The best of in-TENT-ions!

---

Geo: -1.48848, 35.0464

DAY THIRTEEN (Wednesday, September 16, 2009)

The best of in-TENT-ions!

Moving day again. We are flying to the Maasai Mara for our last game drives.

As bad as the roads we have experienced, Tauck has spared us many of them. Our tour includes four domestic flights to get us to our properties quicker and less painfully. Mostly we flew on small planes with regular names (Air Kenya) but completely booked with our group. They bus our luggage to the big cities and we take small duffle bags with two days of clothing and supplies to the safari lodges. I was dreading that aspect of the trip (me, living out of an athletic bag for 3 days/2 nights) but it hasn't been as difficult as I had anticipated. Sure, you find something you wanted was in the other bags (e.g., fleece jacket), but it's usually something you can work around if you've thought your packing through.

The 1.5-hour flight to Maasai Mara was scheduled on Air Kenya. The Fairmont Mara Safari Club Land Cruisers picked us up. Really nice vehicles that seat six behind the driver, with high windows and high pop tops and luxury suspension. Eight minutes later, we were at the hotel.

OMG. The property is awesome. We were in tents on the Mara River. Who knew that the canvas housing I was apprehensive about would have a slate floor? Hairdryers and power outlets? Flushing toilet? Granite-counter sink? Just beautiful. You have to zip your tent when you leave to keep the critters out. And all power is shut down between midnight and 7 am so there is a flashlight provided and you are warned that an early morning shower will be quite cold.

Did you hear that, Arnalls? Tommye … camping in a tent? On a river? And liking it?

We had lunch outdoors by the pool, which was very tasty. The thing everyone raved about was a "white chocolate flake" which was much like white chocolate fudge with crisp corn flakes in it. Exquisite.

We then changed into our swimsuits and headed back to the pool for some R&R. We also checked out the gift shop where Patrick bought a tee shirt embroidered with the head of a lion and the phrase “Hakuna Matata”.

A word about game drives: When you are planning your trip, you are probably checking to make sure there are enough game drives. It's what you're coming to do, after all. What I was told and then learned first hand, is that there can be TOO many game drives. The zebras that excited you at first are as common as domestic dogs back home. Even the “Big Five” (elephant, rhinos, lions, cheetahs and Cape buffalo) had been checked off our list since Day Two. Toward the end, you don't even notice the gazelles, warthogs and the like and I found myself telling the drivers “We don't need no stinkin' wildebeests”. Enough said.

At 4 pm, we headed out on a game drive with Templins, Anne and our guide Wilson. We asked if we could focus on finding cats only … lions, cheetahs, leopards. Off we went, taking in all the usual, including the W's mentioned above, zebras, giraffes, water bucks and a host of gazelles. But then came the surprise. As we were all admiring a beautiful rainbow that spanned the mountain range, he stopped the vehicle and told to get out for a surprise. There we walked 100 yards into the bush where we encountered 3 white rhinos. We were 30 feet from them, on a walking safari, with nothing between us and them. Wow.

It turns out because they are endangered and they are hunted for their tusks, the Mara Conservancy has round-the-clock protection for them, so they are fairly used to having humans nearby. Pretty exciting.

Back in our vehicles, Wilson sped us over some pretty gullied land to a spot where elephants were dining. A family of six, including two juveniles, one baby and three moms, were all moving as a pack. They were moving together so tightly that they reminded me of the last episode of Mary Tyler Moore when Mary, Mr. Grant, Ted, Sue Ellen, et. al. moved as a single unit toward the door as the lights in the studio dimmed. It was incredible.

Then as the sun was setting and we were heading back to the camp, Wilson got a call that some lions had been spotted so we quickly changed direction and headed there. We got to see two lionesses, grooming themselves and getting ready to bed down. Unfortunately, it was too late and too dark to get good pictures, but it was fun nonetheless to see the cats we had asked for to see.

Shortly after our return, we met for cocktails in the lobby and I ran a slideshow of 250+ photos from the trip which all enjoyed. It was amazing to think of how much we have done and seen in 10 days.

Dinner buffet was yummy, but no white chocolate to be found. ;-(

Surprise! Hippos are extremely noisy! Our tent is located right next to the hippo docking station on the Mara River. I mean right next to it. We went to the viewing station this afternoon and there was a pod of 100+ of them, all ages, enjoying an afternoon swim. We were told they leave the water right after sundown, go inland to graze during the night, and return to the water at sunup, where they sleep most of the day.

We were also told they are rather rambunctious when they return and they might wake us up before the wake-up “knock” comes on our tent, in time to go ballooning in the morning.

---

Photos

Elephant family
One baby, two juveniles