Today's destination is Marariver, the Mara River. The Mara River is 395 kilometers long and has a drainage area of ​​13,504 square kilometers, of which 60% is located in Kenya and 40% is located in Tanzania. The river originates from the rainy mountainous areas of Kenya and never stops flowing even in the dry season.

Every year, wildlife crosses the Mara River in one of the world's most spectacular wildlife migrations, traveling back and forth between Kenya's Masai Mara National Park and Tanzania's Serengeti National Park. This is known as the Crossing of the Mara or the Crossing of Heaven.

We met several elephants on the road. Adult African elephants are generally 3.8 meters tall (the highest record is 4.2 meters). The lightest weighs about 5 tons, and the largest weighs 11 tons. I heard that the highest record was a male, 420 cm tall and weighing 11.75 tons.

There are two types of African elephants: the savanna elephant and the forest elephant. The common savanna elephant has large ears with pointed lower parts, and both males and females have long, curved tusks. They are extremely aggressive and will actively attack other animals.

The famous Carthaginian war elephants were this type of African elephant. At that time, the famous general Hannibal led his soldiers to ride North African elephants over mountains and across ridges to the Roman border. This thing is used as a mount, and its lethality is estimated to be really fierce.

I saw a plane landing on the roadside. It turns out that planes don't have to land on concrete, grasslands can also do the job. There is no terminal building, no ticket office, just one toilet and two cars. There are no service staff, no security check, just two soldiers with guns handling all airport affairs.

Masaimara Wildlife Sanctuary covers an area of ​​1,670 square kilometers. Entering from the north entrance, driving south on the endless grassland, it took two or three hours to reach it. It is too big.

I came across a car stuck on the side of the road. It was in a grassy area. The grass was as high as my shoulders. Even if a wild animal ran nearby, I couldn't see it. When I was considering the risk of stopping to help, I saw three or four white men sitting in the window. They were afraid to get out of the car and push it! I told the driver to ignore them and keep going.

The crossing point of the Mara River is at the border between Kenya and Tanzania. When you walk here, you will see a border marker between the two countries, which means you are very close to your destination. K stands for Kenya and T stands for Tanzania. So I have now sneaked into Tanzania without a visa.

We walked to a cross-border checkpoint on the border between the two countries. There were bones of buffalo and antelope on the wall. But I couldn't tell what the one in the middle was. Hippopotamus? Not like it. Hog? Too big. Rhino? Not like it either. Could it be a dinosaur? It really looked like the jaw of a triceratops! I met a chameleon. Could this be the prototype of Spider-Man?

At noon, I stopped the car under a tree to rest, got some dry food, and threw some to feed a lizard nearby. As a result, a group of African sparrows came in less than three minutes, and suddenly a mouse ran out to grab food. And right next to Yun Luo, the mice, lizards, and sparrows were not afraid of people.

Try to throw bread at your feet, and they will come over without fear. Feed them with your hands and they will eat! These are the small animals in the reserve. Because no one will hurt them, they are not afraid of people. Think about the sparrows in my hometown, which one dares to eat from people's hands? There is a big difference.

Seeing other little guys having something to eat, these two guys also ran over to watch. Yunluo thought it was a weasel, but when he asked, it turned out to be an African hyrax. But they were not as brave as sparrows and mice, and they watched from a distance and did not dare to come.

There is an article called "Sewing Bird" in the elementary school textbooks of the 70s and 80s. I wonder if those with good memory can still remember it. This is the bird's nest written in the book. In fact, the sparrow that Yunluo and Nalan Shiqi saw at the beginning was one of them. There are about 145 species of this kind of bird, mainly living in Africa, Australia and South Asia. The scientific name of this kind seen in Africa seems to be: Eurasian tree sparrow.

We have arrived at the famous Mara River. The first thing we see is a rapids beach with a few hippos lying on the side basking in the sun.

You can get off the car and walk to the Mara River. But it is also quite dangerous. Hippos and crocodiles are all around the river, and it is not easy for inexperienced people to find them. So the soldiers lead the way with guns, one is to prevent animals, and the other is to monitor the behavior of tourists. Maybe you think you are just going to the river to wash your hands.

