Safari Savannah

Well I’m back in in Nairobi after having finished the Masai Mara Safari and it was a blast.

After the bumpy bus ride our first trek took us to lake Nakuru which was an extra day we added onto the three next days in the Masai Mara. I’m glad we did, because we got to see animals which the Mara didn’t have.

The first thing i noticed when we drove into the national park was the colour of the lake, it was pink. THe lake gives off a pink hue due to all the flamingos and pelicans that stand around in the water feeding, yes I said pelicans, they’re slightly pinkish too.

We saw rhinos, water buffalo, baboons, golden jackals and even a lion, though only in the distance (don’t worry we find more later). The ride we saw it all in was kind of like a tarago van, with a pop top roof so we could all stand up, look around and snap photos, not that standing up was all that easy some of the time.

We stopped at a lookout over Lake Nakuru to see the grand scale of things. The flamingo’s could be seen as a pink lining round the edges of the lake as baboons played around in the park, jumping along the rocks on the cliff and even stealing things from the safari vans. Made good entertainment for those of us they weren’t nicking stuff from.

We didn’t get too close and personal with many animals on the Nakuru safari, but after the long and bumpy ride to the Masai Mara we did. The Masai Mara is like how you see Africa in the movies, long stretches of Savannah grasses, random single knotted tree’s stick out from the ground to give the birds a perch. Theres herds of wilder beast mixed with gazelles and zebra’s just moseying around, lion cubs prowl each other, play hide and seek then snuggle with their mother. The giraffes and elephants breakfast together in the late lazy morning sun, golden jackals stand attentive for a few seconds before dashing off to find another spot to pose in.

It just feels like a completely different world out there, horizon to horizon is wilderness, beautiful but deadly. One of the highlights of the few safari days was the trip out to the mara to see the sunrise, the world was at peace as the sun rose from it’s hiding place, bursting a blood red through the grasses and mountains. Twisted tree’s were silhouetted, herds of zebra were quiet and no birds sang as the sun slowly rose through the scattered clouds, bathing the world in dripping golden rays.

It was awesome, to say the least.

One of the small disappointments was that we didn’t get to see the big five (buffalo, lion, rhino, elephant, leopard), we saw everything but the leopard, there were no cheetahs or meerkats either. One of the afternoons we got to visit the Masai tribe and see their traditional way of life. They wear red clothes to scare away dangerous animals and carry short sticks for cow herding. Cows are their wealth and lifeblood, they drink their blood and smear their houses in cow poop, every part of the cow is used somehow, it costs 10 cows for a wife @_@.

The Masai initiation rite is killing a lion, not bad aye, I managed to pick up a few trinkets there, a lions tooth and a leopards tooth. Talking of big cats I didn’t mention how close we got to the lions, there were plenty of lions everywhere in the Mara, we got so close to some that they brushed up against our safari vehicle, I could have reached out my hand and patted her >_<

It was an experience i have to do again someday, out of this world, the whole circle of life thing happening.

Well I’m uploading photos for your entertainment as I write this but theyre taking a looooooong time. I’m in Nairobi right now and tonights the last night we get to spend together as a team, all seven of us together. The menu is a restaurant called Carnivore, apparently world famous, making it into the top 50 best.

I’m spending my month in Kenya and Tanzania now, its all set, my flights go out on the 27th spend a couple more days in Mauritius, then I’ll be home the day just before big camp starts, from one party to the next and ALL of you guys better be comin’ to camp.

Heres a link to all of my photos, if it doesnt work just look at my photos in myspace then in the Africa album. Click here.

until next time, likely I’ll be in Mombasa, Peace Out.

-Josh

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