Lion Feast - Not Your Average Carcass - Masai Mara Safari

(July 21-23) Okay, welcome back to the last safari stories of my trip. I promise.

The second day at Masai Mara was dedicated to a full day of game drives in order to reach the Mara River in hopes of seeing the wilderbeest migration. We had an early breakfast and then departed for the park in our favorite van. The morning was eventful as we encountered a family of lions devouring their early morning wilderbeest kill. Apparently the male and female adult lions had eaten, because the cubs were taking their turn tearing it up and jumping around the carcass. I counted six lion cubs, two females, and one male. Nearby there was another lion family that had finished their meal. After taking a series of pictures and seeing enough blood and gore for a horror film we moved on.



We drove for a long time seeing the usual herds of gazelle, topi, zebra, and giraffe. I truly enjoyed the intermingling of these grazing animals as they shared the fields side-by-side. After a few hours we stopped at one of the four to five extravagant safari lodges located in the park for a bathroom break. It costs $350 per night per person for lodging alone. It was extremely nice, large and well decorated. John and I checked to see if it was Maki’s lodge, but no luck. Soon after the bathroom break we saw a baboon sitting solo on a rock gazing across the plains. It was extremely close, so we got some nice pictures as he turned towards us. John decided it was time for a candy break, so he took out his jelly beans and the baboon started coming straight at me as I sat by the window. The driver told us he could likely smell the treat, so John shoved them away and luckily the baboon stopped. I have never shut a window so quickly before!




As we got closer to the Mara River we saw a huge long line of wilderbeest that had already migrated across the river and were now grazing alongside zebras and waterbuck in the giant Midwest farm-like plains. We then had lunch at the Mara River where we saw hippos and alligators hanging out below in the water and on the shores. John was not done aggravating animals, so he decided to randomly do jumping jacks while facing the hippos down below in the river. The hippos had not moved the full hour we had been there, but suddenly they started getting restless and making noise, so John stopped and so did they. We continued to wait for a bit in hopes of seeing some wilderbeest migrate across the river, but ultimately they did not comply that day. We headed back for another very long drive through the park.


After exiting the park we visited the Masai village to better understand and experience their unique culture and traditions. We listened and watched as the men and women performed separate dances for us. Later we were told that men had numerous wives and families that they would support in separate small homes all next to each other. Also, in order to become a man groups of young men (age 14-20) are sent out on their own for months to bond and reflect on their culture. Then as a group they must kill a male lion using spears. The Masai men then demonstrated how they start a fire using a stick and a small flat board, which was interesting to see and happened relatively quickly. Finally, we divided into pairs and visited a small Masai mud home with one of the men. John and I were paired up and ducked into a small dark home. We were asked to sit by a fire in a very dark room with lots of smoke. Two Masai men talked about the home and answered our questions, which was nice, but it was a bit tight and uncomfortable. They tried to sell John and me necklaces with an animal tooth on them after having us put them on, but we managed to escape souvenir free. The Masai were kind and walked us back to our camp afterwards.



At the end of dinner, in an attempt to quickly squeeze by the group, I managed to catch the back of my pants on a nail and rip them. The three inch rip made sitting down risky business given the location. To make things even more interesting, that night I took a very cold hurried shower in the dark (only option). In doing so I sliced and diced my leg during a quick shave. With blood spurting everywhere you may have thought the next lion kill had taken place in our bathroom. I managed to get things under control eventually and (as always) Ben was extremely nice and asked about my well-being and sanity. As a quick side-note Ben and I headed to the mall in Nairobi the next evening, since I desperately needed those hiking pants repaired for Kilimanjaro. We found a little fabric store, and I almost bought a rather large black butterfly patch to go across the tear, per the fabric store lady’s advice (she’s the expert not me). Ben to the rescue yet again; he continued to press the woman to explain the other black iron-on fabric tape option. Eventually I opted for that and even convinced the woman to iron it on for me due to my sad faces and Kili hike story. People really are kind here, and she bailed me out BIG TIME!

Anyway, the next morning was our last half day at Masai Mara, so the plan was to leave at 6AM in hopes of finding lions hunting and/or encountering cheetahs or leopards. Unfortunately our van would not start. The previous day the driver took it down a very steep hill and across a deep pool of water with large rocks that scraped the bottom loudly and tore some random part off of the bottom of the van. It was a manual, so they pushed the van down a slight hill trying to start it. When this failed, due to a lack of runway, they asked us to help push it back up the hill. John, Ben, and I jumped right in and pushed our hardest with others, but the hill won the battle. We asked about jump starting the van with another vehicle at the camp – no cables existed. Then John suggested they use the other van to tow ours back up the incline to try the clutch popping process again. They finally did this for a bit and eventually got the van started.

We finally left at 7AM and saw the usual animals while enjoying the company of Lisa (Swedish), Shulie (Israeli), and Laena (Kenya) who shared our safari van and camp as well. All-in-all another entertaining safari experience completed with new animal sightings and pictures. I am ready to do and see something new though. Next up, Tanzania and the weeklong Kilimanjaro hike with John and Ben!