It’s always a good sign when the giants come out to play. So when the thick fingers of cloud across the face of Kilimanjaro unfurled to reveal Kibo’s powerful, snowy-white head and Amboseli’s biggest and most famous tusker Craig bull-dozed through the foliage to say a rare and brief hello it was clear our Classic Kenya safari was already living up to its name.

As the heat in Amboseli built so did the drama. Our visit there, neatly book-ended by two dramatic but distinctly different big cat stories, delivered on its promise of thrilling wildlife sightings set against the reserve’s iconic backdrop.

On our first morning we almost fell over an elderly lion, his fur and mane as bald as a vintage toy bear, making light work of a fresh wildebeest kill by the track. What sport there must have been during the night. In the bleachers a couple of dozen spotted hyenas were impatiently preparing for a pitch invasion.  Most of the players, a bunch of sated lions, were on a time-out. Their full stomachs revealing clearly the first spoils had been theirs.

As openers go this wasn’t too shabby, but the scene only really exploded into action when the pride sloped off and the hyenas piled in for a no-holds barred tug-o-war with the leftovers. This was to be a far cry in mood from our feline farewell several days later when, on the way to the airstrip to transit to the Mara, we stumbled across an altogether more intimate scene – three very small lion cubs clambering clumsily over their extremely patient mother.

Previous days’ sightings of a lioness with swollen teats had led to debate about the possibility of cubs, but we hadn’t gambled on getting the proof. We feared she’d immediately lead them off into thick grassland. But no. She settled down, quite relaxed, as they played; ambushing each other when they weren’t busy toying with some dried balls of elephant dung that had caught their curious attention.

Of course, there were many highlights in between. The magical dry lake crossings of herds of elephants – shimmering hazily like a mirage – topped the highlights’ list. This is one of Amboseli’s key attractions in the dry. Watching their wavering forms solidify as they marched closer, almost in formation, under the building clouds, was one of our trip’s real ‘goosebumps’ moments.

Other stand-out moments included being caught in the middle of a dust-storm one afternoon. A complete white-out. Luckily a herd of zebra passing through at the same time, and clearly sharing our predicament, provided us with the chance for some lovely atmospheric, high-key shots even as the dust whipped our faces and coated everything including our cameras and teeth.

Amboseli’s big game species tend to garner all the headlines, understandably, so the reserve’s swamps filled with hippos, pelicans, flamingos and other assorted waterbirds were a surprise as well as a pleasant change of pace for our guests. Add this to the ever-present plains game, in particular the swirling herds of white-bearded wildebeest, and a couple of nice encounters with cheetahs it all made for a very productive few days.

The Amboseli cheetahs had been ready to chase a couple of Thomson’s gazelles the last time we spotted them, but the excitement fizzled out when the antelope high-tailed it.  No matter, as we were much luckier when we pitched up in the Masai Mara for the second leg of the trip. Not long after transferring to the Mara we found a female cheetah shepherding four young cubs across the savannah; the little ones tumbling about her feet.

The sighting played out over some time and included one very memorable and unusual moment when a curious passing male giraffe appeared to find the cubs as fascinating as we did, becoming totally fixated on them. It’s the first time we’ve seen a titan of the African plain stopped in his tracks seemingly spellbound by such tiny creatures and the immense contrast of the two species was not lost on any of us.

Our luck in the Mara continued with some great photo opportunities and interesting behaviour from the get-go, including a rare black rhino out in the open, a topi giving birth, marabou storks catching mudfish that got stranded in a puddle, a family of owls flying over the plain at dusk, lions mating on several occasions, a hunting serval, and a hyena den with a couple of very small coal-black pups.

With the rainstorms building we also had lots of chances to add bags more mood to our pictures with animals silhouetted against a backdrop of brooding and dramatic cloud formations at dawn or dusk. On afternoons when the storms occasionally broke we tracked down big cats hunkering down in the damp or suddenly shaking the rain from their soaked fur. On calmer days we switched focus to creating some high-key, mono ‘animalscapes’ – classic photography of the Mara’s savanna terrain – with big game sheltering or feeding beneath solitary trees.

The Mara’s abundant big cats wound their way through our visit like a golden thread. We had several  leopard sightings including two memorable mornings with one obliging and photogenic female who posed perfectly for our purring photographers. And our lion sightings were legion, often with multiple good photographic encounters on a drive.

On our first afternoon, to cite just one example, we found ourselves not far from camp following the story of one pride of lions that had just lost their zebra kill in the river. Seeing the pride male’s sheer effort and determination in retrieving the sodden prize from the water and then carrying it back uphill to the top of the bank served as a reminder, if we needed it, of the sheer strength and muscle power of these majestic apex predators. Then there was the morning we watched the whole Rongai pride crossing the plain – all strung out across the horizon and completely bossing the space. It really was a breathtaking sight, only trumped by them swiftly taking down a buffalo immediately afterwards.

Such thrilling wildlife sightings set against the brooding skies and in the arena of the Mara’s wide open landscapes combined throughout for some memorable image-making; feeding our inspiration each morning and afternoon. We don’t recall any quiet drives. And when we weren’t busy clicking you’d know where to find us, under a picturesque lone tree busy breakfasting, reliving the special shots and amazing moments we’d seconds earlier shared. 

Happy days…

Just time now for the bouquets and big thanks. First a hurrah for James and Mamai. Our two guides for the whole trip deserve much praise and a standing ovation for finding us so much to photograph, for all their hard work driving etc and, last but not least, their great company. We’re still working out, however, which of them gets credit for the wonderful morning coffee.

Our lovely group of photographers were also real troopers and we had laughter as well as photography all the way. Special mentions to you all: to JL, trip videographer, for the strong will exercised in not breaking into everyone’s breakfast box before we’d even left camp, even if he’d finished his own; to SL who found delight in everything and determinedly photographed every bird in camp when most of us were lazing in our tents; to AR for showing us that a bacon buttie made with cold toast in the bush really is a thing; to DR for helping discover a new flower species at every picnic spot; to veteran safari-goer RM for the travellers’ tall tales; and finally to AG for constantly reminding Steve and myself that you had a fancy rain shower, a robe and got your shoes specially cleaned and more, while we were slumming it in a guide tent. ‘Everything was awesome’ indeed…