Safari!

Posted in News Story

This weekend some of us were able to sneak away for a three day, two night safari adventure in the Masai Mara.  Don, Emily, and Whitney all made the five hour drive to the Mara on Friday morning, and went for two game drives over the weekend. 

The Mara is absolutely beautiful, and the animals were incredible.  We saw cheetahs sharing a kill and lounging within 10 feet of our Land Cruiser, a lioness playing with her cubs, a male lion stalking a heard of Masai cattle, and we even got to see the wildebeest and zebras crossing the river after three hours of what our guide called “the waiting game.”  The huge herd hovers around the edge of the river sometimes for days on end, until one elected zebra decides to initiate the crossing.  All the other zebras and wildebeests then immediately follow, eager to cross as quickly as possible to avoid the alligators and hippos that are waiting for them.  The river is littered with carcasses of wildebeests who have trampled each other to death in their desperation to get across.

Amos, our Masai guide, was great fun and took good care of us.  We found out that he had been one of the spotters for the production Big Cat Diaries, and he certainly had an eye for finding lions.  Each night we went back to the camp, which was located right on the border of the reserve, and had wonderful meals cooked for us.  We slept in a bungalow cabin lit by solar electricity and had water that was heated in a huge barrel drum with a fire constantly burning beneath it.  Hannah was off on an extended safari with her mom, who is visiting from the States for a week.  They were also able to visit Mount Kenya.