The Maasai Mara Adventure

This past week I went on arguably the best trip of my Kenya stay.   I spent two nights in Kenya’s famous national park, the Maasai Mara.  The Mara is separated by the national border from Tanzania’s famous Serengeti and is home to the yearly Great Migration, when tens of thousands of wildebeest, topis, zebras & friends travel from one park to the other for fresh grazing land. 

Mara Serena Lodge

The whole trip is an amazing adventure, but can be a very, very, luxurious one.  You can camp or whatnot, but I chose luxury.  I chose hot showers and prime rib over a true wilderness experience because, ya know what?  After 8 months of bucket baths and dried out beef I am ready for a little luxury in my life.

Even traveling to the Mara is an amazing experience.  From Wilson airport you board a cute little ten-seater airplane and fly 45 minutes (note: it takes 45 minutes to get to Wilson airport and 45 minutes to fly to the Mara, followed by a 5-minute drive to the resort.  Even with lines and security, I GOT TO THE MAASAI MARA FASTER THAN I CAN GET TO THE MALL IN NAIROBI).  As you fly in, you can see herd of elephants, zebras, and wildebeest hanging out below.  From the airstrip a big no-nonsense jeep carried me to the Mara Serena lodge resort and all of a sudden I was in paradise.  The place is low and unassuming until you walk in the big front doors and are greeted with a stunning view of the Mara.  You are also greeted with a eucalyptus scented hot towel and fresh passion fruit juice, which is quite nice.   My bags were whisked away and suddenly I was in my private room with a balcony overlooking the Mara, a massive bed and a very luxurious bathroom situation. 

a bunch of lil cabins

Lunch.

Meals.

Buffet.

For me, the food was just as special as the accommodation and, um, seeing rare and beautiful creatures in their natural habit.  Am I a bad person for this?  Whatever.  I don’t care.  As many of you know, the inability to cook and order out (aka eat what I want, when I want) is one of my biggest annoyances here.  I don’t require fancy food, but having my meals chosen by the hostel I stay at can get pretty tough for me.  Enter the Mara Serena Buffet.  Kenyan food (yes, I ate that, too), Indian food (I had palak paneer), and a variety of meats and pastas every day.  I’m not talking average buffet meats.  I’m talking perfectly cured gammon with a chef slicing perfect bits off for you.  I was in heaven.  Did I mention the CHEESE TABLE and DESSERT TABLE?  I think they made a note by my name to not allow me unlimited food if I came back again…

Twice a day I got to go out on a game drive with Andrew, the amazing guide, and a couple and their baby.  I had expected a packed bus of people, so lounging in the huge jeep with a whole row (easy access to both windows) to myself was very nice.  I also expected animal sightings to be rare but HO BOY was I wrong.   We saw zebras by the hundreds, wildebeest, and antelope within the first ten minutes.  All that was exciting but my companions had a very firm goal: They wanted to see the Big 5, see them fast, see them efficiently, and go home.  They had an eleven month old child with them, so I get it, but… come on guys, lets enjoy this!  They were pretty firm with Andrew: today we will see a lion on the hunt.  We didn’t see the hunt, but we did see a whole pride of lions!  There was mama and about 7 2-year-old cubs who were so freaaaakin’ cute!  We followed them for quite a while and got pretty close, but they totally ignored us.  I was pretty impressed by this until the drive home, when we oh-so-casually drove past a herd of elephants, including a very sweet baby. 

patient zeebs

Day two started with a very early drive at 6:30, which I was not happy about.  Why couldn’t we just go at 9 or something?  Well, because the early hours are when big cats hunt, that’s why.   After a lovely sunrise, we were greeted by a big surprise: thousands of zebra, topi, and wildebeest were preparing to cross the Mara river to graze on new grass on the other side.  This is a sight not often seen outside of July and August, during the famed Great Migration.   It was so neat how the zebras guided the “very confused” wildebeest across the river.  Led by a single zebra, they can stand for hours, all facing the river together to wait for the perfect moment.  But oh- the topi had other ideas.  They crashed through, running across the river in a huge beautiful group.  The Nile crocodiles meandered over to look for breakfast.  Suddenly the topi broke off and quit their crossing, but the confused wildebeest carried on, only to meet two hungry female lions waiting on the other side.  I watched a lion increase speed RAPIDLY (dear god- how close did we get to them yesterday??) and snag a wildebeest.  Another lion got an antelope, and out of nowhere a bunch of little cubs came out and feasted.  It was quite the sight.

We sat for a while and watched the zebras in their steadfast vigil, when suddenly they gave up and turned away.  “Nah, this is not our day,” the lead zeeb (presumably) said.  What could prevent them from crossing?  THAT WOULD BE A LEOPARD, GUYS.   He was far away, across the river, but with some binoculars I was able to see him (or was it a female?) really well.  Very cool.  Big 5: 4/5

After a wonderful nap in a bed so big I could have gotten lost in it followed by a gourmet lunch, we headed out for the p.m. game drive.  After such a crazy morning, it could have been a let down, but we quickly checked off our big five with a sighting of three rhinos.  Compared to 900 lions, there are only about 25 rhinos in the whole park, so this was quite the feat.  On the way home we hung out with some elephants, including a tiny baby who trumpeted and attempted to charge us while the mama looked on proudly.

 

mama

On the final morning drive, the other couple decided to sleep in, so I got a private drive with Andrew.  For a long time it seemed like we would see nothing, until we happened upon a large pride that had just taken down a zebra.  I watched the whole fam-dam-ily, including two large male lions, devour this thing in about ten minutes.  It was oddly cute.  I do not know why.  Maybe the little bloody-pawed babied reminded me of Nick and Lewis.  It was a great way to cap off the trip. 

The Mara is awesome.  Everyone should go.