Today was the best day! We came out this morning with a goal to see a river crossing. After our second spot to watch, we noticed they were starting to gather instead of grazing. At first, only a few came down, but then it was a stampede of wildabeests that were coming down the steep bank. They were splashing and jumping and colliding with one another. The whole Mara River was full of them!There were zebras mixed in with the crowd too. There were so many coming across when we suddenly saw a giant crocodile. It was so long. The jaw itself was so much longer than I ever would have expected. There was much commotion, and the giant jaw with giant teeth clamped down on an unsuspecting passing wildabeest. It snapped down on him so fast that the others could barely notice. They just kept rushing by. They continued coming across and were soaking wet when they got to our side when we saw the crocodile place his dead first kill in a still spot of the river and start going towards them again! There was a little baby one that had gotten caught in the current and was fighting to get back to the group. The crocodile spotted this weakness and clamped right on the back(it may have been the legs) of the baby. Were were all screaming and shouting at this point-Even the guides!! because it is so rare to see a crossing, even more are a crocodile kill and extremely rare to see two killings. We all jumped out of the car to get a closer view. Which in hindsight, probably wasn't very smart in case there had been predators looking for us to be lunch!
The little one did not die for such a long time, and you could hear his cries when his face would surface above the water. It was a horrible noise. There were points when just his little nose would surface. It was such a sad thing to hear. Normally, crocodiles kill their prey by drowning them, but this little guy could fight to barely get his head above water every few seconds. It was a gargling sound when he would surface trying to breathe. The crocodile would not let go of his grip. He held on tight. The wildabeest fought a tough battle for nearly 30minutes and struggled to get free. The wildabeests that had not crossed yet heard the cries of the trapped little one and stopped crossing. There were probably still a thousand that needed to cross. If a mother and baby get separated on different sides of the bank, they will call out in distress trying to find one another.
We saw a big one that looked as if it had broken a back leg jumping off a rock. It would try to get up, but when we left him, he had finally laid down as if to go peacefully. When they begin crossing the river, they started out going one by one in line, but as they continued, more and more lines began to form. They splashed through the river currents and tumbled down the river bank.
We are right on the border of Kenya right now. We went back out this afternoon and saw a momma lion with her three cubs. The cubs were jumping on her back as she walked. They were the most adorable thing I have ever seen. The winds took a turn for the worse. When we were driving back, the flames had come right up to the road! The Serengeti is so dry that everything catches immediately. The staff here all looks so worried. The national park sets the "controlled fire", but then does nothing to contain them. It is up to each camp to protect themselves. But they all band together and help one another if one is in trouble. Our staff is out there with tree brancesh to snuff it out as it gets close and a gun in case of animals! Right outside our window it glows orange. The dry Serengeti is not a place you want to be when a fire is gaining fuel.
