This weekend I went on safari. It was absolutely incredible! We drove from Nairobi to the famed Maasai Mara National Reserve. There we stayed at a hotel that consisted of fancy outfitted tents, complete with a bathroom and running water. The evening that we arrived, we went on our first game drive. A pride of lions had just brought down a water buffalo, so the first thing that we got to see was the lions feasting. Being there for 3 days, we also got to see the progression of the kill, and how quickly it was consumed by the pride. Based on the time of year, there were also plenty of baby lion cubs, which were adorable and highly entertaining.
Our second day out, we were fortunate enough to see the Big Five: water buffalo, lion, black rhinoceros, elephant, and leopard. Seeing as there are only 40 black rhinos in the whole 1,500 km2 park, seeing one is uncommon. Of everything we saw, my favorite was the leopard. They are such beautiful, majestic creatures, they’re transfixing. The one we found was napping in a tree, and then jumped down and walked right past our safari van.
The morning of the third day made the safari. We were able to see a lion fight! We went out at 6:30 and stayed with a young male we found on the edge of the territory of the pride that brought down the buffalo. Our safari guide, Mike, was fantastic, and set us up to watch the imminent clash. The pride eating the buffalo caught the scent, and one of the females took off first. This was due to her instinct to protect her cubs. When another male lion takes over a pride, the cubs are often killed. The lioness attacked the young male, with the older male from her pride close behind her. The older male then proceeded to chase the younger male out of their territory. It was amazing! We were not only able to see the fight firsthand, but all of the vans in the park flew to the fight to try and get the best view. Mike told us how rare it was to see such an event – he himself, who does safaris every weekend, hadn’t seen one in 4 to 5 years! Luck was definitely on the side of our safari group. It was incredible way to end the Maasai Mara portion of the weekend!
After that exciting morning, we proceeded on to Nakuru in order to see the lake. The drive took forever, and our van had multiple issues. We completely slashed one of our tires in the middle of nowhere. The landscape was completely flat, and we were surrounded by zebras and wildebeests. We had to find rocks in order to make enough room to put the jack underneath the van, but there were barely any rocks – just dirt and shrubs. It was finally decided to lift the van up, but with 7 women and a single man, we were rather lacking in the upper body strength department. Seemingly out of nowhere, a Maasai man tending his goats appeared to help us, and we ended up getting the tire changed. Later, however, we had to stop because the engine was in critical danger of overheating. Luckily, there was a river nearby, so we all took turns bringing up water bottles to cool it down. Overall, the trek was long, but a lot of fun.
On the final day of the safari, we ventured through Nakuru National Park. There we were able to get up close and personal with a family of white rhinos, consisting of a male, a female, and a baby. White rhinos are much more placid than black rhinos, and are grazers, so are much easier to see than their leaf-eating relatives. Nakuru is also famous for its flocks of flamingos, which were beautiful. Being so landlocked, it was wonderful to see a lake again. I didn’t realize how much I had missed being near water. The lake, surprisingly, is only a meter deep all the way across. If the mud didn’t suck a person in so much, they would be able to walk across the entire width of the lake! After Nakuru, we travelled back to Nairobi, ending our safari weekend. It was so incredible, and out group was so lucky to see everything we did! I couldn’t have even imagined a better safari!
