This weekend we went on a safari!! It was such an amazing
experience. On Friday we left Nairobi for Massai Mara. There were five of us
along for the safari which was a small number, but ended up being perfect. We
only had one van, and there was room enough for us all to stand up along the
side of the van without being squished. We were three Canadians and two
Americans along with our tour guide, Mike, and his friend Chris. We stopped
along the way in Norok for a buffet lunch, and then continued down to where we
would be staying. We stayed at the Manyatta Camp. It was this kind of ‘luxury’
camping place. There was a big open-air dining hall where they served buffet
meals three times a day, always with Chai tea of course! We had a big tent with
three beds inside. The far wall zipped open to a room with a solid wall, a
toilet, and the best shower I have used since coming to Kenya!! On Friday
evening we spent two hours driving around the Massai Mara looking for animals.
We had this really awesome van where the roof popped up so we could stand up
and get pictures without having to go through the windows. We saw a lot of
animals and then headed back to the camp for dinner. The next morning we woke
up super early to try to see the sun rise.
Meghan, Rilla and I ended up seeing the sunrise from the breakfast hall,
and it was beautiful. We were able to take some great pictures as we drove back
to the park at 6:30am. We drove around all day on Saturday looking for animals.
We stopped halfway through the day for a picnic lunch. It was neat to look out
from where we were because every tree that we could see which provided a bit of
shade had a safari van underneath it. If
we needed to go to the bathroom we just went in the middle of the huge open
land… behind the van to hide ourselves from the people we were with, but it sure
didn’t hide you from other vans. Good thing they were a long way off! Bad thing
that they all had binoculars.
On Sunday morning we drove around Massai Mara for a couple more hours looking for an animal making a kill. We didn't see any in action but we DID see a lion eating a zebra, which was really cool. There were a bunch of vultures just waiting around for their turn at the remains. Sunday afternoon we drove to Nakuru and on Monday we drove around Nakuru National Park. It was a total change in scenery and being right on the lake it was very beautiful.
That weekend we saw all of the Big Five (Elephants, Lion, Buffalo, Jaguar and Rhino). We saw two Giraffe fighting, the Wildebeest migration, a baby Cheetah and its mother going out for a hunt, Warthog's that run with their tails sticking straight in the air for 8 seconds before stopping because they forget why they are running, ostrich, baboons, Hippos, Crocodile, a Jaguar eating a Thompson Gazelle in a tree, Zebra, Meerkats, Secretary birds, Water Buck, Jackals, Hyena, Dik Diks, an Eagle and some really colorful birds. It was a pretty awesome experience!!!
Rilla's blog has more details about the animals. You can read about it here: http://thisisafrica-rillaj.blogspot.com/
I hope everyone at home is doing well! Please leave comments so I don't feel like I'm writing to myself :)
