The Masai Mara

One of my friends from Chicago joined me here on Sunday for three weeks.  Since we had seen the Disney movie African Cats, we have wanted to visit the Masai Mara where most of the movie was filmed.  So we took off on safari from Sunday until Tuesday.  The drive was pretty terrible; it was a completely unpaved road for the last two and a half hours, and I was beginning to wonder if the safari was going to be worth the drive.  It definitely was!

The road to the Masai Mara

We arrived at our campsite on Sunday evening, and we were very excited with our accommodations (pretty much the opposite of my camping trip the previous night!).  We were staying in a tented campsite with permanent tents, so we had a cement patio, floors, and a bathroom complete with toilet, sink, and shower with hot water right in our tent!  It was quite luxurious :)  After eating a delicious dinner, we headed off to bed to prepare for our early morning on Monday.

Our tent

We spent the entire day on Monday in the Masai Mara, and also Tuesday morning (we were heading into the park as the sun was rising!).  The safari was completely amazing.  I had almost forgotten how incredible it is to see so many animals living in their native habitat.  I can't wait to share this experience with my family when they come to visit in November!!  I think pictures and videos can better describe this experience than words can, but I will mention some of the highlights.  We got to see about 12 lions, including a pack of 8 females sleeping together under a patch of trees.  We also got to see 3 cheetahs, including two who were very active, and 2 "elusive" black rhinos!!  Sadly, however, my camera died halfway through our day on Monday, so I'll have to wait until my friend gets back to the US in October to see the best pictures! :-(

Our first cheetah sighting

A lone elephant on the Mara plain

The Kenya/Tanzania border

The Mara River