We set off to the Masai Mara reserve after watching the kids rub anti bacteria lotion into their hair. The drive was about two hours and on the way we saw various Antelopes, Zebras etc. The most abundant appeared to be the Thompsons Gazelle.
We got to the new campsite 'Achai Camp' at about 1pm and were met with some much more luxurious but none the less very basic looking tents. These were perfect as you could stand up inside and had actual beds! But still no electricity. We now had a toilet block about 50m from the tents - just far enough for me to be to scared to go once it got dark as we were told there were plenty of lions and hyenas around and give the night before no one mentioned the possibility of lions i felt that this meant they were a dead cert. We managed to have a quick nap before heading off on our first game drive at 330pm.
The drive was in the same car as we had travelled in but with the roof flipped off to give us a better view!
We entered the reserve (apparently a reserve means the animals are free to come and go and a park means they are fenced in) through a Jurassic Park style gate where our permits were checked and found ourselves in a massive savannah full of Antelope, Zebra, Wilderbeast, Buffalo and Giraffe.
A quick drive around took us to within a few metres of any of the animals. Driving further into the reserve we saw herds of Elephants a bit to tough to get close to and eventually after about an hour our first pride of lions fast asleep with cubs underneath a tree. We carried on into the park and came across Ostrich and other types of Antelope such as Elan - the biggest antelope.
I think the highlight of the drive was on the way home we drove through a herd of hundreds of Buffalo - a little daunting!
When we got back to the camp it was too dark for us to brave a shower but still managed to have some dinner and a beer under the stars around a campfire. The park did have a dodgy old generator and we persuaded them to fire it up so we could charge our cameras in the office. We were told that we should be able to hear Hyenas from our tent but i think i was so tired that if they were there I just slept through them.
We woke at 7am for our main game drive. We saw mostly the same animals as the day before but with some new stuff. The pride of lions was much more active and there was probably about two dozen of them moving around a rocky area.
We ventured past the savannah into a more grassy area where we found three cheetahs resting underneath a tree - i think these were my favourite animal, they look so elegant.
We carried on search for Leopards in the trees and came across another herd of elephants bathing in some mud pools. We managed to get within a few meters of them this time and by my count was around 40 of them including calves.
We then moved on - starting to see Warthogs arses in abundance as they constantly ran into the distance. After about midday we moved into the border with the Serengheti (its the same park just Kenyan / Tanzanian names) to see the river where the Wilderbeast migration will take place in a few weeks. I would love to see this migration but i am really glad we saw the park first in the off season. Apparently during the migration any pride of lions etc will have upwards of a hundred trucks jostling for position - we had none. The river itself was relatively dry but still contained an abundance of crocodiles and hippos ehich are much larger than i imagined for some reason, some seemed maybe 2/3rds of an elephant in size.
We stopped for a picnic about 1/2mile from the river and watched the dung beetles roll and bury balls of elephant shit while all the time keeping our eyes out for lions.
The area around the river was literally teeming with animal and was probably the richest area we saw. Elephants and Giraffes made their way down to the river whilst Warthogs bounded around the place. Still showing no apparent end other than arse.
On our way back we saw perhaps the best sight, a small pride of Lions (perhaps eight in total) with a fresh buffalo carcass.
We stayed and watch whilst they literally couldn't move they were so full and just lay there struggling to breath. The two male Lions every so often went for a walk around the van which was a bit worrying but it seemed to not concern them. We were then only van visable for miles which reaffirmed my view that this was the best time to visit if you want to see the animals at their most natural.
I think they highlight of the day though was the number of insects which landed on Shell causing the biggest screams in the park! They ranged from ten inch stick insects to six inch grasshoppers. The reation was the same irrespective. Suffice to say nothing landed on anyone else during the entire time. I think they could smell the fear.
We arrived back in plenty of time for our first shower before a traditional Masai dinner of steak stew and mash cooked by our new friends Joseph and Tito who had been with us the entire trip and would drive us back to our new hotel in Nairobi the following day....
