Babies of Masai Mara

This is baby time in the East African game parks.  We have seen countless babies, all adorable, from lion cubs to tiny elephants less than 3 weeks old, to warthog piglets(?--that's what they look like), to a mound of a baby black rhino in the grass below its mother's snout.  See their photos below.

At Kichwa Tembo, one of our tent camps in Masai Mara, just outside the famous Mara Triangle swarming with animals, a large family of warthhogs inhabits the grassy spaces between the lodge and the savannah.  Yesterday, I saw 4 baby warthogs nursing at the rear of their mother, squealing happily as they slurped their evening meal.

Lion cubs abound.  The lionesses in the pride will babysit another lioness' cubs while she goes off to hunt with the rest of the pride.  We watched as 4 cubs wrestled with one another before following behind one lioness, mother of 2 cubs, to meet up with the returning mother of the other 2 cubs.  They walked right down the middle of the road as we sat in our Land Cruisers and watched them amble by, cubs romping all the while.

It is rare to see a black rhino.  They have not only been hunted to near extinction, but are also loners who tend to get lost in the tall bushes they like to eat.  Luckily, we saw one 2 nights ago, watching over her baby, just a dark lump in the high grass.  We have seen 2 elephant babies less than 3 or 4 weeks old.  The entire family protects them.  Often they walk under their enormous mothers or aunts who watch over them with tender care.