August 31st. Up again for 7am and the 5 hour drive to the Masai Mara. The drive times sound long but there's plenty of great scenery and my Sony Walkman kept me happy. The others listened to music or dozed. As the road turned to track, as we neared the Mara, it became a bumpier ride but it was interesting because they've obviously worked on it since last time and what was a bumpy rally drive last time was much more of a tear along a track this time. The other thing that struck me was the rubbish littered by the Masai towns. Someone needs to educate these people.
As you hit the dirt road then the look out for animals starts and we were lucky to see some wildebeest, very lucky as it turned out because the herd had moved on from the area near the lodge and my youngest daughter wouldn't have seen one otherwise, more on that later. Last time we were here we had seen huge herds on the way in and the lack of these showed the herds had moved on too. We did see a few groups of giraffes and some antelope too. We arrived at the lodge, just as fantastic as the memories from 2 years prior, we were given the top floor of one of the lodges and from our balcony had a great view over the river. We got to see elephants and antelope across the far bank. Around the camp we saw mongeese (2 varieties), monkeys, the resident hippos, monitor lizards (look down from the balcony of the bar), many birds and we also got to see the crocodile which nests out the back. Take the time to walk around the camp, you'll see animals and down by the river the aforementioned crocodile which, if you're lucky, may be on its nest. Whilst walking around, one monkey urinated on my daughter, who wasn't sure whether to feel lucky or not! Oh and the other honourable mention goes to the fly which is pictured below. It's the only insect we saw that really concerned me, because it was huge and probably had a bite to match! It landed on our balcony rail and, after getting a picture(!), we retreated. It was a couple of inches long and, as you can see from the photo, broad to match. A monster insect and i have no clue what it actually was. Game drive in the evening confirmed the wildebeest herds were nowhere near. Limited wildlife spotted on this one, but the big trip was next day. Up early on the 1st September for what we knew could be up to 7 hours out spotting wildlife. The length of the trip concerned my youngest daughter and wife who decided to stay at the lodge. They had a good relaxing morning and spotted wildlife, swimming etc. The other three of us went out and what a trip, spotting loads; big crocs, a pool full of hippos (Video), hyenas aplenty (Video), loads of species of antelope, cheetahs, lions, vultures, eagles, monkeys, giraffes, zebras and more. Oh and we found the wildebeest herds! You have to see these herds to believe them, animals as far as the eye can see, they are awesome. The cheetahs were in a group of three, guarding their kill, which they eventually gave up to the waiting flocks of vultures (Video). Walking off right past us (Video). That was good but the two male lions we spotted were by far the most interesting. The first we spotted walking along and a little later we stumbled across a pride. Now the male of this pride was looking the direction of the walking male, who was still a long way distant (out of sight to us). We went back and found the walking lion again (video)who crossed to the side of us. Just up the second male appeared. Were we going to see a fight? They snorted at each other and the second one charged out, only to stop and they nuzzled each other! Unforgetable. Those are the ones you can see in the video and the photos of the two together. Another game drive in the evening, after relaxing for a few hours and lunch back at the lodge. Next morning an early start back to the Jacaranda Hotel and the holiday was almost over. We were a bit concerned that we had about 7 hours to kill at the Jacaranda, but they agreed to let us use the facilities while we waited, which was great, we sat by the pool for hours, only moving off to go and eat. It was actually a really nice, relaxing way to end our venture. Did I say? I'm going back, this is my favourite place on earth! Here you get Masai giraffes. See here for the comparison of giraffe species. The other interesting difference is the ostrich which in Samburu has a blue neck but here has a pink one. Pictures: At and around the lodge:
In the National park:
