Safari!!!! One of the
things the volunteer group organizes is a 3 or 4 day safari with a local tour
group to Massai Mara & Lake Nokuru.
It’s two guys, Mike & Jackson (No joke, that’s their names) in janky
vans (no awesome safari Jeeps) that take you out to Massai Mara & Lake
Nokuru to see some of Kenya’s beauty. I
can’t begin to describe what an amazing weekend we had & how incredible the scenery & animals are. We definitely had a few interesting
situations in the process as well…..but that’s to be expected when paying $130
per day for safari instead of $1000 with one of the big tours. I would go with this group again in a heartbeat if I could do it all over again. Mike was one of the best tour guides I've ever had & made it even more fun.
The Massai is an area of Kenya West of Nairobi. It is essentially what many Americans
stereotypically picture when they think of Africa. Most of the people there are farmers, wear
traditional dress, shaved heads, stretched earlobes, many piercings, multiple
wives, and live in mud huts with very few modern conveniences etc. It’s worlds away from Nairobi but incredibly
intriguing as soon as we enter the region.
We are heading to the Massai Mara which is a 350 square kilometer
national reserve near the border of Tanzania. Before we even reached the reserve, we saw
Zebras, Baboons, Gazelles, Ostriches, Meerkats, & other animals just
roaming around near the road and on the farmland.
On the drive, we stopped at an overlook of the Great Rift Valley, it’s
a beautiful valley that runs from Egypt all the way down to South Africa.
Around 4:00 we made it to our “campground” just outside the gate
to Massai Mara. The tents were semi
permanent with beds, a hot shower & flushing toilet! I took two hot showers & even shaved my
legs! It was more exciting than you can
imagine.
We were on game drives in Massai Mara for 3 days…..a few hours
before sunset on Saturday, 9 hours Sunday, & a few hours after sunrise on
Monday. Then we drove to lake Nakuru
& were in the reserve on Tuesday morning as well. I’ve dreamt of doing a safari all my life
& it did not disappoint. I won’t go
into a lot of detail about what animals we saw because it will do it no
justice. I’ll let the photos speak for
themselves. And if you’re wondering, I
am by no means some sort of great photographer, it’s just really hard to screw this
up. The only animal we didn’t get to see
was the Leopard…..Sneaky little bums. But I’m guessing you can see that everything
else that we saw more than made up for it. J
A few highlights of the weekend:
- On our first drive, it was 6:30 (when the park closes), so Mike was heading toward the exit when he took a sharp turn saying he had a hunch. He stopped shortly after and straight ahead about 15 yards was a female lion & 3 baby cubs. We were all going nuts & Mike started laughing that we missed Mufasa. We were so busy with the others that we missed the two enormous males laying literally 4-5 feet from the van, right below us. It was incredible & a perfect ending to our first day. We watched the sun set as we drove back home.
- Mike’s van overheated on the drive to Massailand…..then again in the middle of the reserve on Sunday. Then we switched vans & went with Jackson on the last two days…..and his van overheated three times on Monday! We survived without getting mauled by a lion or speared by a buffalo.
- It’s impossible not to reference “The Lion King” a million times from the moment you enter Kenya, especially when you’re out on Safari. We got in the car for a long drive on Monday & Jackson surprised us by having the movie to play! We watched the Lion King I, II & III on the drive home from the safari which was the perfect end.
- We were driving along the freeway & all of a sudden there were a group of baboons on the side of the road. They’re just sort of chilling, walking around, looking just like people. I couldn’t get a good photo in time, but I’ll try to get one. It’s hilarious.
- Jackson's van got stuck in the mud one day & it took about ten of us, a bunch of sticks, and a lot of grunting to get it out.
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