KENYA - Of the six countries in eastern and southern Africa I’ve visited while on 10 different safaris over the years, one destination stands out above the rest—the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.

At at the Mara, I've witnessed crocodiles slaughter a dozen Thompson’s gazelle attempting to cross the river, seen a serval leap high in the air to catch a bat, and observed lions making kills and a cheetah making a kill. You can be assured that you’ll see something extraordinary on every trip to the Masai Mara.

This was to be my fourth visit.

As a last-second add-on to my itinerary, which began at Samburu Intrepids Camp in Samburu National Reserve, I booked my reservation at Mara Intrepids Safari Camp, and domestic flights with Safarilink online.

Located in the middle of the Masai Mara, Mara Intrepids is where the crew of the PBS show Big Cat Diary stays when filming. Aside from being a traditional permanent tented camp with a great staff at a competitive price and just the right touch of luxury, the reason they’ve chosen to base operations there is that you are guaranteed to see cats—lots of them.

Before even making it from the airstrip to camp, we came across a couple of male giraffes sparring. Winding up their long necks and delivering repeated blows with their ossicones (those head extensions that look like horns) established dominance and sorted out who got to mate with the females. In 14 months, baby giraffes will be born.

The highlight of that evening’s game drive was spotting a leopard after waiting an hour for it to come out of some bushes. Sauntering past the safari vehicles to lie down for a spell, he ignored the people who had come to see him, then continued on his way out of sight.

Spurred on by new growth of the lightly grazed grasses, the Masai Mara is probably best known for the Great Migration consisting of hundreds of thousands of wildebeest, zebra, and antelope.

Their journey from the Serengeti in Tanzania to the Mara won’t begin until June. It is the middle of March. I would see just one wildebeest during my stay.

Still, there is a lot of game that decided to stick around. The predators that didn’t follow the herds back into the Serengeti last October have an abundance of animals to feed upon.

Topi are the fastest antelope in the reserve, capable of reaching speeds of 50 mph. Hartebeest are nearly as quick, and can be distinguished from the topi by their inward-curving horns. Cape buffalo and eland can reach weights of one ton and are on lions’ menu.

A mere appetizer for a pride of lions, impala and the 50-pound Thompson’s gazelle are the cheetahs’ favorite prey.

Vast herds of zebra are also present. One day we watched waves of plains zebra appear over a ridge on the horizon, then walk down the hill to a small stream (too narrow and shallow for crocodiles) to have a drink and cross.

On my first full morning in the reserve, we drove up to a pack of spotted hyenas. Their faces and necks smeared with blood from whatever they’d fed on during the night, they were contemplating whether to dig into a bloated hippo that had expired half submerged in some water.

Later in my safari, we’d spend time at one of their dens. Two litters of hyena cubs were intermittently nursing. One of the litters was just two months old and the other four months old. The four-month-olds were extremely curious and approached our Land Cruiser to check us out and chew on the tires.

We’d see lions every day. One particularly interesting encounter involved two male lions chasing another two male lions out of their territory. All four of them were bellowing as they moved across the savanna at a rapid clip. It looked as if a fight could erupt between them at any moment.

Then, when the older and stronger pursuers came within fifty feet of the pursued, the lions being chased kicked it into high gear and vacated the area, thereby avoiding what could potentially have been a deadly conflict.

We’d spy the same dominant male lions the next day as well, patrolling their successfully defended grounds. Spraying the bushes and rubbing their bodies against the branches to spread their scent was a warning to other lions to stay away.

Apparently, one of the lions considered a safari vehicle part of his domain and gave it a thorough spraying, from which we got a good laugh. It was even funnier when he returned a few minutes later to give it another dose.

Later, we’d spend a half hour with a well-fed cheetah, then went on our way because my guide, who knew the animals’ habits intimately, said it probably wouldn’t move for the remainder of the day.

Our second cheetah encounter was more dramatic. It had killed a Thompson’s gazelle. Its belly grossly protruding, the cheetah lay in front of its prize, resting from the gorging it had done. After fifteen minutes, the usually slender cat returned to the carcass to feed some more.

We also saw a goshawk swooping down to grab a lizard and fly off. Colorful lilac-breasted rollers, wattled lapwings, sacred ibises, grey herons, ostriches, a yellow-billed stork, a secretary bird, and a family of grey crowned cranes were also in view.

One of my safari companions spotted a lioness half a mile away taking a juvenile warthog in tall grass. The big cat held the piglet in its jaws by its head and began carrying it away. The warthog piglet’s distressed mother followed the lion.

The lion stopped a few times to gnaw on its catch and continued walking. Ten minutes had passed, and the piglet was still alive. Stopping again, the lion gave a mighty bite to the back of the neck, eliciting a pitiful squeal, and it was all over.

A life and death, eat or be eaten saga plays out every day in the Masai Mara. One of the most memorable moments of the safari involved a lioness on a zebra kill.

A large circle of blood on the grass attested to the carnage that took place the night before. All of the lions had eaten their fill and left except one. The lioness was surrounded by seven or so hyena intent on taking what was left of the kill. Three black-backed jackals and a vulture waited patiently on the perimeter for any scraps that might be left.

The lion looked a little scrawny—perhaps from always being the last to feed on kills, from old age, or from disease. She was still more than a match for a hyena, but not for a group of them.

The hyenas continued badgering the lion, occasionally snatching a morsel of meat. As she swatted at one hyena, another hyena extracted a small chunk of flesh out of her haunch.

Fed up with the harassment, the lion charged and bit a hyena that got too close. As she did that, a different one clamped onto the zebra carcass and dragged it away.

My last evening game drive ended with us sitting next to a cheetah. As is the case with some of the best sightings, it was starting to get dark at the time. A storm was moving in and my guide scrambled to unfurl the Land Cruiser’s canvas top as the first raindrops fell. At once, the heavens unleashed the heaviest downpour I’d ever been in.

Speeding back towards camp, rain blew into the open-sided vehicle horizontally so I moved to the middle in an attempt to keep my camera bag dry. At Intrepids the rain hadn’t let up an iota so we rolled down the side flaps. We then wiped down the completely soaked seats and waited for someone to bring umbrellas.

It was the beginning of the “long rains” that would last until the end of May.

For more information about Mara Intrepids Camp, go to www.heritage-eastafrica.com.

To read more safari articles, go to www.davegibsonimages.com.