Masai Mara

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And, the next week we went to Masai Mara which was a fantastic few days. We alternated between all-you-can-eat buffets at our lodge and long game drives. We timed our trip perfectly, right in the middle of the wildebeest migration, so there were hundreds of thousands of animals, as far as you could see. We saw elephants, lions, cheetahs, wildebeest, zebras, impalas, gazelles, topis, dik diks (yes, they are really called that - they’re like tiny little impalas), giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, pumbas (also known as warthogs), jackals, baboons, vultures, etc.

We went to Masai River one day and did a walk along it where we got uncomfortably close to some very very large hippos and crocodiles. Fortunately we had a ranger with quite a large gun to protect us! We also saw the point where the animals cross the river during the migration.

There were animals galore, even at our lodge, where you could see hippos from a boardwalk. Apparently there were also two lions right next to one of the rooms one night, and on another night one of the Masais shot a puff adder with his slingshot.

The six-hour drive to Nairobi was a fairly interesting one. In the first few hours we saw some beautiful scenery, numerous Masai communities and hundreds of giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, etc. by the side of the road. The next hour and a half or so was non-stop, completely unproductive, dusty dusty roadworks. I wouldn’t be surprised if the works were still going in half a century’s time. The other side of the roadworks was worthwhile though, as we drove up a mountain and had a perfect view of the picturesque Rift Valley. The drive also included some fairly hair-raising moments, such as the point where, amidst the dust of all the roadworks, an oncoming bus decided to overtake a truck and missed our van by centimetres.

We stayed in Nairobi on Saturday and had a trip back to our favourite restaurant, Carnivore, and ate about six months worth of meat. On Sunday we spent the day at the Nairobi Races, which is basically like going to county races in Victoria. Wasn’t quite as much fun without an esky full of punch and Jaynedogga passed out before lunchtime, but still a really good day. On Sunday night we said goodbye to Stevie Wonder and Liam at Nairobi airport and flew back to Mombasa, and got on a plane home. Our plane lived up to its reputation and departed two hours late! Although I shouldn’t complain… we waited about five hours on the way to Zanzibar and another couple on the way back.

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Photos

Blue bird of Happiness
Dad renamed this bird and felt the need to point out the 'blue bird of happiness' every time we saw one