Suddenly, a giant crocodile will pop out and drag you into the water! This is not a threat, you must have seen this scene many times in "Animal World". It's just that the one being dragged into the water may be a wildebeest.

After talking to the guard for a long time, I got his gun for five dollars. Hehe! Don't worry, black soldier, I can still pull the trigger and shoot Yun Luo in class! AK-47---the weapon that men all over the world dream of, it feels really confident when I hold it in my hand. There is a big crocodile fifteen meters behind me. Come on! Try it and I will shoot you.

This section enters the slow-flowing area, and further ahead is the water area where the "Mara River Crossing" often appears. Crocodiles and hippos are everywhere in the yellow river. Yunluo can see more than a dozen of them at random.

A hippopotamus stared at Yun Luo fiercely. This section is the waters of the "Mara River Crossing". Can you see the lurking crocodiles? Zoom in and you will see that they are the same color as the stones. An inexperienced person would not notice them even if he walked to the edge.

The Nile crocodile, whose English name comes from the Greek word krokodeilosniloticus, means a large crocodile in the Nile River. The Nile crocodile is very strong and has a strong tail that helps it swim.

Adult Nile crocodiles can weigh up to one ton. Nile crocodiles are found in the wild in the Nile River Basin and southeastern Africa, and can be found in most of Africa. However, in terms of numbers, no other water area can compare with the density of Mara Ferry, which has a lot of fat meat.

I waited and waited, but no wildebeest appeared for a long time. It seems that my luck is bad today! The "Ferry of the Mara" cannot be seen every day and every hour. It will only move collectively when tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of wildebeests are too crowded to reach the shore. It seems that I will not see such a sight today.

To show its appearance, here are three photos taken by others. Copyright statement: this, the next and the next photos are borrowed from others, and 'bluephantom' does not have any copyright.

During their annual migration, the Mara River is the last river that wildebeests must cross. Crossing the river means survival; otherwise, most of them will die due to lack of grass and water. In the seemingly calm river, the huge and ferocious Nile crocodiles and African hippos are waiting for a sumptuous meal with their eyes wide open.

Thousands of wildebeests rushed into the river in a suicidal manner from the crocodiles' bloody mouths, and thus the thrilling "Mara River Crossing" is a wild and tragic moment that is staged every year.

Every time they cross the river, a huge number of wildebeests are eaten by crocodiles. Many are washed away by the river and drowned. A brother went to the river to take pictures of hippos fighting. He said, "Be careful, buddy, don't let the crocodiles jump out and drag you away."

There are a bunch of guards' guns under the shade of the trees by the river. It seems that there are many armed guards. Change to an INSA. This feels really different from the AK47. It may be a psychological effect. In Africa, if you are willing to spend money, I guess these black soldiers can sell you a magazine of bullets to shoot!

We had to leave the reserve before dark at 6 o'clock. The return journey was still far, so we headed back at 3 or 4 in the afternoon. We looked for wild animals along the way. This is climbing to the top of the car to take a photo. This area is in a very deep grass area. Some grass is taller than the car. The grass in different areas of the Masai grassland is of different heights.

This also makes it more difficult to spot wild animals. Where are you, lion? Come out quickly. It should be noted that wild animals are basically not active during the day, and it is almost impossible to see wild animals hunting during the noon hours. Most hunting starts in the evening and lasts until midnight. Don't be misled by TV.

What is the name of this bird? "Purple Fulfason". I don't know if the transliteration is correct. It is not afraid of people and is very beautiful! We encountered a large herd of elephants, with more than a dozen of them distributed on both sides of the road.

There are two of them, one big and one small. They are looking at elephants. The car suddenly brakes. A bunch of springboks pop out from the grass on the roadside. It almost caused a traffic accident. These guys have amazing jumping ability. They can jump as high as a person, and each jump is about three to four meters. Look at the upper left corner, this one is just in the air.

I met another lonely giraffe on the roadside. A herd of buffalo appeared, one of the five tyrants of the grassland. The five tyrants of the grassland are: lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino, and leopard.

Together with the hippos and crocodiles in the water, they should be called the Seven Tyrants of Africa! The Seven Tyrants of Africa! Based on the bravery and fighting power that Yunluo saw with his own eyes, the ranking from high to low should be: lion, hippopotamus, crocodile, buffalo. Elephant, rhino, cheetah.

