After our week in Amboseli long-time family friend Ann and I were fortunate enough to fly from Amboseli to the Mara Triangle where we landed at Serena airstrip. The flying time is about 45 minutes. The alternative is to drive from Amboseli back to Nairobi and then fly from Wilson Airport in Nairobi to Serena airstrip in the Mara Triangle. The flight directly from Amboseli saves at least six hours of travelling time.

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” ~ John Burroughs

At the Serena airstrip we were met by the Wild Eye Enkushui team and we took a slow drive back to camp for lunch. The first sighting on our way to camp was a large male leopard lying comfortably in the canopy of a lone Balanite tree. He was watching all the movement of game in the grasslands around him. Looking at his belly he must have fed well the night before.

“The wilderness holds answers to more questions than we have yet learned to ask.” ~ Nancy Newhall

The Balanite tree also known as the desert date. This is an iconic, drought-resistant tree that dots the Masai Mara grasslands. It is often seen standing alone with a distinct umbrella-like or rounded silhouette against the open plain.

A welcome innovation in the Triangle is controlled off-roading in the Mara Triangle. Strict enforcement is in place, with Triangle rangers maintaining a visible presence and closely monitoring vehicle activity throughout the Conservancy. Off-road movement is permitted only for vehicles equipped with approved live tracking units and activity is limited to designated areas. 

Access is purposeful and limited: off-road driving is allowed exclusively for meaningful photographic or interpretative opportunities (such as sightings of cheetah, lion, or leopard), and never for convenience or general exploration. Off-road access remains highly controlled, with a maximum of five vehicles allowed at any one time within defined zones. Real-time monitoring technology is used to track vehicle movements, ensuring compliance and accountability for all operators. 

Wild Eye’s Enkushui Safari Camp is located in the Mara Triangle on the western bank of the Mara river about 1.5 kilometres up from the Purungat Bridge gate. This bridge is one of the most strategically important river crossing points in the Masai Mara ecosystem. It is located on the Mara River in the southern/southwestern Mara, and is very close to the Kenya–Tanzania border. It is the only vehicle crossing point linking the Mara Triangle side and the Greater Masai Mara side. The key advantage is that the camp’s location affords its guests first access to the high wildlife activity zone at first light. This significantly improves your chances of good lion, hyaena, serval and leopard sightings.

“Wildlife emerges when human disruption ceases.” ~ Unknown

On previous trips I had seen a beautiful young leopardess called Nashipai. I was hoping to get more photographs of her this trip. It was first light and we had driven down to Maji Machafu (meaning dirty water in Swahili) crossing area on the Mara river to look for a lioness and her very young cubs. Instead, we found a leopardess walking out of a croton thicket on the bank of the river. What was unusual was she was foaming at the mouth. This leopardess was not Nashipai.

We speculated that that she must have been foaming at the mouth due to either severe stress or having been in a fight. There was no sign that she had been in a fight. She had no sooner stepped out of the thicket when she bolted.

Less than a minute after the first leopardess had emerged from the crotons a second leopardess cautiously emerged.

“Choose your battles wisely. After all, life isn’t measured by how many times you stood up to fight. It’s not winning battles that makes you happy, but it’s how many times you turned away and chose to look into a better direction. Life is too short to spend it on warring. Fight only the most, most, most important ones, let the rest go.” ~ C. JoyBell C.

The emergence of the second leopard made us think this could have been a territorial altercation.

The second leopardess quickly followed the first probably to ensure she left her territory.

“The greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we never expected to see.”~John Tukey

One afternoon we decided to search around the Nvumba Nane hills. The scenery is spectacular and there is a pass through a section of these hills where a small tributary flows and feeds into the BBC lugga. At this point there are several large fig trees and one large sausage tree. With its large trees and steep hills this point is called Leopard Corner. We were lucky enough to find a leopardess lying on a large branch of one of the fig trees. She had torn ears probably incurred in territorial fights or hunting in thick thorny bush. This leopardess watched us until another two vehicles arrived. It got too busy for her and she climbed down the tree and disappeared through the long grass across the river and up the adjacent hillside into the thick bush.

On the second last of our six day trip to the Mara Triangle we left the camp at 6h00 after our cup of coffee and muffin. The camp is located in a croton thicket and is about a 700 metre drive to get to the Bottom River road. As we turned onto the Bottom River road there lying on a granite outcrop was a large male leopard. He looked to be asleep but as soon as he heard our vehicle he lifted his head. We asked the guide whether this was Shujaa, a massive male leopard we had seen the year before but this was a different male.

“…there are no wrong turns, only unexpected paths.” ~ Mark Nepo

The sun had not yet risen so the sky was illumed with soft pastel pinks, blues and mauves. This male leopard, now fully alert, was looking out from his rocky outcrop with the beautiful colours of the sky in the background creating a breath-taking scene.

He was a big male who looked like he had been in a few territorial tangles in the past judging from the scars on his face. Shujaa another massive male leopard we had seen in this area the year before had a considerably more scarred face and the skin around his eyes was damaged giving him a more devilish look. This was the same area we found Nashipai the previous year.

We spent about 15 minutes with this male before leaving him to rest in peace. It was interesting that he was resting out in the open on a granite outcrop at a time when the lions in the area were still active.

We were fortunate to have had three wonderful leopard sightings. Two of them were early in the morning just after 6h00 and we were the only vehicle in the area. This was because of the position of Wild Eye’s Enkushui Safari camp which always allowed us to be the first in the southern section of the Mara Triangle.

“If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not recognize it when it arrives.” ~ Heraclitus

Our best leopard sighting have been early in the morning before 7h00. That said last year we found Shujaa, the biggest male leopard I have ever seen, strolling through the open grasslands actively searching in the luggas for prey. He was the size of a fully grown lioness and powerfully built. He exuded an air of powerful confidence. The interesting part was that we found him in the open grasslands at around 9h30 so I can generalise about the best time to see leopards but mother nature always has something different to show us.

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike