Driving Miss Karen

A blog about our travel

Kenya and the Masai Mara

by · Published · Updated

We flew direct from London to Kenya. It was a long flight of 8+ hours. We got to Nairobi in the evening and were met by our Safari company and taken to the hotel. Next morning we headed out to the Masai Mara National Park and the start of our 11 day African Massage (that’s what they call road trips since most roads are pretty bad. Our general impression of Kenya was that there is not much infrastructure or help for the people from the government so they help each other. The towns were poor and dirty but folks were getting on with their lives.

A lioness doing what she does the most. Sleeping!
Our Toyota Landcruiser. Our driver was Frank in Kenya
African traffic jam
The big 5 (a hunting expression) are the Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Water Buffalo, and Rhino. We liked the big cats the best even when they were sleeping (which they did a lot)
We saw four of the 5 the first couple of days. The rhino was the hardest and we just got a far away view on our last day in Tanzania
The Masai Mara had a lot of different animals in fairly small groups. It was greener and had more bushes and trees than the Serengeti or Ngorongoro Crater
Normally hippos are in water for protection but this island in the Mara river is just as good
This baby hippo is sniffing a wildebeest carcass from a previous crossing. There is a crocodile two feet away. The crocs and hippos don’t mess with each other
We spent one day near the Mara river hopping to see a Wildebeest crossing. That didn’t happen but we still saw interesting things
The plant eaters are very numerous. Zebras in our camp at night
The Masai giraffe is darker and has different shaped markings
Our guide said Hyenas body temperature gets hot when digesting bone (which they eat) and they like to find a good mud wallow to keep cool. They are truly ugly animals.

We visited a Masai village near our camp. I was a little leery but it turned out to be a wonderful experience. The Masai live very primitively. No electricity, water, or toilets but their a sense of community and friendship that is hard to explain. Yes they do the dances for the tourists since they are normally celebration dances but they seem to really enjoy it and there is a lot of good natured kidding and they are quick to laugh and smile. They carry cell phones (charged with solar chargers) and sometimes wear crocs but still boil water for drinking. Interesting people.

Karen dancing with the girls. I did the jumping dance with the boys and I’m sure my boots left the ground at least for an instant
Unlike the jumping competition, the fire making was cool and unexpected. Like many things Masai, it is a group effort with a lot of joking between the fire makers
Safety First! Actually Kenya seemed to work. People were out and about living their lives.
I became obsessed with women carrying things on their heads. Never saw a man doing it.
Nice little picnic in the bush
We knew we would love the animals but were surprised that we liked the people so much. The Masai life seems harsh but they seem to be happy living it. Alex (next to me) is one of the Chief’s sons and looks like the Kenyan version of Wayne Brady from Let’s Make a Deal to me.

Jose

AKA Alfred

You may also like...

2 Responses

  1. Mario Z says:
    October 17, 2022 at 12:24 am

    Great pics Alfred everything looks amazing. Please add more pics of the safari. These are my favorite pictures of the trip. This is a dream of mine to visit one day. Glad you guys are having a good time. 😊

    • Jose says:
      October 17, 2022 at 7:35 am

      Hi Mario, Thanks for commenting. It’s nice to know the pictures are being enjoyed. You will get there. It really was pretty easy except the roads.
      The safari company picks you up from your hotel and they take care of everything until they drop you back off.
      The tents are very comfortable and had full bathrooms and such. Food was pretty good and occasionally really good. Usually a buffet.