Let's talk about why Yunluo ranked it this way. The king of beasts, the lion: can eat everything except hippos and crocodiles, the undisputed leader. Hippopotamus: almost no animal can eat it, and its aggressiveness is quite high, which is completely inconsistent with its appearance. There is no need to explain the crocodile, but why did Yunluo put the buffalo ahead of the elephant?

This is the battle between the bull and the elephant that I witnessed in the treetops the whole night. The courage and fighting power of the buffalo are quite shocking! Can you imagine a scene where a buffalo drives several elephants that are four times its size around? That's awesome! Remember this data: more people die in Africa every year at the hands of bulls than at the mouths of lions.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

Finally, rhinos are actually very docile. The cheetah is only about the size of a large dog and is timid. On the grassland, it can only prey on the smallest gazelles.

The most exciting part of this trip began: after searching for a lion group for an hour, we finally found a lion group of six or seven lions in the shade of a tree in a light grass area around 5pm. But they were sleeping lazily and didn't move. Coincidentally, it was the same group of buffaloes we had just seen.

After the cattle blocked Yunluo and Nalan Shiqi's way through a cross-country trail created by the safari car, one of the cattle was so happy eating grass that it fell behind! It was eating grass alone on the other side of the road with its head down, seemingly unaware that it was left alone, let alone being spotted by a group of lions.

Seeing the lone buffalo, the leading lion stood up and began to move slowly towards the other side of the road where the buffalo was.

The guys were very smart. When they were far away from the cow, they stopped and started, pretending to take a walk, so as not to alarm it. The two lions in the front had already walked to the off-road path, and the cow was on this side of the road. Several safari vehicles were called here by the radio station to watch. Because they were used to seeing safari vehicles, the lions almost ignored Yunluo and Nalan Shiqi.

After two guys passed the lane, they stopped by the roadside to wait for the right moment so as not to disturb the prey. The third one arrived, and the three lions stared at the buffalo fiercely. Their expressions were best described as salivating!

I don't know if the buffalo noticed it, but started walking in the opposite direction. The three guys immediately lay down to let the other party relax their vigilance. The buffalo continued to eat grass with its butt facing the lion. At this time, a lion started to move and approached the buffalo.

The other two continued to stay still, waiting for the signal from the leader lion! The leader lion crouched and slowly approached. The other one also stood up, ready to act. This panoramic view shows the positional relationship between the leader lion and the cow. The black dot between the three trees on the right side of the picture is the cow. It was originally where the lion is now, but now it has moved a little further away.

At this time, I suddenly discovered that the fourth and fifth lions appeared from another direction and began to outflank the buffalo from the opposite direction. They were quite strategic! They also crouched and slowly approached, staring at the buffalo.

At this time, the most depressing thing happened. A safari jeep suddenly appeared from nowhere and drove to the side of the lion in order to take a photo of the lion. This seemed to attract the attention of the cow, and it began to flee in the opposite direction into the woods. The lion could only look at the meat that was almost in its mouth in disappointment as it walked away. He must have been cursing in his heart: Who is driving this car!

This is a male lion. Lions are polygamous, and the lionesses do most of the hunting. Male lions usually just watch and wait for the meat to eat. They only occasionally attack when dealing with big guys like elephants. Once they do, the power is huge.

This is a lioness with her little lion. It's very warm and reminds me of the little Simba in The Lion King. Here's a close-up of the little guy. He's so cute!

I stared at the lions and the sun was about to set. I woke up at 4:30 this morning and it has been so exciting. Looking at the sunset in the sky, I really hope that the sun will never set! Masai Mara, so exciting and beautiful!

Today's goal is to find the second beautiful scenery on National Geographic: a spectacular flock of flamingos. We set out early in the morning and headed towards the rising sun. Two black people stood on a pickup truck in front of us and walked against the wind. The red dust rolled behind the car, and I took a silhouette photo against the light. I actually found a mood of "smoke in the desert, sunset on the long river, and a horse riding away from the dust"!

A lone smoke in the desert, a horse galloping away in the dust! (To be continued...)