Masai Mara - continued

Kenya is on the equator but it has been chilly and rainy so far.  Very strange.  We head out for our game drive early this morning and the rain stops but the roads are quite muddy.   We see a leopard whose meal is stolen by hyenas, many elephants and baby ones too (so cute), crocodiles feeding on a baby hippo (too sad), and lots of rainbows.  Our guide is quite a good driver but on the way back to camp we get stuck!  The nearby heard of elephants don’t seem to mind us in their space and a nearby hippo continues going the other way to the river.  Our guide takes off his boots and wades in the knee-high mud to try to free us but to no avail.   Another truck comes and we transfer and return to camp where the resident warthog family joins us for a superb breakfast. 

Conundrum #2:  Driving off  “road” in the Masai Mara has allowed us to see so many animals up close in their natural habitat but with the proliferation of camps and tourists and jeeps, is this negatively affecting the habitat and therefore the well-being of the animals?  Or does the resulting increased tourism and income provide improved animal conservation efforts?