18th - Masai Mara

Let’s handle the disappointments first to get that out of the way.

The itinerary says about the two days in Masai Mara, day 7 (yesterday); “the next days we go on game drives morning and afternoon”, day 8; “Today we are once again going on game drives”. So my surprise (and disappointment) was great when I realized that we were having lunch back at the lodge and not going to be picked up until tomorrow morning when we are going back to Nairobi to catch the flight home. The long lunch break in Samburu and this frustratingly restless afternoon means that the 3 promised full day game drives were basically cut down to 2. Needless to say I am not planning on going with this company again.

Anyways, on with the other stuff…

We departed as planned at 0800. Today I had 3 guests with me in the car, a couple and their 2-ish year old daughter. Apparently their guide had to leave to assist some stranded tourists somewhere, so the 3 of them joined us to be delivered to the park’s airstrip where they would need to catch a flight to Mozambique. The guy was Icelandic living in Germany with his Spanish girlfriend (I assume as the spoke Spanish together). Within these couple of hours we share the car I felt a better social interaction going on than before on this trip. Obviously that might not sound like much after my previous rant, but I genuinely enjoyed their company even though I had to sacrifice some of my space in the car. All for a good cause!

Passing through registration was a breeze; we didn’t even stop on the way. I was told later that someone had made a phone call which had made it all the way up to Kenya’s minister of tourism who in turn had made some calls that had made it down to the registration office. He was apparently very unhappy hearing about a Danish minister and his group of VIPs being stuck at registration for hours yesterday.

Anyway; we saw a lot of game as usual, but no cats, not even lions. Someone spotted a leopard crossing the road and we (3 groups in 3 cars and a bunch of other vehicles) starting circling the area the leopard had walked into trying to spot it. But one had to have in mind that the area was still a 3-6sqkm area we were not allowed to enter which meant that the leopard could be hiding anywhere or even have crossed a road somewhere else out of sight and entirely left the area. So the search was without result.

We had a short break where I relocated into group 2’s car so my driver could get the small family to their flight. Coming back was uneventful and the rest of the day I believe has already been covered previously.

Black-backed jackal.

Vulturine guineafowl.

Banded mongoose.

Bored at the lodge in the afternoon until this small fellow came jumping by to take a look. Unfortunately he only stayed a moment before he disappeared up into the trees.

17th - Masai Mara

We left the lodge as planned at 0730 but reaching the park registration booth a couple of minutes later things started going south. Apparently the staff at the registration office (which was basically a large shed at a gate) hadn’t had their systems updated correctly so they hadn’t registered any transfer from the bank as payment for us (all 3 groups). They were not willing to let us through despite the guides being able to show a paper trail from the travel company and bank that the money had been sent.  This resulted in several phone calls. Then discussions. And more phone calls. Group 2 ended up going to the local town where their guide retrieved a wad of cash which was given to the park staff as payment instead – and off we went, almost 3 hours delayed.

Despite it being depressing that we had to wait for so long, less than half an hour in the park we managed to stop right in front of a small bush where two young cheetahs were relaxing in the shade.

Throughout the day we had several sightings of lions, buffalo, elephants, giraffes and what else one would expect to see in such a place.

Unfortunately no leopards we seen but we found fresh tracks from one that had crossed a road not 10 minutes earlier.

In the afternoon the drivers must have received a call over the radio because they suddenly started driving at a much higher pace than usual. After ½-1 hours of hectic driving (which probably felt much worse than it was due to the bad road conditions) we ended up in a cluster of vehicles watching a rhino with two calves (I only saw one of them and it looked like a dirt mound).

We were back at the lodge at 1900, ready for another drive tomorrow at 0800.

Wildebeest.

Plains zebra (common zebra).

Buffalo.

Cheetahs.

Southern ground hornbill.

Masai giraffe.

Grey crowned crane.

Egyptian goose

Young male lion.

It's hard work doing nothing.

Storks.

Spotted hyena.

Rhino. The small dark bump you see to the far right is one of the calves.

16th - Lake Naivasha – Masai Mara

Today was a relatively uneventful day. We had a late departure from the lodge at 0900 which gave us a chance for a little extra sleep in the morning. I timed it so I had half an hour to have a walk around on the premises trying to get some shots of the local wildlife. The result was birds, zebras and a couple of waterbucks. But just walking around with the camera on my own shooting stuff was great in itself.

