Masi Mara (Day1-3)

When first entering the gate at Masi Mara we were greeted with lots of zebras and giraffes! Our guide quickly opened the top of the safari van so we could stand up and take pictures easily. (A group of giraffes is called a tower while a group of zebras is called a dazzle) we learned that the zebras like to stay in the shallow grass so that they can see predators. When lining up to take a picture a family of warthogs ran out in front of my shot and I got an amazing picture of all of them lined up in front of me. My best advice for doing any nature photography especially when animals are involved is just to keep clicking! We are in the digital age, we can delete all the ones we don't like. I took at least 4 pictures per shot I took most of the trip because you can always fix things later if you have more options. If that giraffe blinked or if that elephant's trunk was blocking its baby you are more likely to get the shot you want the more you take!

Once we were inside the park we drove around some without going too deep into the park for it was getting late. With the last couple of hours we had of sunlight we got to see lots of elephants, antelopes, and even a couple of cheetahs that just got done eating and had very swollen stomachs.

Day 2

The next day we were ready by 4 am to go and do our hot air balloon adventure!

(Hot air balloon blog separate)

On our way again we went for a bit without seeing much other than birds, tell we came across an area that was surrounded by tour vehicles. Our driver raced over to this area after getting word in Swahili over the radio. The vehicles were all circled around a bush, looking just as packed as a parking lot. Can't imagine what it looked like when it wasn't off-season. When we could get close enough we saw a little cheetah curled up in the shade under the bush. We didn't spend a long time our driver said we could try to come back and see if it was still there later.

Before we went to our next stop we stopped at the border of Kenya and Tanzania where there is a rock border marker that is triangle shaped. And split down the middle with one side being marked with a T and the other a K while we never asked what the numbers on top of it were, the guess is that they are coordinates.

Mara River was where we went next. When arriving at the parking lot we were allowed to go and take pictures, but if anyone wanted to travel further they were required to go with an armed guard. They have to go with you for protection from the hippos if they decide to charge or attack no one would stand a chance of being unarmed. There were lots of baby hippos in with the adults and, when their young are around they are more protective and more likely to attack. We got to walk along the banks and see them all basking in the sun both in the water and onshore. Being far enough where we were safe from the hippos, we did see spots where you could see where they climbed out to go eat during the night.

Hippos only live in fresh water and they are too big to swim but they bounce along the ground and float while they are in the water. They do everything in the water from keeping their skin hydrated to matting to spending 16 hours a day. When they do come out of the water it is to sunbathe for a short bit before going back into the water. They do this so they do not dry out or they come out to eat at night, where they graze on grass and vegetation along the river banks. They are quite dangerous and though they do not eat meat they will kill humans as a sport and leave them afterwards.

The rest of the day was us driving around seeing what we could throughout the park. We went back to the cheetah that was sleeping it was now all by itself no tour groups around. We drove up really close next to it and while we were taking pictures one of the guys on tour with us leaned out the window. The cheetah must not have liked how he smelled or something because it spun around and hissed at us making him jump really quickly.

Next, we got to see a leopard pouncing down on a baby wort hog. Again the tour vehicles were surrounding all around the poor thing and it eventually got mad about all the observers and jumped between two with its catch and ran away.

Then we got to see a group of elephants playing and a mother and baby followed us and began playing in the water.

To end the day we saw a lioness trying to dig to hunt down its prey, our tour guide guessed it was a mongoose or something like that. This was a great example of why a cell phone should not be your only photo tool on a safari. If I hadn't had my long landscape lenses I would have hardly been able to see the lioness more or less actually get pictures of her! After this, we went back to the camp for dinner and some much-needed sleep while we were lulled to sleep by heavy rain, thunder, and lightning.

Day 3

The next morning the rain from the night before was so heavy that it created really bad rivets in the road on the way to the camp. This made it so that our guide was an hour late picking us up. He had gotten stuck on the way in and then again after getting us on the way out. The locals walking by and other tour van drivers helped us get out and we were able to be on our way to the Masi Mara village.

When we first arrived we were welcomed by the Masi Mara warriors, they performed a wedding dance for us where they go around looking to choose their brides.

We got to get a tour around the village from the chief's son, who first brought us in to see one of the lion heads that they had hunted down. A group of 30-40 10-year-old boys must kill a lion between themselves to be worthy of marriage. Though the chief's son must kill one on his own to be worthy of not only marriage but to lead the village as well. We got to pet the head as well.

The women do everything in the village while the men go out to hunt and guard the village. They build houses made out of sticks, mud, and cow dung, these houses are good for up to 90 years tell the termites start to take over them. The women also tend to the gardens, take care of the livestock, and everything else. We got to go inside one of the chief's wife's houses and see how they were all put together. Inside of here the villagers brought us different types of necklaces to see if we wanted to buy anything. Before leaving the van our guide told us that the villagers will not accept any donations but if we wanted to give them anything we should buy their goods. So my mom and I both bought 3 different necklaces from them for around $20 apiece! We got a lion's tooth necklace and two painted bone/ stone ones that were very pretty.

After this we started on our way to our next park location, the roads were very bumpy and we got out our seat cushions that we blow up ourselves. They were very helpful with the stiff seats of the van. The first day arriving at the camp we were hurting from the bumpy drive but with these, we were feeling much better!