Safari

We left our hotel around 6:50am, picked up the others and were on our way.   Several hours in we passed the last major area we would pass, Narok. We hung a left and pretty soon the paved roads were no more. The last 2 or so hours were very bumpy, and I was done by 2pm, when we then climbed up part of a mountain to our lodge.  Luckily I was just a little hangry and after lunch(a full buffet), bounced back quick.

We were off to a game drive for the afternoon and in like 2 hours, saw so many animals and a beautiful sunset.

Essentially, in a game drive you drive slowly around until you find an animal or animals, and stop for a bit to observe and take pictures. Some animals are skiddish, but, the high majority do not see the trucks as a threat and we get to spend some real time with them. Also, the drivers communicate with each other, so they announce when they see an animal. Sometimes that becomes obnoxious when there are like 20 trucks all around one animal.

We crashed that night after dinner and awoke the next day for a full day game drive. We went around 100kms in our searches and saw everything from elephants, to cheetahs. The only animal that remained elusive was the leopard. But man did our driver try.

We ended the day at a Masai village, where the village chiefs son took us around the community. I had some mixed feelings about them putting on a show for us, but I did enjoy getting to see how they live. The masai, due to living near the reserve and the threat of the animals, cannot really farm, and spend most of the time ranching. We got to see how they make fire, check out the inside of houses and they let us ask so many questions.

The next morning we ate breakfast, packed up our stuff and headed out for a final game drive. I had thought this would be uneventful, as this would be the third time in the same area. We wound up seeing a cheetah on the hunt, a pride of lions weaving between our cars, a community of elephants all to ourselves and a lion and her two cubs!

Then we drove, the many hours back.