The drive was not as long as when leaving Samburu, but there was still quite a distance we had to travel. What made it worse was that at least the last third of the distance took most of the time as it was on gravel and poorly maintained roads. At 1630 we arrived at a Maasai village where we spent a couple of hours seeing them dance and being introduced to their daily village life. Their houses are very small (especially compared to Western standards) and apparently they move the village every nine years due to termites. It was timed in a way that when we visited we were able to see a few houses maybe 100m away starting being built as part of the new location of the village. We finished the visit with seeing the nearby school. It had 8 grades, 8 classrooms (with the size of one seen at home, if so large) and 650 students. Luckily we were there when they had left on vacation so we had more or less free reign at the school to see how it was.

After the visit we continued on to our lodge. No real roads, just tracks where other people had driven before. It took us almost half an hour to go not very far, but at 1830 we arrived safely at our new lodge.

Full day of game drive tomorrow, start at 0730!

Waterbuck.

Rueppell's glossy starling.

The lodges at Lake Naivasha.

Jumping Masai.

The inside of a Masai house. This is for a family of four. Just to the left from where I am taking this photo there is a room similar to what you can see in front to the left (bed room) and ahead to the right there is a small 1x1,5m room used for storage,

One of the class rooms. They were all this size.

Back to Africa!

We have high intensity most of the year at work due to a large project so it’s limited when I can go travelling this year. With the summer vacation filled up by my trip to India, Easter is probably the only other time I can plan ahead to get out of the country. And already having one climb planned I was hoping to find a safari/wildlife trip instead.

Looking around I realized that finding a safari in Africa during the exact days I have off during Easter is actually harder than expected, and they are mostly not cheap (sorry: budget-friendly) camping trips like the ones I am mostly used to. I was looking for another trip to Kruger, but looking around I realized I could get a few extra days for the same price in Kenya instead, and adding to that I have never been there before, the decision ended up being quite easy.

11^th of April

Departure in the evening to Nairobi via Amsterdam. Being the Friday before the vacation departing in the evening means I still get to have a workday. Got to keep the boss happy!

12^th of April

Pick up at arrival (early morning) and getting checked in at the hotel in Nairobi. Go and visit The Giraffe Centre where close encounters with giraffes are to be expected. Lunch at Karen Coffee Garden, the old administration building of Karen Blixen’s coffee plantation, followed by a visit to her museum. Depending on the time we might see some local workshops or visit David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. I believe it won’t be necessary to tell where I would prefer going.

We’ll have dinner at Restaurant Carnivore which apparently is a very famous restaurant. I believe the name is enough to explain what their focus is.

13^th of April

Drive to Samburu National Park which brings us north and across the equator. The beginning of the game drives!

14^th of April

A full day of game drives in Samburu NP. The goal is to spend as much time looking at wildlife so lunch (and maybe breakfast) will be brought with us.

15^th of April

After breakfast we drive down into the East African Rift, the large continental rift that passes through East Africa (hence the name, duh). We’ll have lunch at Thompson Falls before taking a boat trip on Lake Naivasha, at an altitude of 1890m.

16^th of April

Leaving the lodge at Lake Naivasha we drive to Masai Mara. Not much more is needed I believe, as most people know what Masai Mara entails.

17^th – 18^th of April

Masai Mara. Not much else it needed to be said. Game drives, game drives, game drives. We'll also have the chance to fly a hot air balloon to see things from above, but considering the price I will probably skip it. Visiting a Masai village during these days is also an option.

19^th – 20^th of April

We will have a short drive to finish the visit in Masai Mara before leaving and heading back to Nairobi. Getting on a plane in the evening and return back to Denmark on the Sunday in the morning.

For those of you who are wondering what kind of accommodation there will be on the trip now that I mentioned that it’s difficult to find a cheap camping trip during Easter (which in a way makes sense as it is in the beginning of the rainy season, so camping for a week during potential heavy rains with camera equipment would be pretty bad) here are some links for you to enjoy:

Samburu Sopa Lodge (13^th – 15^th)

Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge (15^th – 16^th)

Masai Mara Sopa Lodge (16^th – 19^th)