Safari day in Masai Mara

Safari day in Masai Mara
Sunrise as we were driving away from Serena Safari Lodge

Saturday was our only full-day safari of this trip. The other safaris we have planned will be no more than a few hours at a time, but this time we needed to go a long distance to where we could see lions and cheetahs, so we brought box lunches and lots of water, and were out for 11 hours.

Hunting Lions

The first hour of our safari was about getting to a spot far across the reserve where we could see some lions. We drove past some amazing sights (for example, dozens of baboons sitting on rocks above the Mara River in the first rays of sunshine, or an acacia tree on a high ridge surrounded by elephants and adorned with colorful birds), but our guide was rushing to get us to the place where he had been told there were two lionesses with five cubs out where we could see them. So we just kept going on the bumpy roads until we got to our destination.

I have a pretty strong sense of direction, and have been aware of where we were within the nature reserve up to this point, but I was totally lost when we got to the lions.

The long-awaited sighting of the two lionesses and their cubs. Unfortunately it was just a brief glimpse before they headed into the bushes and disappeared.

Other Wildlife

We then spent an hour or two driving around the area where lions and cheetahs are know to hang out. There is so much wildlife here, and the guides know how to read the way it moves around. In some cases they know there can't be any big cats around because the animals they prey on seem relaxed, and in other cases they know there must be big cats around because of the specific animals that have left an area.

Our guide talked to several other guides while we were watching the cheetahs, and then he and a couple of his friends led a group into an area where they thought they could find more lions. Eventually we did.

The guides all speak fluent English (as well as other languages - our guide Will speaks fluent German and Dutch, too), but they always speak in Swahili when they discuss where animals have been spotted. They don't want to get tourists excited about possibilities that may not materialize. In a similar vein, they don't actually use the Swahili words for the animals, because some tourists will know, for example, that "simba" means they're discussing lions. So they have code words - a hippo is a "pumpkin," a male lion is "bighead," and so on. And the code word for a group of males without any females present is a "Taliban." 😄

Willie and another guide, discussing animal locations.
We stopped for Willie to take a group photo. We're with Willie and in this Land Cruiser all week long, and it's just us, so we can be spontaneous about our plans when we want to be.

Vantage Points

The cheetahs aren't the only ones that like to be on high spots with long views of the surrounding area. They prey animals do that, too, to watch for predators.

A kongoni standing on a termite mound, studying a man from Butte, Montana.

African Buffalos

We slowly drove into a big herd of buffalos to get some closeup views. They didn't seem to mind our presence, but the big males stared at us. Willie said that if we were to step out of the vehicle, they would probably immediately charge. Buffalos are the most dangerous animal in this area, because they are usually aggressive with humans. By contrast, the big cats tend to ignore humans in most cases.

Lunch under an acacia tree

Willie drove us around for a while to find a spot to have our lunch. He wanted a spot where we have a good view of surrounding areas (for obvious reasons), and we ended up sharing the top of a hill with a herd of topis and a few ostrich, who were likely up there for the same reason we were – to have a few of any big cats that might approach. It was nice to have guard animals stationed on the rocks nearby. As long as they weren't concerned, neither were we.

Over lunch, Willie told us a bit more about how the guides communicate about animals they've spotted. They have nicknames for certain spots in the reserve, and he told us the story of a tourist whose Mitsubishi vehicle got stuck in a spot for several hours, and so now all the guides know that spot as "Mitsubishi." We laughed and said it would be cool if we got stuck and could have a spot named after Marsha.

NOTE: in the study of storytelling, this conversation is what's known as foreshadowing.

The Maasai people make wine from the fruit of this tree. (I don't recall its name.)

Marsha's Spot

After that, we started the hour drive back to our hotel. But in a low area near Lookout Hill, we ran into a little problem: we got stuck in the mud!

We spent the next 45 minutes trying a variety of things, but none of it worked. First Megan, Rhonda, and I stood on the right running board to try to get some traction. Then we tried pushing from behind, but just got sprayed with mud. We found a big stick, and Willie hacked it in half with his machete, but we couldn't get the tires to hold on it.

Eventually another vehicle showed up, and after a few attempts he was able to pull our Land Cruiser out. We then headed back to the hotel, all of us covered in mud.