Onward to the Mara!



Masai Mara - More rain for tomorrow?

Last night it poured ran all night long, luckily Natural Tracks safari was kind enough to upgrade up to a local hotel (free of charge) since our poor little tent is nowhere near being water proof.  Today we enter into the last leg of our trip in Kenya as we make our way to the Masai Mara.  We have 2 nights and 3 days booked in here as we have been informed this is the highlight park of many safaris.  Today will be a long day of driving as we make our way from the ruggedness of the rift valley area, down to the arid plains.  Along the way we stopped in a Masai town where Marlene’s eyes were beaming at the sight of ice cream, it had been quite some time since either of us had anything cold, so ice cream hit the spot and beyond!  In the grocery store we also found some of the magic spice that our chef uses on everything.

Momma with Cub

Once we finally arrived and settled at our latest outpost, we were quickly whisked off for a late afternoon game drive in the Mara!  The Mara is known for two things, the lions and the wildebeest migration.  Today we saw 1 half of that as we (actually, more like me, as I was getting the feel for this game drive business…as our guide was going on and on about this and that as he always did, I spotted a momma lion on the side of the road, he didn’t even see it, I swear we almost hit it!) followed a momma lion back to her safe place where she had 4 lion cubs hiding in the long grass. This was really the only thing in the way of animals that was impressive.  However, the scenery is straight out of national geographic, rolling grass laden hills, with spotted trees and bushes.

Masai Lion cub waiting for momma

Tonight is the world cup final and we are both interested in going out for a true African experience.  Our guide is very excited at this prospect and tells us to go ready.  Not long after we were both clean and dressed, George came to our banda to tell us he had some sad news.  Upon speaking with the locals in the kitchen they advised him that it would not be wise to bring his clients to watch the game in the local bar or restaurant.  We were after all in the middle of nowhere with only local Masai around, apparently they can get pretty abrasive when they drink and our safety would be in jeopardy.  They are not used to seeing foreigners in the village, especially at night, and George did not want to risk it.  So alas, we staid back in our banda, caught up on some reading and writing and were off to bed as tomorrow will be the longest of all safari journeys.  We will be attempting to catch a glimpse of the wildebeest migration happening at the opposite end of the park.

Masai Lion in the Grass