The Masai Mara, or, In and Out of Africa

Abridged version: Had an incredible weekend out at the Masai Mara which is Kenya's extension of the Serengeti. Wildebeest, lions, lions eating wildebeest, baboons, zebras, giraffes, hippos, elephants, hot air balloons, champagne, ostriches, monkeys, water buffalo, hyenas and the cradle of humanity. Full set of pictures here and here.

Long version (but with pictures!): Last Thursday, the two remaining members of the team arrived here in Nairobi. Unfortunately Jessica's luggage didn't make the whole trip so we spent Friday morning picking up the necessities: pants (trousers for you cheeky brits), t-shirts, random Kenyan snacks (Chevda and Bhusu - pretty tasty, kinda like African chex mix), Tusker Beer, Two Keys Whiskey and Yatta Kenyan Wine (in a box - Kenya is not exactly Argentina in the vinology department). We headed out in early afternoon, driving through some pretty luxurious burbs before entering the Rift Valley (which from above looks a lot like South Park, CO) and into pretty full on Africa. Our driver, George, seemed to prefer the dirt shoulder to the paved, though painfully potholed, road as we cruised past villages that weren't much more than a few wood and corrugated iron shacks, busses packed to the brim with people and supplies (blue chips anyone?) and more than a handful of Masai people wearing bright red tending to their cattle.

We got to the Flamingo camp just before sundown, unfortunately the tree house was already occupied so we got these permanent "tents" complete with showers, mosquito nets and enough room to easily stand up. Had a pretty good dinner and were enjoying our boxed wine when we met Ndolo. Ndolo is one of those people you can instantly tell you don't really want to talk, but since we were the only people in the dining tent (and he had more wine) you end up spending three hours with. Three hours filled with wild tales of meeting Tony Blair and Bill Clinton (after hitting on Chelsea in a bar), plans to run oil for the Libyan government and finally that all Kenya needs is all westerners to "get the fuck out and stop raping us" (cause it worked well in Somalia), and I was ready for bed. Luckily we had Masai guards to keep out the lions, cheetahs and annoyingly drunk Kenyans.

The next morning we packed up our tricked out minibus with a pop up roof and headed into the park. Its hard to describe, the Mara is 585 square miles of rolling grassland dotted with awesome African trees, the occasional watering hole and a shitload of incredible animals. We started out the day with some water buffaloes and giraffes from a distance, but this was really just a warm up to spotting a lion eating its kill. 

Pretty amazing, the lion was about fifteen feet from the road and could not have cared less about the people (or minibuses) slowly inching closer. From there we checked out the first (of many) massive herds of wildebeest and zebras roaming (and randomly running single file) through the park. From July to October is the great migration when about one million come up from the Serengeti, I reckon we saw most of them.

We continued driving through the park seeing a bushel of baboons, a parade of elephant and a crash of hippopotami, all before lunch. Stopped next to the Mara river for lunch which we enjoyed with a kodak of tourists and a troupe of monkeys (who kept trying to steal Rob's lunch box). Took a quick walk down the river and ended up in a little clearing full of animal carcasses, not the best smell after eating. After lunch we kept cruising around, spotting more herds of wildebeests, zeals of zebras and an ostentation of ostriches. I think the most impressive for me were the towers of giraffes casually munching trees and elegantly walking through the Mara.* Thats right, I said elegantly. We also had a nice bonding conversation about our porn star names, look for Aaron Bellaire in the upcoming In and Out of Africa flick. Just kidding.

After about nine hours tromping through the park, we headed off to one of the "pubs" (rooms with beer in the corner) in the Masai village. Shared some beers with the Masai chief who explained lion hunting, stealing cattle and then offered us 50 goats for Jessica (against my better judgement we declined). Then back to the camp, set up my hammock, ate passionfruit fresh of the vine, had dinner, played cards and avoided Ndolo. 

Sunday morning we got up early, like pitch black early, for our hot air balloon ride. It was incredibly incredible, we took off as the sun was rising and once we were air born it was like we were floating (because, ya know, we were floating). It was also amazingly quite and smooth, a welcome change from the bumpy roads and diesel mini-bus of the previous day. We saw the huge vastness of the Mara, mile long lines of wildebeests stretching to the horizon, impalas sprinting off as we passed over, spotted hyenas wandering the grass and more giraffes amongst the trees. It was really an amazing perspective on the park. And the 5-star, champagne breakfast complete with made-to-order omelettes and pancakes wasn't a bad touch either.

Following the balloon ride we dropped people off at the Kerokok lodge, a proper safari lodge (like it has a pool and internet) in the park, saw our last two lions hanging out in the road and headed back home. We slept most of the way (as much as you can sleep on the roads here), got back to Nairobi in the afternoon, picked up an illegal DVD with like 15 disney movies and capped off the weekend by ordering pizzas and watching The Lion King.

Hakuna Matata,
Steve

* Seriously, these are the collective names of the animals [1]. Ok ok, an ostentation is really for peacocks. And the credit for a Kodak of Tourists goes to Rob.