After Lake Nakuru, we hit the road to Masai Mara. Unfortunately, this literally involved a hit--after about 45 minutes on the road, we braked for a broken down truck in front of us. Too bad the driver behind us didn't brake, too. We got rear ended and pushed into the broken down truck. No one was hurt and the damage wasn't too bad, but it did wake Kevin up from his nap...
Since Kenyan police business isn't, um, quick, our wonderful safari guide and driver Ben flagged down one of the many safari vehicles passing along the same route and sent us on our way with them to be handed over to another guide from our company and Ben to follow later in the day when he had sorted out everything with the police. It was great that he did that because it took him 5 or 6 hours to sort it all out. Thanks to Ben's quick thinking, however, we made it to Masai Mara in time for an evening game drive.
The great migration was on, and let me tell you, we saw a LOT of zebra bottom over the few days we were there.
After sunset...
...a whole new gang came out to play right by the lodge--a bush baby and some genet cats!
Day 2, we headed out for a full day game drive. Even though animals are more active in the morning and evening, the Mara is so big that this is the only way that you can make it certain parts.
Who you lookin' at?
A close encounter with some cheetahs.
No, like, really close.
We saw some lions, but it was hot, so they were napping.
Until one got up.
These are zebras just noticing that there are lions right. next. to them. I was hoping for some drama, but instead the lions all just napped some more. Lame.
There were a bazillion wildebeest who are, let's face it, really only impressive for their sheer numbers. But I've gotta say, the sheer numbers are pretty impressive.
I was also impressed by the dead one. Or at least what was left of it. Lionz wuz here.
Sometimes the other tourists were just as amusing as the animals. I mean, really, people, really?
And it was so beautiful...
That we didn't even realize we had made it all the way to the Tanzania border, where the Mara leaves off and the Serengeti begins.
After a quick stop for a rather Mongoose-y lunch....
...we made it to the river. This is not a river you want to swim in.
For multiple reasons.
It turns out it is exhausting to watch animals all day, so we were ready to head back to our tent to watch the sun set over the hills.
But the fun wasn't all done for the day...Kevin had a surprise in store for my birthday--Masai dancers singing happy birthday dancing around our table and a birthday cake after dinner in the lodge! Once I finished dying of embarrassment, it was fantastic, and definitely the most unique celebration I've had so far in life, I think. Well done, Kevin, well done. But watch out on your next birthday. I owe you big.
The next day, we went on the hunt for elephants, and we weren't disappointed.
At first, just one lonely elephant.
And then, just when we were giving up hope, more elephants than I knew existed in the whole world came at us from across the plains.
Including a newborn baby elephant, less than 12 hours old according to our guide.
I didn't think much could beat all the elephants, but that's before we found the lion. Who'd found the wildebeest.
We didn't stick it out until the absolute gory end, but I imagine it looked something like this:
Other highlights of the day included...
A baby zebra:
Another lion, more awake but less hungry:
Fighting elephants!
And a close encounter with a snake:
Just kidding. They use that to scare the monkeys away from the dining room at meal times at the lodge we stayed at. Which was excellent by the way...
The fourth morning, we packed up and headed out, since we had a train to catch. For more details, see Safari, A Retrospective: Part III, Mombasa, coming your way soon!
Since Kenyan police business isn't, um, quick, our wonderful safari guide and driver Ben flagged down one of the many safari vehicles passing along the same route and sent us on our way with them to be handed over to another guide from our company and Ben to follow later in the day when he had sorted out everything with the police. It was great that he did that because it took him 5 or 6 hours to sort it all out. Thanks to Ben's quick thinking, however, we made it to Masai Mara in time for an evening game drive.
The great migration was on, and let me tell you, we saw a LOT of zebra bottom over the few days we were there.
After sunset...
...a whole new gang came out to play right by the lodge--a bush baby and some genet cats!
Day 2, we headed out for a full day game drive. Even though animals are more active in the morning and evening, the Mara is so big that this is the only way that you can make it certain parts.
Who you lookin' at?
A close encounter with some cheetahs.
No, like, really close.
We saw some lions, but it was hot, so they were napping.
Until one got up.
These are zebras just noticing that there are lions right. next. to them. I was hoping for some drama, but instead the lions all just napped some more. Lame.
There were a bazillion wildebeest who are, let's face it, really only impressive for their sheer numbers. But I've gotta say, the sheer numbers are pretty impressive.
I was also impressed by the dead one. Or at least what was left of it. Lionz wuz here.
Sometimes the other tourists were just as amusing as the animals. I mean, really, people, really?
We were having so much fun...
And it was so beautiful...
That we didn't even realize we had made it all the way to the Tanzania border, where the Mara leaves off and the Serengeti begins.
After a quick stop for a rather Mongoose-y lunch....
...we made it to the river. This is not a river you want to swim in.
For multiple reasons.
It turns out it is exhausting to watch animals all day, so we were ready to head back to our tent to watch the sun set over the hills.
But the fun wasn't all done for the day...Kevin had a surprise in store for my birthday--Masai dancers singing happy birthday dancing around our table and a birthday cake after dinner in the lodge! Once I finished dying of embarrassment, it was fantastic, and definitely the most unique celebration I've had so far in life, I think. Well done, Kevin, well done. But watch out on your next birthday. I owe you big.
The next day, we went on the hunt for elephants, and we weren't disappointed.
At first, just one lonely elephant.
And then, just when we were giving up hope, more elephants than I knew existed in the whole world came at us from across the plains.
Including a newborn baby elephant, less than 12 hours old according to our guide.
I didn't think much could beat all the elephants, but that's before we found the lion. Who'd found the wildebeest.
We didn't stick it out until the absolute gory end, but I imagine it looked something like this:
Other highlights of the day included...
A baby zebra:
Another lion, more awake but less hungry:
Fighting elephants!
And a close encounter with a snake:
Just kidding. They use that to scare the monkeys away from the dining room at meal times at the lodge we stayed at. Which was excellent by the way...
The fourth morning, we packed up and headed out, since we had a train to catch. For more details, see Safari, A Retrospective: Part III, Mombasa, coming your way soon!
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