Saturday Anne and I went with Mike and Jo to the Maasai Mara. It was ostensibly a business trip to look at their cattle and grassland management but we intended to include a bit of touristing as well. The first step was to squeeze into a little yellow plane, bounce down the runway, head south west, and labor up a long slow climb to 12,500 feet to go over the Aberdare Range. It felt like a flying version of “The Little Engine That Could”.

Passing the Aberdares we dropped over the Mau escarpment to the Rift Valley. Ancient volcanic craters dotted the landscape as we flew into the Maasai Mara.

After landing we were driven to the Elephant Pepper Lodge. On the way we made it a game drive. Our Maasai driver pointed out wildlife that we don’t have up in Lewa (Topi, Wildebeest, Thomson’s Gazelle), some we do (Zebra, Warthog, Elephant) and finally a pair of Cheetah sitting under an Acacia. Seeing a Cheetah within an hour of our arrival was pretty cool.

Arriving at Elephant Pepper we settled into our tent. Tent doesn’t do it justice. Think small, elegant apartment that happens to have canvas walls. We grabbed a bit of lunch: pasta and cheese, green salad, beans, sliced ham, fruit and assorted cheeses, wine and beer. Not bad for eating in the bush.

After lunch we had to go to work so we climbed back into our safari vehicle and set out. A couple of hundred yards up a hill and down the dirt road we came upon those two cheetah again but this time they weren’t relaxing under a tree. One was fifty yards ahead of the other and they were stalking a family of warthogs, two big, two small. The Cheetah took off like a shot. The warthogs scrambled to get away. The lead cheetah separated the warthogs and sprinted after one of the smaller ones. The trailing cheetah cut the corner whenever the warthog zigged or zagged. They crested a small rise and dropped out of sight. Immediately a billow of dust flew into the air. Then nothing.

Following the cheetah over the rise we found them with the still twitching warthog. The lead cat had him by the neck and the trailing cat was already chewing into a rear haunch. After a couple of minutes the warthog breathed its last.

Cheetahs are always worried that their meal will be taken. Lion, hyena or leopard can deprive them of the fruits of their hunt so they eat fast and alternate keeping watch.

This meal should suffice for a couple of days. Not bad for eating in the bush.