is not great and you may want to mute the sound as the wind noise is very distracting. I have still not worked out how to reduce the wind noise on my camera, I am sure there is some device to alleviate it but I have not found it yet.
The start of the video shows David and Kapeen, my guide and spotter, enjoying one of our picnic bush breakfasts which we took with us each morning of my stay. It was great to find the shade of a tree and have breakfast looking out over the plains surrounded by animals.

https://youtu.be/VwKVKLAmUQ0

Safariman

Thanks Safariman thats really cheered me up sitting here in cold Wales. I put it on full screen, and pretended I was having breakfast with David, and Kapeen . Great to see so many different animals, a really good range of different species from prey to predators.
I have the same thing on my camera with the wind just had a quick look, but I could'nt find anything, although it did'nt detract from the video as you say just turn the vol down abit
WS

Another wonderful clip Safariman. Thanks so much for sharing. It was lovely to see all the wildlife, but especially the wildies, cheetah and lions, I haven't seen any for a while!

Breakfast with Kapeen and David - lovely and such a great way to enjoy a meal out in the open watching the world go by.

Lai

Well it's freezing and windy here safariman so I decided to go with the wind as it was fitting for this evening actually I liked the sound of the wind as it made all the more real, as if you were there.

It was very dry there wasn't it but the animals all looked healthy and it was brilliant to see so many wildies there, another of my favs and Lais too, the Wildie & Buff Boys
The river looked as thogh it was drying up and looked fairly muddy in places but still enough water to drink and roll in. Great to see the two Cheetah, not sure if they were smelling their scent markings at the tree or if someone else had scented there?
the Lioness at the end, did she only have the one cub or was there more? I only saw one following her?
I don't think we will be having breakfast, David & Kapeen style anytime soon, far too wintery here and I bet you wished you were back there having breakfast amongst the animals with beautiful scenery too.
Thanks for that Safariman, I thoroughly enjoyed that and it added a lot of sunshine on a very chilly January evening

littlewid-x-

Yes LW it was very dry but they have now had quite a lot of rain, a little late but very welcome. The cheetahs were a mum and daughter who I had first seen on my previous visit in June. They were checking out the scent left by a male. I think that mum is soon going to kick her daughter out and mate again! The lion cub at the end is 6 months old and she was with her big sister. She is the only survivor of a litter of 2, her mum leaves her to her own devices and she seems to spend most of her time with her sister. I will post some photos of them later. Definitely missing my breakfasts in the bush.

Safariman

Thank you for that Safariman, I couldnt tell if they were male or female Cheetah but I thought they may have been male as they were smelling the scent but of course it makes sense for them to be female and I suppose it was mum checking out the scent. They did look like two adults so yes I suppose no surprise that mum will move on and mate again.What a shame the Lion cub is the only survivor from her litter of two, do you know how the other one died? strange that mum doesnt really bother with her and she spends all her time with her sister, I would have thought that mum would still be spending quite a bit of time with her, does that have anything to do with other one dying do you know? I am looking forward to seeing more photo's of them both when you have some time.
It definiately looked as though they needed the rain, it's a shame it came late and I am sure some animals suffered because of that but at least it did rain and I imagine the place was transformed into a more lush looking bush.
I bet you are missing your breakfasts Safariman and the heat and sunshine, it was -1 here this morning with a very heavy frost, not sure what it was like where you are but I imagine it wasn't safari weather.

littlewid-x-

Incredible footage Safariman

You seem to have captured the essence of Africa in just a few minutes (I'll even forgive the absence of leopards and giraffes ). The wind whirling in the background just makes it more authentic.