Day 1 - Nairobi to Maasai Mara

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We were up at about 5:30 am. I had slept like a baby. Sarah not so much. Our hotel had an awesome buffet with potatoes, beans, spinach, pancakes, sausage. They were all prepared differently than back home but all still good.

A cab picked us up at 7:30 to go to the Kenya Walking Survivors office. We got to experience rush hour in Nairobi. Of course there was the heavy traffic where there really aren't rules, but what really stood out was the amount of construction.  There were thousands and thousands of people building stuff everywhere and mostly by hand. There were also thousands upon thousands of people walking to work. And these weren't short walks. Everybody looked like they were walking miles. But that didn't impact their attire. Everybody was very well dressed with dress shirts and suits and everything.

OT, the guy we booked the trip through, and I think the owner, was at the office and greeted us very enthusiastically. We discussed the itinerary and he had some suggestions. He told us that the wildlife viewing in the Serengeti hasn't been great lately and the bigger concentrations of wildlife are in Maasai Mara. Ultimately we changed the trip a little to spend more time in Maasai Mara and do a different park and not do the Serengeti.

Of course there is always the concern of getting ripped off in some way, but we felt good about the advice we were getting and OT seemed like an honest guy. Plus, he would have let us stick with our original itinerary if that is what we wanted.

OT introduced us to our driver Francis. Francis was also very friendly and his English was pretty good. We then found out some awesome news. For the Kenya part of the trip it was just going to be Sarah and I! Meeting new people on trips can be fun but there is always the concern of being stuck with some really challenging people as well. Now we can stop any time we want, watch animals for as long as we want, make changes for whatever we are thinking at any time. Friggin amazing!  As OT liked to say to us "you are in charge"

Driving out of Nairobi we saw lots of road construction and learned of political corruption from the past that has caused all kinds of problems with highway building.One highway is all dirt and stuck between a national park and a new group of buildings that were permitted under a corrupt political regime.  One highway we were on drove through the biggest ghetto in Nairobi. Rows upon rows of corrugated metal buildings. The Hollywood representation is pretty accurate, at least from our view from the highway at 80 km/hr.

Still within the sprawl of Nairobi we saw our first wildlife on the side of the road. Baboons! A group of them looked to have just crossed the road and were heading back in to the jungle. Very cool and quite unexpected given where we were.

A short while later we had climbed to ~8,000 feet and were at an overlook for the Great Rift Valley. Unfortunately it was overcast and drizzling so there wasn't much of a view. We kept on going passing through several small towns and seeing another group of baboons.

Quick notes: 1) tourist vans have a government mandated regulator that doesn't allow them to go above 80km/h; 2) littering is just a way of life and outside of the towns there are big areas of trash scattered over the landscape; 3) Kenyans are really impressive with their walking.  School kids around 5 years old were walking 5 km one way to school.

About 4 hours in to the drive we stopped at a market to grab some water and then we were on the home stretch to Maasai Mara. A few kilometers outside the park we started seeing Gazelles. And then, Sarah spotted a group of Giraffes!!!  They weren't that far off the road so we got some great photos. One of the giraffes stared us down the whole time. Perhaps the mother of the baby.

We checked in to our lodge, AA Lodge, which is about 3 km outside of the Maasai Mara National Park entrance. Our room is quite luxurious and no way we would have booked something this nice if it wasn't part of the package. We grabbed a bite to eat and then were off for our first game drive. We hit a snag at the entrance as some system was down, delaying us 45 minutes and giving all the women who were selling all kinds of things ample opportunity to give their sales pitch....over...and over....and over.

Finally we got in to the park at 4:45. All vehicles are supposed to be out of the park by 6:00 but because of the technical problems Francis was able to convince them to let us be in the park until 6:30.

One hundred yards in to the park and there were Wildebeest and Topi. 50 yards later Zebra. 25 yards past that Warthogs. It was unreal. The animals were everywhere and didn't seem to mind us at all.

Next we got our first of the Big 5, the Buffalo. The Big 5 consists of Buffalo, Elephant, Lion, Leopard and Black Rhinoceros. It is sort of a checklist of the best of the best animals you can see. There were two Buffalo but we didn't get a great look at them as they were behind some shrubs.

We saw some really cool birds and were on our way to an Ostrich when Francis saw a Black Rhino. We ditched the Ostrich and zoomed over to the Rhino.  I guess seeing the Rhinoceros isn't all that common because our guide and the other guides who joined us were all giddy. The Rhino looks so much like a dinosaur.

Next up, Sarah spotted something moving around near a creek bed. Lions!!!! Three tour vans raced off-road straight to the lions and stopped no more than 15 yards away. We were crazy close, but with the pop top of the van we felt totally safe. There were two females and two young males. Brothers, Francis said. We watched as the ladies rested up for the evening hunt and the two boys lazily wrestled around. Can I say So Cool again!!!

Our curfew was rapidly approaching so we took off back towards the entrance seeing more animals on the way. 

Tomorrow we head back to the park for the entire day. 3 of the big 5 down, Elephants and Leopards to go.

Wish you were here Old Man.

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Comments

[Mary Ellen]

Thanks for the blog!
Sounds way amazing!!