Masai Mara

I saw two giraffes on the side of the road, just standing there eating leaves from a tree while the cars whizzed by. None of the other cars seemed to be interested but our van full of safari bound tourists were amazed! Last Friday, I headed out from Nairobi down to the Masai Mara for a Safari weekend along with two friends from school, one of my roommates, and another friend from Kisumu. The drive from Nairobi to the Mara is about 6 hours on a mostly bad road. Despite the bumpiness, I enjoyed seeing a new part of the Kenyan country side especially the views of the Rift Valley and later the wheat fields. I didn’t know there were wheat fields and combines in Kenya! It made me feel a little bit at home as it will soon be wheat harvesting season at my family’s farm in France and also back in the Bread Basket states of the US Midwest where I grew-up.

Soon we arrived in the region called the Mara and as our driver navigated the dirt path towards our lodge we stared out the window at the herds of Zebras, impalas, and wildebeest grazing along the side of the road. We were all wondering why our driver and guide didn’t stop to let us take pictures, little did we know that over the next 2 days we would see so many herds of these same animals that we would start to be nearly indifferent at the sight of yet another pack of impalas.

I loved the zebras though and probably would have been happy to spend an hour just watching a herd grazing on the savannah. I think my travel companions may not have thought that would be as much fun as I did and anyway there were more animals to see. The cheetahs were also among my favorites, we saw several different ones including a mom with cubs and a young couple under a tree. It was on the evening of the last day just as the sun was starting to set and as we started to give-up hope that we finally saw the elusive lion stocking a warthog. It would have been very disappointing to have come to the Mara and not seen a lion.

The lodge where we were staying was right on the banks of the Mara River, which is full of hippos. The dinning area of the lodge faced the river and you could see al the hippos in the water. At night from my bed I could even hear the hippos calling! This was a very different sound from the cars and buses that I hear from my bed in Kisumu.

Besides the Zebras I was particularly fascinated by the landscape of the Mara. Completely different from the dark green lush hilly scape of the Kisumu area, the main part of the Mara is huge expanses of savannah: tall grasses, with the occasional acacia tree. There was also little wooded areas along small streams and dense forest on a hillside near the Rhino sanctuary park. Nearly at every turn there was some new view and some other animal quietly grazing or just lying in the grass.

The trip was wonderful. The sunsets were beautiful, the animals fascinating, my travel companions funny, easy going, and willing to share the music from their music players so that the long drive would go by faster. Going to the Masai Mara is sometimes the only part of Kenya or Africa for that matter that tourist see. I think it is a wonderful part of this country but there is so much more here and flying in and out of the small airports that dot the savannah and only seeing a bit of Nairobi doesn’t tell you about the rich culture, the wonderful people, and the variety of landscapes in this diverse country. So if you ever have the chance to come to Kenya, absolutely go to the Masai Mara to see the lions and zebras but take the time to see something else of this country I know that it has made my experience here that much more valuable.