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So whilst in Kisumu I booked my safari, it was a lot cheaper than I had thought it would be, a mere $300 for 3 nights all-inclusive. The guy said he would pick me up in the morning and we would drive to the Masai Mara Park which is about 5 hours away. Now I was expecting a 4x4 land cruiser to pick me up for safari but no, a Toyota HI ace van was my means of transport.
There was an English guy and two Irish lads on my tour plus a Korean chap who never spoke to anyone for the whole 3 days. We set out early and as usual had the 2-3 stop for no apparent reason, other than for the driver to stand around and talk for half an hour to his mates, whilst we sat in the van, hungry hot and very bored. There are drawbacks to bargain basement tours and it's usually the tour guide.
It was a long bumpy journey to the park and we were on a road that was probably built in the 1920's. I'm not sure why but the Kenyan government felt they didn't need to spend any money on putting down new tarmac to their number one tourist destination. I guess most of the rich fly in, so such things aren't a priority.
We finally arrived and were taken straight into the park. It's an amazing feeling when you see for the first time, the Masai people in their traditional red robes which has been made famous by TV. Moments of my trip have felt like I was in a movie and this was one of those. The landscape is very green and up to that point I didn't know I had come at the best time of year, the great migration was underway. Millions of wildebeests migrate from the Serengeti National Park into the Masai Mara for better grazing. We saw later how nature can really be at its extreme when we saw 100's of dead wildebeests in a river. Apparently there had been a flash flood killing approximately 5000!!! The government were doing their best to clean the mess up but it was a huge undertaking, there were dead carcass everywhere.
Anyway we headed off for our first taste of safari, a night safari for about 3 hours. We saw zebra, giraffe and lots of other animals, but then wow, we came across 2 lions. Now this wasn't my first safari but it was the first time I'd seen Lions up close in the wild. It is quite a scary and exciting experience to be in a van, I never felt that safe tbh. I haven't yet mentioned about our driver/guide, Michael. He was very young and a bit gun-ho. Just after we left the lions Michael decided to take a short cut and get stuck. So there we were outside the van, 40 metres away from the lions trying to push this van out the mud. Looking back now it really wasn't a good idea but we got away with it, thank god. Michael got told by all of us after that just stay to the track.
We then drove back to the lodge we were stopping at. We had been told it was a luxury tent and it as just that. There were 3 of us that to share but even that wasn't that bad for $300 it was great. We had good food but it wasn't local which I was starting to find in Kenya was a difficult thing to find. Most of the food in Kenya was English which the worst wasn't for me. The only thing I had really that was truly Kenyan was Ugalai, which is like potato but its maize based.
We went out for the full day on safari and I have to say it's enough in the Masai Mara as there is that much wildlife in such a small area. You only drive 200 metres and see something new. We saw all the top 5 except leopards which are very difficult to spot. The great migration was an awesome sight to see so many animals on the move. We saw a Lioness make a kill and eat a wildebeest in front of us. Also we saw buffalo fight. I had a really good day but it was enough by the end of the day. I think my photos tell the story better than I can put on paper.
The next day we woke up early for an early morning safari and waited for the sunrise, as ever the African sunset didn't disappoint. It was then I realised you could get a phone signal in the park; there was a phone mast that had been disguised as a tree.Michael told me later that he had one guest with an ipad and she was uploading the photos onto Facebook whilst still on safari, how the world has changed!!!
I would say that if you want to go on safari, then the Masai Mara is the place to see everything but it is very commercial, but saying that I really enjoy the experience, which a must for any traveller.
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