Masai Mara

The Masai Mara. To sum it up in a word: Stunning! As big game parks go in Kenya, this is one of the smaller ones, but it is often described as the most spectacular and for good reason. The Masai Mara sits on the boarder with Tanzania and in essence constitutes the northern corner of Tanzania's Serengeti National Park. But this does not mean that it is just an add-on to its bigger brother south of the border. By all accounts the Masai Mara contains some of the most stunning scenery of all the big game parks, including the Serengeti. What makes this park so special are the rolling hills and diverse landscapes it possesses in such a small space. We quickly discovered how important it was to have nice scenery on these trips. Animal sightings are rare so often perusing the countryside is all you have to occupy your time while you search for the big game.

Barry and I were lucky enough to arrange a safari to the Masai Mara on very short notice after a problem occurred with the trip being arranged with my cousin Morgan. She had organized a trip with a tour operator, but because Barry and I were out of telephone range in the Cherangani hills at the critical moment in the negotiations, Morgan reluctantly cancelled the trip. In the end we found a company on 12 hours notice and felt that good luck must have been on our side. All that changed the next day when the van that was our transport arrived over 5 hours late due to no less than 4 different flat tires. This meant that we missed the first evening of our safari, a prized time to be viewing the animals that are particularly active at dusk. Our bad luck continued the next morning when we spent almost 2 hours trying to get into the park as the result of the driver having insufficient funds for the park fees :/

But all these problems seemed insignificant once we actually got into the park. Our guide and driver, Jimmy, was a man a few words but he definitely knew his business. On our two day trip he found lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, gazelles, ostrich, hippos, jackals, tapi, gnu, and even a very elusive leopard. During one lion sighting we witnessed the water-buffalo that had been lunch and then found the two male lions only a short distance away with their faces covered in flies and blood as evidence of their hunting prowess. Not very pretty sight to see (or smell), but it is a reality of the life in the wild for these animals and I felt fortunate to have seen it first hand. On another occasion Jimmy found a collection of females and their cubs sleeping in a bush. How he spotted these lions is a mystery. Even staring right at the bush I could hardly see them, and I knew exactly where they were by this point. As I said, the man was good. The only animals that eluded us were rhinos and cheetahs, but I did not feel cheated in any way. Other highlights were when an elephant passed within a few metres of the van and the giraffe that could have almost climbed in the van, it was that close! I have a ton of photos that will be posted as soon as is possible. We are now back in Nairobi awaiting our next adventure on the coast.