Lions in Mara & Twilight Zone in Nairobi

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We took a Matatu ride from Nakuru to reach the pick up point for the Masai Mara trip. The ride was horrendous as the 18 wheeler trucks were kicking up so much dust on the muddy road that everyone were using head lights to see through the dust in bright day light. When we landed at our destination, our bags and faces were covered with a layer of dust.

On our trip to Masai Mara National Park, we joined four other tourists - two dutch, 1 Argentine and 1 Guatemalan guy. Over the next three days, we stayed in a Masai run Camp at the edge of the National Park and did plenty of game drives in the Park. The Masai are a nomadic tribe that still have grazing rights in the Park. The Masai warriors are locally known for their bravery and their ability to survive harsh conditions. These guys are very tall people and striking in their red outfits. The red outfits is supposed to scare away the wild cats. One evening we saw some of their traditional dances and talked to them about their family life. The men can marry any number of women, as long as they have enough cows !.

On our game drives, we saw over 20 lions including a couple of times lions eating their recent Kill. Apart from the Lions, we saw cheetahs, giraffes,hippos etc. One is surprised at the abundance of wildlife and how accustomed the wild animals are of the tourist minivans in the Park. This was highlighted when we found two cheetahs on a hill (very rare to sight cheetahs in the open) and there were 15 minivans around the cheetahs within 15 metres. The cheetahs didn't care about the surrounding minivans and were focussed on searching for prey !

We did have couple of adrenaline pumping moments when a water buffalo charged at us briefly and another time a rogue elephant took a few menacing steps toward us.

After Masai Mara, we headed to Nairobi. We ended up in Glory Palace Hotel, which seemed like the Twilight Zone. The Indian-run Hotel is a pretty clean place and offered a good price. The first day we noticed several Indian men walking around aimlessly in the courtyard of the hotel. The kept talking among themselves in Hindi and each seemed like a character out of a Hindi film. They noticed that I was Indian and approached me in Hindi. Soon they began telling me about their saga. They were there in Kenya through a human smuggler who is trying to get them into U.S illegally. They have been promised the trip to the land of opportunity for the last two months and have been stranded in Nairobi. They were supposed to fly to Belize and then to Canada before landing in U.S. They were scared and frustrated with their situation and were planning to return to India, after losing all their savings to the smuggler.

In Nairobi, we spent an evening listening to local Benga music and ate some good Indian food and Burgers. We met with Lyle's friend at the American Embassy. Nairobi has a reputation for theft - 1 in 3 people in Nairobi have been affected in the last 1 year ! . We used taxis everywhere and got out of Nairobi as soon as possible to Tanzania.

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Photos

Lion King
Lion after eating its fresh kill - a water buffalo

Where is my prey?
Cheetahs in the lookout for prey - they were 15 metres from our car

Yum Yum
Lioness eating its kill early in the morning. Didn't car about tourists 10-15 metres away

Comments

[Esther]

Am so jealous
Man! I thought our place in the catskills was cool....