A photo safari of the great migration in the Masai Mara: Margot Raggett

Wildebeest crossings are one of the highlights of the migration

A photo safari of the great migration in the Masai Mara, by our regular guest blogger and photographer Margot Raggett

I was lucky enough in September to be able to return to Kenya’s Masai Mara to witness the great migration once again. This time I stayed at Entim Camp, a location well geared-up for photographic groups as it has iMac computers with photo processing software installed for their use, meaning that those of us keen enough to review and start processing images each day had the facilities to do so. The camp also helpfully had wifi throughout for use with one’s personal devices, which is not always the case.

The camp is picturesquely situated on the banks of the Mara river and I’m told crossings even happen right there in camp sometimes. Entim has just 10 tents meaning it feels intimate and personal unlike other larger camps. The service was excellent and little touches, like a hot water bottle in your bed at night (though the days are warm the nights are chilly) made the stay feel really special.

I was one of a group of six on a photo tour being led by award-winning New Zealand wildlife photographer David Lloyd . David is down-to-earth and very approachable and soon put the guests at ease, making them feel like old friends. The group bonded very quickly which was great as a number of us were solo travellers.

We had two vehicles between us, meaning each person had a ‘row’ of seats to themselves. This is very important when trying to get the best pictures as it can be quite frustrating if the action is happening over someone else’s shoulder! David rotated between the vehicles meaning we had him with us on one drive each day (there are morning and evening drives) and during that time he was able to coach us on our photography and share many useful hints and tips on how he manages to get his wonderful shots. The photographic skill within the group varied from another professional to a near-beginner but this didn’t matter in the slightest and all of us saw improvements over the week, inspired by David’s advice and images. Another helpful feature of the tour was that ground-transport was arranged to bring our luggage to camp, meaning the mere 15kg total luggage allowance on the flight to the Mara could be used for precious camera equipment.

On arrival, the plains of the Mara were teeming with wildebeest and I was able to witness during my week a couple of the much-coveted river crossings. But for me the magic of the Mara goes well beyond the migration and I enjoyed numerous sightings of countless different species, from my favourite, leopard, through to a first for me, a caracal. On one drive we even saw leopard, lion, cheetah and serval all before 9am! Our drivers Henry and Sammy were excellent and we were often first on a sighting with, importantly, good vehicle positioning for photography.

Back in camp the group would review their images and get ad hoc advice and feedback from David, who also held a very informative workshop on how to process our images using Lightroom.

One slight concern for me in the Mara this time was the increasingly bad behaviour I saw from guests in other vehicles, including people sitting and even standing on the roofs of those vehicles, which is not only dangerous but also disruptive for the animals who suddenly see a human form instead of a non-threatnening ‘car’ shape. And worryingly, the trick picked up by one cheetah of leaping onto the roofs of vehicles to use them as a lookout seems to have been passed on to others. I really wish the drivers of the vehicles would discourage this rather than see it as a tourist attraction as one day I fear one of the cheetahs will hurt themselves. There are however reassuring noises coming from the Kenyan government about tightening up on behaviour in the Mara and this can’t come soon enough as far as I’m concerned.

Overall it was however once again a magical visit, topped off nicely with wonderful sundowners looking over the plains on our last night followed by campfire drinks under the stars. I can’t wait to go back!

Wildebeest at sunrise

A lion cub hidden beneath a tree

Elephant family

A rare sighting of a caracal

A cheetah making its way across a river

A male lion known locally as ‘lipstick’

A pair of sub-adult male lions

Thousands of wildebeest making their way across the Mara

The group being led by David Lloyd

Links and further reading:

• Entim-mara.com
• Davidlloyd.net/tours/masai-mara-migration-photo-safari/ (for great migration tours with David Lloyd in 2014)
• MargotRaggettPhotography.com
• Facebook.com/margotraggettphotography