We got to the new campsite 'Achai Camp' at about 1pm and were met with some much more luxurious but none the less very basic looking tents. These were perfect as you could stand up inside and had actual beds! But still no electricity. We now had a toilet block about 50m from the tents - just far enough for me to be to scared to go once it got dark as we were told there were plenty of lions and hyenas around and give the night before no one mentioned the possibility of lions i felt that this meant they were a dead cert. We managed to have a quick nap before heading off on our first game drive at 330pm.
The drive was in the same car as we had travelled in but with the roof flipped off to give us a better view!
We entered the reserve (apparently a reserve means the animals are free to come and go and a park means they are fenced in) through a Jurassic Park style gate where our permits were checked and found ourselves in a massive savannah full of Antelope, Zebra, Wilderbeast, Buffalo and Giraffe.
A quick drive around took us to within a few metres of any of the animals. Driving further into the reserve we saw herds of Elephants a bit to tough to get close to and eventually after about an hour our first pride of lions fast asleep with cubs underneath a tree. We carried on into the park and came across Ostrich and other types of Antelope such as Elan - the biggest antelope.
I think the highlight of the drive was on the way home we drove through a herd of hundreds of Buffalo - a little daunting!
When we got back to the camp it was too dark for us to brave a shower but still managed to have some dinner and a beer under the stars around a campfire. The park did have a dodgy old generator and we persuaded them to fire it up so we could charge our cameras in the office. We were told that we should be able to hear Hyenas from our tent but i think i was so tired that if they were there I just slept through them.
We woke at 7am for our main game drive. We saw mostly the same animals as the day before but with some new stuff. The pride of lions was much more active and there was probably about two dozen of them moving around a rocky area.
We ventured past the savannah into a more grassy area where we found three cheetahs resting underneath a tree - i think these were my favourite animal, they look so elegant.
We carried on search for Leopards in the trees and came across another herd of elephants bathing in some mud pools. We managed to get within a few meters of them this time and by my count was around 40 of them including calves.
We then moved on - starting to see Warthogs arses in abundance as they constantly ran into the distance. After about midday we moved into the border with the Serengheti (its the same park just Kenyan / Tanzanian names) to see the river where the Wilderbeast migration will take place in a few weeks. I would love to see this migration but i am really glad we saw the park first in the off season. Apparently during the migration any pride of lions etc will have upwards of a hundred trucks jostling for position - we had none. The river itself was relatively dry but still contained an abundance of crocodiles and hippos ehich are much larger than i imagined for some reason, some seemed maybe 2/3rds of an elephant in size.
We stopped for a picnic about 1/2mile from the river and watched the dung beetles roll and bury balls of elephant shit while all the time keeping our eyes out for lions.
The area around the river was literally teeming with animal and was probably the richest area we saw. Elephants and Giraffes made their way down to the river whilst Warthogs bounded around the place. Still showing no apparent end other than arse.
On our way back we saw perhaps the best sight, a small pride of Lions (perhaps eight in total) with a fresh buffalo carcass.
We stayed and watch whilst they literally couldn't move they were so full and just lay there struggling to breath. The two male Lions every so often went for a walk around the van which was a bit worrying but it seemed to not concern them. We were then only van visable for miles which reaffirmed my view that this was the best time to visit if you want to see the animals at their most natural.
I think they highlight of the day though was the number of insects which landed on Shell causing the biggest screams in the park! They ranged from ten inch stick insects to six inch grasshoppers. The reation was the same irrespective. Suffice to say nothing landed on anyone else during the entire time. I think they could smell the fear.
We arrived back in plenty of time for our first shower before a traditional Masai dinner of steak stew and mash cooked by our new friends Joseph and Tito who had been with us the entire trip and would drive us back to our new hotel in Nairobi the following day....
0 comments:
Post a Comment