Straight Tripping: Day 50 to 53 Safiri Salama na Marafiki Angu

"Good Safari with My Friends"

The Masai Mara in the evening.

Hippos at the Mara River.

And what a good safari it was! We took off from the Junction mall after some initial confusion about which van we would all fit in (turns out none) and once reconciled to the fact of our separation from Katrina and Shayla, Lisa and I set about making friends. The drive was looooong, and though we stopped in Narok for lunch, we were pretty tired when we arrived at our encampment. To call the accommodations tents would be to grossly lie... These were canvas palaces with plumbing! We had hot showers, a luxury I have had to do without for these 6 weeks. I was thrilled. We dropped our gear and hen immediately headed out for an afternoon game drive in the Masai Mara.

Herd of Giraffes just hanging out.

Chilling out in the van watching the world go by.

In the two hours we were out we saw amazing things: a lioness, giraffes, elephants, buffalo and so many types of antelopes! Dinner was a little late but we sat around and drank tea to pass the time upon return.

a lioness and her baby cub.

Lionesses sunbathing.

The next morning was Katrina's bday, and we clapped her on the back at our 7:00 breakfast. We set out for a full day game drive and saw more incredible things! Giraffes mating and fighting, a lion cub, male lions, hippos, a mother baboon and her young baby, ostriches and crocodiles. A full day left us pretty tired and with a 5am wake up the next morning, I hit bed early.

Male lion!

My birthday dawned and we set out to see the sunrise. I got an amazing early birthday call from the boyfriend and discovered I have an iPhone of all things waiting for me when I get back! Holy eff ya!

family of elephants in the Mara.

Elephant... before he got a tad upset.

We saw the best thing on this day: two hunting cheetahs! We missed the actual kill, but returned to the hunters as they were feasting on an unlucky antelope. So cool! We were also treated to a family of elephants, one of which started to get antsy at our proximity, and almost charged the van! We left the game park in high spirits and drove along the BUMPIEST road to reach the other van and lunch. We who were doing the 4 day piled into one van, and drove further, to Nakuru. The scenery was amazing!!

Cheetah coming through the grass towards our van!

Our hotel was a proper establishment, and Katrina and I settled into our room for our last night together. Kind of surreal to think ill be out or Africa soon.

Cheetahs marking their scent.

Buffalo, the most dangerous of the big 5.

Sunset in the Mara.

Breakfast was a somber affair for me, as I felt really off. I think there was gluten in dinner, and though I still enjoyed the safari at Lake Nakuru, I felt majorly crap all day. We did however get to see rhinos, both black and white ones! The white rhino is actually a misnomer, coming from the Dutch word 'whit' meaning wide, which refers to its mouth. The black rhino was so named after the mispronunciation was widely spread already... Ah well, they're both amazing! We also saw baboons again and many types of birds. The animals were randy (not least of which were two of my safari companions who were cuddled up beside me), and we saw Thompson gazelles, zebras and buffalo all mating! The buffaloes however were batting for the other team, as after they fight with their horns, which we saw, the winner tries to mount the loser. Talk about prison politics and using sex as a power weapon! Yeeesh!

baboons hanging out near the garbage heap in the Mara.

Lake Nakuru in the background.

The drive home was relatively uneventful, and since I still felt under the weather I used the web and headed home for my last night in Kenya! It's been quite the ride!!