On the day we landed at Nairobi there was presedential elections and it was a problematic election so much that the minister responsible for the elections was found dead and his finger was cut off to crack the election computer system protected by his finger print. And the heat of the elections was on the street particularly in the slum areas like Kibera. (We had a plan to visit Kibera but the operator didn’t want to take us there because of the elections,and I’m sure we missed so much things.) We saw people on the road burning tire piles to protest the elections and we were told that they may close the road until the cops would come of course to rob the cars. But dont worry every vehicle has its own wireless and each driver is in contact with the others to be aware of what is going on ahead.

Our Safari starts at the beginning of Great Rift Valley after leaving Nairobi

From Nairobi to Masai Mara it will take 7 or 8 hours by your car. In fact it isn’t too far only 260 kms but in Kenya 80kmph is the speed limit and when the driver speed up over 80 kmph he is warned by a device in the car.

You have a plane option from Nairobi to Masai Mara we don’t suggest it at all because it is very expensive and seeing the towns and people on the road will be fantastic.

Don’t miss the chance to see the villages on the road to Masai going there by plane.
After the coffe break on the road to Masai Mara

Kenyans really love coffee. It is like water for them , they drink it at every turn and their coffee is really the best so far. So we were ok for the coffee breaks…

The first animal which belongs to The Big Five on the way to Masai was this elephant and trying to smash down the accacia tree. And we saw that he was successful the next day seeing the tree knocked down…

After leaving our camp to visit a Masaian village we saw our fist animal which belongs to big five it was really fantastic to see an elephant in its original habitat but being in a Masai village was an expreince one can hardly describe. It was like turning back to your roots as you see the primitive but quite happy life of Masaians. They really lack healthy conditions but as you spend time with them you feel only their warmth towards you.

They are trying their best to make you feel the authenticity and the warmth in the village. One of the most intriguing things was their effort to make a fire with sticks and a machetta. After a few minutes we wished we had a lighter on us seeing their struggle 🙂 But it was awesome seeing the smoke at the end of the stick.

The first day was over visiting the Masaians in their village because we had reached the Masai Mara camp at around 3:00 pm and our first game drive would be the next day morning. Coming back to our base camp we settled into our lodge and put our valuable things into the safe room at the entrance of the camp. It was a locked room with lots of seperate safes in it.

By the way we were skeptical about the meals in the camp but in the middle of Africa we had a great dinner and each meal was really good including the breakfast which they give you in a paper bag before you leave. the camp for safari.

Sleeping in the middle of the savanah in a tent seperating you from the wild animals only by a thick fabric was really incredible and hearing their sounds in the middle of the savanah cannot be described by any word. A few times I was awaken by a roaring sound of a lion !!! It was AWESOME!!! There was no sound but only its roaring in that pitch black night only lit by the moon…

For the first a few days it was a little terrifying to sleep in a tent although there were rangers in the camp pacing around and between the tents with big machettas. But a few days later it was so normal for us to sleep in a big tent as though we were living in it for months because being in the car throughout day was really tiring and as soon as you get in the tent you want to sleep as soon as possible after the dinner which was awesome all the days we stayed…

As you will see in the video below tents are very comfy with almost every facility wou will need and very secure about mosquitos and other insects… they supply the tents with insecticides to apply under and around your bed before you go to bed. It is very important because we had a bad experience in Amboseli which I’m gonna write on the post about Amboseli…

Feeling secure while experiencing the wild life around the camp was wonderful except the leopard warning 🙂

When we got into the tent, the first thing we saw was the warning about the leopards could be around the tent and being cautious particularly in the night. The worst thing about the camp was the scarcity of the electricity. We had only between 6.00 pm to 10.00 pm. In fact we were already asleep at 10 o’clock but if you wake in the middle of the night to go to toilet or something it was a little troublesome to be have to use the torch. So a powerful torch is a must in Safari because all the camps do the same because they use jenerator for the electricity. And of course the jenerators sometimes breaks down but for a few hours but even so you wont have the electricty for a few hours more you will lose it at its normal time again 🙂 but these are really unimportant problems being electricityless was also fantastic… we forgot what it means being without electricity in the city life and you become aware of how being without it is.

Our first safari was after the breakfast because we were really tired of the road to Masai Mara, (by the way safari comes from arabic word “safar” I think which means tour… we heard lots of Arabic words in Kenya and of course we werent expecting that)

It is important in fact to begin the safari in the morning at an early time as much as possible. Because animals begin to stroll for prey very early in the morning. But we had to sacrifice the first morning because of our exhaustion. Nevertheless first day of our safari was fantastic even though we couldnt wake up very early.

We were lucky to see this beauty , the second of our Big Five

We were told that some animals are really hard to see, as days go by you realize that by yourself too. Just a few hours later our first safari started we saw a beautiful leopard among the bushes and waited for it 10 minutes or so to show itself up. As you can see in the video below it is so beautiful that you want to go near it and fondle its head and fur…

Some animals are really abundant like wildebeest or impalas. But some are really hard to see like cheetahs or leopards or even rhinos… Generally the big five animals are hard to see in safari except the buffalo. We saw lots of them but cheetah was very elusive and we could only see it from a distant point for a few times only. They were playing with each other on a big accacia tree…

It was an out of time experience

Not only its wild animals but its trees and plants are really abundant and various. For sure you will see many of them which you havent seen before like the Sausage Tree below. It is used as medicine by the local people and used as ingredient in creams for skin with aloe vera…

We hoped to see more giraffes in Masai Mara but it wasn’t that much as we expected but in Amboseli there were more of them. In Kenya there are two main species of giraffes, Rothschil’s and Masai Giraffe. The darker on the left is Masai and the lighter one on the right is Rothschil’s Giraffe. They are really fascinating and if you have a chance to get closer to one of them it will be unbelievable to look at him over you…

The next day was reserved for the Masai River to wait for a big River Cross and to have a chance to see a lucky crocodile. Almost most of the day we waited to witness a big cross. There were lots of animals around the river both to drink water and to cross the river to the Tanzanian side, Serengeti. Watching the wild life around the river all day was fantastic seeing lots of hippos, crocodiles, many different species of birds and of course countless wildebeest and zebras. For sure no animal can be starved to death in this abundance of animal.

The great migration is one of the most important natural events in Masai Mara which I think it is very important that you arrange your trip according to the migration period. For example, when the herds cross over to Tanzania, there is almost no point in doing safari in Kenya, and vice versa. Going to Kenya before August or going to Tanzania in August can make the safari unpleasant.

Masai Mara River and its Wild Life

The photograph below looks too much typical and ordinary but if you look carefully you will see small spots on it and it will give you an idea how copious is the savanah. They are waiting to cross the Masai River by the way.

It s very important for the animals to cross the Masai River to reach the other part of the savannah because in summer times of the year Masai Mara becomes greener than Serengeti in Tanzania and the animals cross the river in big herds and it is a great succes for them because they complete another challenge to live their hard life… particularly for the little ones…

Running away from the river

Even though they look very calm and harmless Hippopotames are one of the most dangerous animals in Africa killing many people each year and we would have an adventure about them in Lake Naivhasha… We are lucky that we are alive 🙂 by the way (Hipo: Horse Potame: River… weird 🙂 )

And the guy below is one of the most dangerous of Africa. He kills lots of people each year too….

They look really angrily at you

2 Responses

    • boracigdem

      Thank you so much Luis. I m open to all critique by the way ?

      Reply

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