Masai Mara, Kenya
Our first night in the tent was a little less than restful. Lights went out at 10 pm and the pitch black had me so nervous I fell asleep with my headlamp on. Around 2:00 am a LOUD cat animal (lion, cheetah, leopard, I don’t know) growled.
We later confirmed with Dexter that he heard it in their tent around the same time. It woke both of us and once I was awake from that, all I could hear were animals noises and the footsteps of the Masai guards who patrol the camp at night.
We met Leonard, our guide, around 8 am at our safari vehicle (it’s kind of like a mini-bus/van, but the roof pops up and we can ride it standing with our heads sticking out of the top). He had ordered us a take-away lunch from the camp and we set out on what ended up being and entire day-long drive.
We drove 2-3 hours from camp to the Mara River. Along the way we saw tons of animals, including lions, cheetahs, elephants, baboons and a Mama warthog with her three babies.
Just before we arrived at the river, we stoped for our picnic lunch under the shade of a big tree. Leonard shooed away some wildebeest who were sitting in the shade of the tree first. Then he laid out a blanket and we sat down for our picnic lunch among the dirt and animals and wildebeest poop. It was a “poop-nic” of sorts.
The box lunch was big but pretty atrocious. There was a thick mango juice, an over ripe passion fruit, bread with bologna, cold chicken leg on a raw cabbage salad, a boiled egg, a banana and a pack of ginger biscuits (cookies).
The egg and uncooked cabbage were out due to food borne illness precautions (ain’t nobody got time for food poisoning out here), the banana was good and the bologna on bread was edible.
Well at least until a big fly landed on my sandwich. I had been watching said fly munch on a wildebeest poop next to my leg (for the record, no matter where I put my leg it would have been next to a Wildebeest poop) for sometime before it landed on my lunch.
So I was pretty much done after that. It didn’t help that I was very nervous because we were out of the safari vehicle and sitting in the wide open with zebras and wildebeest all around. I was just waiting for a lion to jump out and pounce on me.
I was very glad to get back on the road and head to the river. In the river, we saw tons of hippos and huge crocodiles. A few crocodiles were starting to feast on a dead wildebeest. Leonard said it probably drowned while crossing the river.
Around mid-day a large number of wildebeest typically cross the Mara River to drink and cool off. Right now Masai Mara is in the middle of the great wildebeest migration - which happens annually around this time of year.
Over one million wildebeests migrate from Kenya back to Tanzania before the rainy season starts in November. Wildebeest are pretty docile, often seen next to the roads grazing, running and walking in long, slow, straight lines - which apparently is what they like to do. Josh says it’s like one long wildebeest conga line.
There are thousands and thousand of wildebeest all around right now. Apparently them crossing the river is a site to behold. But, today, they just weren’t into it. We saw two cross. The rest of the herd just stayed back and waited on the river bank for the whole time we sat there. And we sat there a very long time.
Leonard was dead set on us seeing this crossing and seemed really disappointed that it didn’t work out.
It was really ok though. We all took a nap in the van and I was able to charge my phone while we waited.
Plus on the way home we saw another cheetah with a fresh baby wildebeest kill and more lions - one female lion was close we could see the flys on her fur.
We also saw something that Leonard (who has been a guide for 15 years) was so excited about he even took photos. It was a baby zebra who had been in the news after being photographed. It is unique because it was born with an abnormality that makes it black with white spots instead of white stripes.
It does not appear anyone has ever seen a zebra like this before and it was a super rare sighting. We spotted her grazing with her mom and few other adults in a big open field.
We made it back to camp around 6:30 pm which was just enough time to get a hot shower before they turned the water off at 7. We had dinner at the dining tent (stewed lamb, rice, lentils and cooked cabbage) and ended up heading back to the tent early to make the most of charging our phones before the generators are turned off.
Right now, I’m zipped up in my tent listening to Josh lightly snore and the sounds of the Masai village having some kind of a celebration in the distance. There is chanting and cheering and it sounds like a real fun time. Some of their cattle are mooing and I can’t even identify how many insects and birds are making noise outside the tent window. Normally all this nature would be a bit much for me. But, tonight, I’m just enjoying taking it all in.
Ask, again, me how I feel after light out. . .
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