We had breakfast at the lodge and headed out for our early start to the Masai Mara. As we pulled around the bend to leave the hotel, we looked back and lo and behold, there was the sun peeking over the hill! I guess we stayed up til sunrise after all!
The drive to the Masai Mara was about 6 hours. Tan, Seth and I slept, I mean meditated, for much of the journey. We stopped at a market along the way and guess who was there…the Dutch family! Tan welcomed the dad into our group by sharing an elephant hat! Back on the road, it was a nice time to peek at the view every now and then and catch up on our zzz's. About 2 hours before we were planned to arrive, the road got bumpy. We were rattling about like mad. This is where Peter's mad driving skills came out. I think we were going at least 40MPH and bobbing and weaving, bounding all around, going down into ditches to avoid potholes. There are no rules on these roads. He explained that in the USA if you're swerving, you're drunk. If you drive straight in Kenya, then that's when they know you've been hitting the bottle! Once we all adjusted and just went along for the ride, it was kinda fun. There was also a ton of dust, but we all survived it!
We arrived at the park entrance and about 5 minutes into our drive to the lodge, there was an elephant! In the wild! He was huge! And a big contrast to the little babies we saw at the Sheldrick orphanage. As we snapped photos and popped the roof open, another emerged from the brush, then some babies. It was so cool! I think there were 6 or 7 in all. Their tusks are massive, the best is when they flap their ears and they just exude grace and power.
We continued on the lodge and saw plenty of zebra and wildebeest. At first, we were like, yeah, yeah, another wildebeest, but as the trip grew, we all started to really like them! They just have a goofy look, but they're pretty graceful and always seem to watch the vehicles pass and look back at us curiously. Their migration is the highlight of the year in the Masai Mara...an estimated 2.5 million of them cross the land. We like to think it's a highlight of their year too when they get to see the "Migration of the White Vans".
We checked in to the Mara Simba. This place was heaven. The lobby is up on stilts above the reserve and overlooks a river and lots of trees. This time we all got to stay together so we could just knock on doors to rally the troops. We took off quickly for the evening safari since we were running a little behind. We quickly learned the Swahili word for lion was Simba. Anytime there was a lion spotting, we would race to the scene…as would all the rest of the vans. We just weren't having any luck. They were always hiding from us. We did get to see a zebra kill that was on the menu for the lions later that night. The stunning thing about it was the ease the lions must have in taking out their prey. You couldn't even see an ounce of blood. It was odd. When we were at the kill, we ran into the Dutch family once again…I think they may have been following us! Jackson and I rode on top of the van for an hour or so and it was a bumpy mess…but worth every second! We laughed and held on for dear life as we wobbled down the paths! Both of us later recalled just being in awe of the panoramic views and it just hitting us…"we're on safari with great friends…in AFRICA!" It was awesome. We did get to see another big elephant, giraffes, zebras, ostrich, vultures and wildebeests that day, so it was a win. Toward the end, we did get to kind of see a pair of lions in the grass, which they call a marriage when it's just one male and one female…but we conceded that we'd have to hope to see them running about the next day.
As we drove back to the lodge basking in the sunset, most of the crew were back in their seats. Seth and I were still up spotting, when I saw a shadow on a hill…everyone popped up like meerkats, all facing the same direction. There she was! Peter called over the radio, "Simba! Simba! Simba!" It was beautiful…she looked so regal and proud. We all snapped shots furiously before we were joined by several other vehicles. She walked down the hill them started to roar to another lioness. The other female came from the trees and they grunted back and forth. I'm sure they were preparing to hunt and you could feel it in the air. They sauntered over to each other and crossed the street behind us. It was awesome and we all headed back to the lodge with huge smiles! This is why we all signed up for the trip and we got to see our lion!
Back at the lodge, we all met up for dinner and watched the jumping Masai tribal dancers. There was one in particular that caught our eye with his name on his belt called, Ken. He jumped high and we just loved that he had his name right on his outfit. We then sat by the fire and toasted to our day. There was a great little guitarist that played John Denver and Bob Marley tunes and of course, Jambo, Jambo. We started to play Monopoly Deal and a guy came up and stated chatting with us and sat down with his drink. He was nice, but we were all just kinda enjoying each other's company…so we said our good nights and got ready for an early morning of safaris the next day.
On an aside, Swahili is great! All the words are happy and cheery…here's a short lesson!
Hello=Jambo
Lion=Simba
No Worries=Hakuna Matata
Friend=Rafiki
Sweet Dreams=Lala Salama
Thank You=Asanti
It's funny how unoriginal the writers of The Lion King were too…they just took the cute words directly from Swahili!
