Masai Mara

Kilometers of wilderness is pure heaven. Masai Mara is one of the most famous reserves in the world and I discovered why. We landed there in the middle of migration(also know as the greatest natural show on earth). It meant over a million wildebeest, and many impalas, gazelles, buffaloes, zebra, giraffes and other food items were moving towards Serengeti. The lions and hyenas were fat and happy with the buffet and it was generally an amazing time to watch all animals come out for their versions of snacks.


We reached Masai Mara in the afternoon and after lunch we set off on a game drive. There were multitudes of wildebeest, zebras and deer around. It tool us just an hour to find lions. 1 male and 3 female lazing about without a care. Later we saw a serval cat as well. Vultures were the most common birds around but there were many other less conspicuous birds also. Saw a secretary bird, marabou storks, other carrion birds and so on. The park is closed for safaris at night so we had to get back. The lodge itself was quite lively, with baboons and mongoose running about. Our balcony opened up to a stream so we could see water birds and other animals come down for a drink.



The next day early morning we started out on a balloon safari. While getting to the take off spot on the way were lions feeding, hippo with a baby getting back into water and a hyena running ahead. The balloon safari itself was an hour ride over the plains until the edge of the Kenya border where we could watch herds migrating, hyenas having a pack war, ostriches and giraffes obliviously grazing and a serval cat which seemed really interested in the balloon. On landing we had to drive up to where the breakfast was set for us in the jungle.


After that, we moved towards one of the rivulets of the Mara river. Saw a herd of elephants along the way along with the other herds. A huge crowd of vultures circling promised something interesting near the stream. As we got closer we saw corpses of hundreds of wildebeest dead while crossing the river and carrion birds of all kinds having a feast. Traveling further down, we spotted a herd of wildebeest ready to cross while a lioness waited on the other side. As the wind changed the lioness had to charge too early, it wasn't able to catch any. Lost its cub somewhere as well and kept calling out to it after that. We stopped at our lodge lunch where the food scraps attracted many small birds and a few curious monkeys as well.

In the free time just after lunch, I managed to see a monitor lizard and a few mongoose trying to steal piece of meat from each other. A Masai worked there as a naturalist and he showed me a few birds. We managed to see a lilac breasted plover which was not found in the area and a yellow winged bat which is quite rare as well. In the last game drive we found a cheetah hiding out from the sun and a large number of lions lazing about in different areas. We got back to Nairobi after that and proceeded to South Africa.

Welcome to the Jungle

The Kenya trip happened after a couple of postponements(office and visa) but it was seriously worth it. Landed there during the migration season which rocks. After landing in Nairobi, stayed at family friends place. Went around a couple of places there, giraffe park, croc park, a mall and my parents went shopping(I stayed back and played with the kids there). There was of course the customary party social gathering to attend fortunately they were restricted to the nights of arrival and departure alone.The safaris though began the very next day.

The first day we traveled to Aberdare national park and stayed in the treetops hotel. It is a lodge situated in the heart of the jungle in between two watering holes. The top floor is open with a great view of both the watering holes. The lodge itself was a 3 storey wooden fortress with loads of windows on all floors till the basement for every possible view. Spent the late noon to evening watching waterbucks, bushbucks, impalas, Babylons, warthogs, buffaloes and a multitude of fresh water birds. As we came down for dinner, there was a tusker drinking from the freshwater supply right below. I spent most of the night watching, as a buffalo, 3 bushbucks and a hares kept me company. Somebody told me about a hyena as well but could not see it.

We traveled to lake Naivasha the next day stopping at the equator to experiment on the Coriolis effect. 20 feet on either side of the equator the spin of the water was absolutely opposite. As we got closer to the lake the zebras and the Thompson's gazelles were actually seen on the road. An alternate option would have been to go to lake Nakuru for the flamingos but that is for another trip. The main industry in that area is florticulture as was evident from the flower farms around that area.

The lodge where we stayed was about 500 mtrs from the lake which meant we had lots of bushbucks, marabou storks, multitude of smaller birds and 4 giraffes(1 Rothschild, 2 reticulated and 1 masai) running about in the sprawling lawns. A small moat with a bridge and sign warning about dangerous animals beyond 6 pm marked the ending of the lodge grounds. I tried chasing the giraffes a bit for a few shots but they are timid. The bushbucks and storks even more so. In the evening we went out for bird trip. Managed to see drongos, hoopoe, blacksmith and banded lapwings, kingfishers, woodpeckers, cormorants, ducks, an eagle, dovetail and others. The lake itself had hippos floating around(the dangerous animals in the sign). I hiked again in the morning the next day as well without a guide to catch the sunrise and then we drove to the main area of interest: Masai Mara.