We got to spend our weekend hanging out with lions? Really? We couldn’t believe it either. We had originally planned for our safari to happen after our trip, but somehow Mr. Okidi knew someone who was going to hook us up with an entire weekend safari for $200! We couldn’t turn it down.
Our driver Gabby, one of the nicest people I’ve ever met picked us up at 4 a.m. all ready to go. I was so happy I was feeling better for the 7-hour drive ahead of us. We went through Kisii and Narok to get to Masai Mara, and it was one of the bumpiest rides ever. Luckily, none of us had time to eat breakfast so early in the morning so we were keeping the lack of food down. Gabby picked up about 8 bags of coal on the way and threw them in the back of the truck. Apparently it’s cheaper to buy the coal in Masai Mara and sell it in Rongo. Unfortunately for us, we had to sit with those bags of coal for the entire weekend and by the end of it, my bright neon shirt was literally black.
We decided to do a camping safari instead of stay in the lodges, more for the cost-factor as opposed to the adventure factor, but it all worked out. We got to our site and realized that this was no white-style camping we were used to back home, we actually got three beds, a hot shower and an actual toilet (haven’t used one of those in a few weeks)! After having our lunch (consisting of spaghetti and bean curry), we headed out on our first game drive. We were told that the animals we probably wanted to see the most would be rare sightings and to not get our hopes up. We did anyways.
Here’s what we saw on Day One:
· Gazelles - these animals are beautiful in person with their curved and short horns. We saw them everywhere and they made me smile every single time.
· Zebras - I asked Gabby at the beginning of our journey, “Hey Gabby, will we see any zebras?”. Haha. We saw literally thousands of them and they are so cute. Males usually have the jet black stripes while females and babies have more brownish-coloured stripes. We loved that the zebras stood in pairs facing one another. We asked why this was and it was to keep one another cool. The zebras also wag their tail constantly to keep the flies away from them. So cute.
· Giraffes - We saw these in Nairobi at the park but you can never get enough of these regal creatures, especially in their natural habitat. The “Masai Giraffes” are more brownish in colour, especially on their patches.
· Elephants - We saw so many and all with their tusks intact, which was so nice to see considering none of the ones at the orphanage had them.
· LIONS!!!! Ahh we couldn’t believe our luck when we saw the lions. There were a number of vehicles gathered all around one spot, and we realized that something big was happening. Gabby took us there and we were just so shocked to see three huge, sleeping lions. There was so much noise but none of them awoke. We were literally metres from them.
· Black Rhino - Our guide David (who apparently told us he is in the Lonely Planet) told us that we were so lucky to see one of these since they are one of the rarest creatures.
· Wildebeests - There are hundreds of thousands of these and these are the most sought after creatures by the lions.
· Buffaloes - Nikita and I busted out a little “Buffalo Soldier” when we saw them. They look like they should be in Medieval Times with their huge headpieces.
We decided that we really wanted to go to a Masai Village to see how they really live. We managed to negotiate the price to almost nothing (not shocking to those who know how much I love to bargain). We were invited into their village where a young man by the name of John explained to us the Masai ways. He explained to us that the Masai only survive on three things; 1) meat 2) milk 3) the blood of animals. No wonder they were all so skinny, they never have to worry about cutting down on their carbs! John was 18 years old and told us that soon he was going to become a true “Masai warrior”. We asked him what this meant and he told us that soon enough he would have to go into the Mara for 40 days and 40 nights and bring back the head of a lion. Once he does this, he will be considered a true warrior. It actually made us cringe. We also found out that the men are responsible for herding the cows and finding food while the women are responsible for cooking and building houses. The chief of the village is 81 years old and in a couple of months will be marrying his 8th wife, who is 19 years old. The wives usually come from other villages since polygamy is very common and they don’t want to marry anyone who is related to them. Pretty forward thinking I thought for a culture whose values are quite old in their ways. We got to see the chief’s house and met many children in the village. Then we were brought to the place where they sell all their beaded items. We were pretty much harassed but I decided to hold off and buy things off the Masai on the street since I knew I could bargain much more. We also got to hold little goats and lambs, and couldn’t help but scream out when Mary carried one, “Mary had a little lamb”. Haaaa!
We had dinner and called it a night since we were exhausted. We forgot how cold it gets and woke up the next morning FREEZING. Nikita took at least an extra 15 minutes to get herself going since she was so cold. We headed off for our next game drive at 6 a.m. hoping that we still had some of the same luck from the previous day. We saw the black rhino again, but the best part of the morning was SEEING A LION EATING A WILDEBEEST. It was actually insane. Seeing the lion just ripping the wildebeest apart and all the blood dripping down its face and chin was so surreal. We stayed for a good 20 minutes before leaving so that other cars could have a chance to see what was going on. As we started driving again we saw a cheetah (also a rarity) AND a lioness just on the prowl in front of our car. We headed to the Mara river to see the wildebeest migration. We got lucky in that we were there the right time of the year. There were literally hundreds of thousands of wildebeests congregated in one area ready to start their way across the river. We looked into the river and saw SO many hippos and crocodiles. David told us that in all the years, no man had ever made it across the river alive although there have been many, many attempts.
We got back at about 3 p.m. had lunch and started our journey back. What an amazing weekend. And the best part is, in a few weeks, we get to do it all again in Nakuru!
Hope everyone is well! Thank you for reading!!
Love,
Shahla
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