My first safari group - they were great. From left to right - our driver "indy" Jackson, Saroj aka "Texas", Saif aka "Purple", Colonel Karke (sp?), me crouching, Kesia aka "Anastasia", Victor, Nicholas, and Sanord (sp?) aka "Papa"
On May 12, my brother’s birthday actually, I headed out for a safari of the Masai Mara Park which would then be followed by Lake Nakuru and then Amboselli. I was so fortunate as to have a great group of people for the Masai Mara portion. Our driver Jackson, (aka Michael Jackson or Indy Jackson) provided us a speedy frenetic drive to the park. Unfortunately, totally out of his control, half of the drive involved potholed roads that required quick and adept driving. So after about a 4 hour extremely bumpy and jolting ride, we arrived at our camp just outside of the Masai Mara Park (a 3,000 square km park) which is the Kenyan side of the Serengetti.
This buffalo was not too happy at us disturbing his mud bath. He stood his ground as we took photos.
My group consisted of our lovely newlyweds, Nicholas and Kesia from Kenya, Victor from South Korea who is bound for his 2 years of military service in 30 days, and the four men on holiday from their UN duty in the Congo – Colonel Karke (sp?), Saroj, and Sanord (sp?) from Nepal, and Saif from Bangledesh. And of course myself. What blast we all were. Colonel Karke kindly made me second in command. He kept me laughing with his spry wit and repartee. Sanord was so kind as to give me a sample of Yak Cheese – but I have devoted a whole post to that.
Me in our safari van - Saroj in the background.
Once we quickly were settled in our tents, we went out for our first game drive – as they call it. With the roof of the van open for us to stand and take pictures, we set off. For anyone who has ever been whale watching, this has some similar characteristics. Even though this is low season, there are quite a number of vans exploring the park. When an exceptional animal (generally predators – lions, cheetahs or leopards) are spotted, you can be sure to find a mass of vehicles gathered as we all frenetically take pictures. I decided to term these metal beasts automus wheelis as they roamed the park not unlike elephants or buffalo.
Female lions relax after gorging on a buffalo which you can see part f the carcus behind them. There were 14 lying under the tree full and happy. It was an amazing site.
The park was huge and full of animals – ungulates, predators, big, small, fast and slow. Elephants, giraffes, buffalo, wildebeast, gazelles, antelopes, ostrich, cats, wild boar, etc… everything but the black rhino which may have been there but there are so few due to poaching, apparently only about 8 down from 3,000 (see my other post on my feelings about that!).
The elusive dik dik. You do see them early morning or later afternoon but they usually run off so fast and are few to see as they hide in the bush
It was a dream come true seeing all these animals and I have to say that having a good team, a great group of people that you can have fun with and relate to and get along, makes a world of difference. I was so lucky to have these guys. My second group was not as nearly as enjoyable so I just focused on the animals, but I will write more about that later. But in the meantime, enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed seeing them live. And if my friends included in this blog are reading this now, Hello, it was great meeting you all, and I had such a good time. Thanks for making my Masai Mara leg of my safari such a blast. You guys are great!
A hippo peaking at me out of the water. "Here's looking at you kid!"
So glad you had such a great group on the first leg of your Safari – what with the excitement in seeing all these wild animals and a fun bunch you were so lucky – wish I was there – maybe in my next life. love Mum
Yup – you may have many lives to try. It is pretty good. There are elements I was not so thrilled with, but it was an experienced I always promised myself.
Sara, maybe I am too late, but I once stayed at Cotter’s Camp about 3 hours into the Mara from Nairobi, where I had a walk about with a Masai warrior following a lion kill, slept under canvas and was escorted to my tent each night, after G and Ts around an open fire, by a Masai warrior with an old Lee Enfield 303 rifle to protect me. The tent had a brick built attachment for a bathroom and my guard showed me where the INSECT repellant was and how to use it. The insects were so large that the can of repellant was used to hit the insect with. Spraying was totally ineffective. There were four of us that had escaped from an International Diabetes meeting in Nairobi for a unique experience. I spent the night baby sitting the other three. Large animals roamed at night and the sound of them tearing up grass had them petrified and they insisted on occupying “big John’s” tent. This was in 1972 and was certainly not Treetops, but much more exciting
That’s a hoot. I think the safari experience has changed a fair bit from then and aside from the animals, some of the human players are no longer as authentic. I find the Masai are over exposed and are just looking for money by pushing their mass produced wares on you. They also go through half hearted motions of demonstrating their “dances” which really don’t seem like dances since there is little dancing involved. But I was staying in a similar tent as you describe but the bugs were not bad at all. We stayed just outside of the park so animals are not as frighteningly nearby. Even though I was in low season there were a plethora of safari vans roaming the park. But I supposed given tourism a lot of this can’t be helped.
Lots of thanx to you Sara,the short time we spent together here in Kenya was just awesome not to mention the trip to Migwani,the safari looks great,am happy that you gave me your time to introduce you to the nature for adventure is my hobby.If this world is made up with people like you would be a better place to live in for ever.
Keep the adventure fire burning.
Thank you so much Dickson for your kind words. You were an amazing host to your country and very calm and peaceful not matter what the challenge. I would put anyone in your hands. Keep well and keep in touch.