We started the day of 12/13/2024 by checking out of the Lake Naivasha Sopa Resort and driving to our boat tour. Here are some parting pictures that I took before leaving the resort:

We loaded into small boats like this:

We saw lots of hippos:

They are very territorial, so once they slip their heads under the water, it is best to move to a new place.

We again saw a lot of birds:

We also saw some great scenery:

Arriving at the shore, we found ourselves close to a hippopotamus.

And when we wanted to use the restroom, we couldn’t because this guy was blocking our way:

The drive to Maasai Mara was interesting – not because the roads are so bad (they are), but because they are so bad that people are forced to take alternative roads (which barely quality as roads). At one point we had to four-wheel it through a river and literally pay a kid who had blocked the road with a big stick.

The Mara Sopa Lodge is an “eco lodge”, meaning that they severely limit the times during which they generate electricity to a few hours in the morning and from 5pm to 11pm. But it was otherwise pretty nice.

As described previously, the Maasai Mara National Reserve is connected to the Serengeti National Park in Tunisia – they just use a different name in the two countries.

The afternoon game drive was spectacular and we saw lots of animals:

But the best part was when we got a report over the radio of a leopard sighting. I can’t emphasize enough how amazing our drivers are – they weren’t using GPS, but they knew exactly where they were in the park and in a few words were able to understand exactly where to drive. It was amazing.

The result was this:

It was headed for a tree (which would have given us a perfect view), but a different land cruiser cut it off so it went hiding in the bushes.

The next morning our drivers returned to the same spot and the leopard was in the tree! However, Amie and I were on a hot air balloon ride so we missed it. These are the pictures that they took:

In case anybody wondered what it looks like when a leopard is sighted, here’s the picture that nobody ever shows:

Literally two minutes after the above picture was taken, I took this picture (while parked in the same spot):

It was a good day!

Running tally of the animals seen so far:

• Big five: 5 (Elephant, Leopard, Lion, Rhinoceros, Water Buffalo)
• Ugly five: 5 (Hyena, Vulture, Marabou Stork, Warthog, Wildebeest)