October 25th, 2006 Lake Nakuru – Masai Mara National Park, Kenya

October 25, 2006
Lake Nakuru – Masai Mara National Park, Kenya

This morning everyone got up at 6:00. After packing my bags, I grabbed a quick breakfast. We then loaded up the vehicles and headed out on a game drive at about 7:20.

It was a great game drive. We saw everything form hyena and Rothschild giraffes to flamingo (they call it the pink lake because the of number of flamingos that reside there) to the white rhino!


The rhino was by far the coolest animal of the day. He was incredibly massive and we got very close. It was amazing to watch how quickly he was able to eat the grass around him. Also of interest, when he peed it shot straight behind him in a powerful stream. Thus, it would be wise to never stand behind a rhino…

Toward the end of the game drive we headed up a large mountain and stopped at a magnificent viewpoint. We were up high enough that we could almost see the entire lake and park.

At 9:30 we left for Masai Mara (about a 7 hour drive). On the way we stopped in a town for some of our members to get some more money. I just walked around for a while on my own. I was immediately approached by a group of street vendors. After convincing them that I was not going to purchase anything, they just talked to me for a while. They told me some totally crazy stories about Africa. Most of which are not appropriate for this blog…

As usual we stopped at several shops along the way and I did not buy anything. I was informed by the guys on the street that the guides are given money to stop at specific (overpriced) shops. Also, the road to Masai Mara was very bad (almost like baja).

We arrived at our camp at about 16:30. To everyone’s surprise, the camp is equipped with permanent tents, bathrooms, and hot water.

After cleaning the dust from our safari van we set out on a game drive. We were able to see wildebeest, elephants, lions, and masai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tipiloskerchi for those who might be interested…). At the very end of the drive we even caught a glimpse (tail and arm) of a leopard in a tree. Still, the highlight of this drive was watching the lions sneaking through the bush and looking at a herd of cows in the distance. And, on the way out of the park we had a spectacular sunset!

We returned to camp just after 19:00. I unpacked a few of my things and then headed for dinner. After dinner one of the cooks taught our group a native Kenyan song .

Once again it was an early night and everyone headed to bed somewhere between 21:00 and 21:30.

NOTE: Masai Mara is in southern Kenya. It is connected to the Serengeti, which is located in Tanzania.