AFRICAN SAFARI, MASAI MARA, KENYA - TRAVELOGUE

  

Sathya’s Travelogue

AFRICAN SAFARI, Masai Mara, Kenya

13 August 2018 to 18 August 2018.

When we friends started discussions to go for African Safari, I was not keen.. for 2 reasons; 1. Safety at Africa, and 2. Cost of the tour.

However, Krishnan (who works at Nairobi) insisted that we visit, Kenya, come what may…

Finally, we 4 (me, Siva, Ram and Ponnusamy) decided to fly and explore Kenya.

Initial preparation:

Visa available on arrival. 50 US $.. just fill a form at airport and get it done. No issues..

Take travel insurance.

Yellow fever vaccination is must. Get it done at your home country.

Book tickets yourself. Preferably book a through ticket. Don’t break your journey and book ticket. Because sometimes connecting flight may become an issue. (I booked Chennai to Nairobi through makemytrip.com) Chennai to Mumbai to Nairobi.

Book your tour operator for Kenya throughout your stay. They take care of you well from pickup at airport till dropping back at airport.

Take essential medicines, mosquito repellent or cream, and some snacks with you.

Always carry your stamped passport with you..  wherever you go…

MASAI MARA MIGRATION:

Best period to visit is between July and October.

Over 1 million animals migrate from Tanzania to Kenya during this period. They come to Kenya for food, water, and mating.

 

 

First day

We landed at Nairobi airport in the late evening. Went straight to the hotel. (intercontinental). Very good hotel.

Second day

                                                       

Started early in the morning. Our guide bony (interesting personality) took us to masai mara by road.

Nairobi is as good as any town in INDIA, not much of developments. Bad roads, and poverty visibly seen.

It was a tough drive. Up to Narok the road was tarmac, after that it is kacha…bumpy drive for 2 hours..

Enroute we embarked at a valley, which was beautiful, had a cup of tea. (you can pick up a hat or two here, if u don’t have one.)

After checking into the hotel (AA Lodge, a typical Chinese lodge, cottage type) we started our journey to masai mara reserve….

We entered the gate…. Wow… it is a 1500 Square kilometers forest (don’t imagine tall trees like our jungles, it is a grass forest) …

Seeing animals at their home is an awesome experience.

We first saw giraffe’s.. superb. They are cool animals…no nonsense…

Then we saw group of zebras…. I don’t know who painted them like that.. nice lines… almost similar to every zebra….

It was around 6PM we returned back to lodge, and it is not allowed to be inside the forest after 6pm.

Day 3

Ready by 6.30AM for a tiring trip inside the forest.

 

Bony was there on time, and we started our safari.. we carried lots of water, snacks and cameras. The hotel packed our lunch boxes.

These guides are awesome people,, they know the nook and corner of the forest, and it is amazing to watch them drive the jeep, keeping an eye for locating animals.

Suddenly bony said,, keep quiet guys…. Then he took a left turn and there we saw….

A LION AND LIONESS…. At a distance of few feet…

Awesome… they did not even bother about strangers but continued walking… our guy ponnusamy clicked as many photographs as possible. (he seems to be a good photographer) ….

Our guide informed other tourist about spotting the lion, and within no time, 10 jeeps arrived to this point. (it is a good habit these guides have,, the moment they spot any wild animal they communicate through wireless and others also reach the spot…). I liked this attitude….

We continued our journey inside the forest, and alas…. What are these animals.. first time I am seeing… a bunch of 1000s… they are called wilder beast.. (looks like a cross between a buffalo and horse).. black in color… we saw a group of almost 50000 wilder beasts at one point. Forming a queue of 15 kms……

They migrate from Tanzania to Kenya along with zebras, spend their honeymoon here and go back after 4 months….

Nature at its best… weather was sunny, and no sweating…

We retire below a tree for lunch… (I was praying that I should not become a prey) ….

Our next encounter was with a herd of African elephants… elephants move along with their families.. they don’t mix with other groups…

Suddenly there was a call on wireless that cheetahs are spotted… we rushed there and saw a group of 4 cheetahs.. what a sight… awesome…

On the way we could locate hyena,, an ugly animal.. and most dangerous animal…

Alas,, we spotted cheetah.. treat to watch…

Sunset.. and we enter to one of the tribal village.. we danced with them.. they showed their huts.. what a simple life they live.. do you know that they drink cow blood… they have some unique wedding customs… their value depends on the number of animals they own…

Tiring day.. and we had few drinks and light dinner,,, and to bed…

Day 4.

                                                         

3.00am alarm woke us up.. got ready for the highlight of the trip.. HOT AIR BALOON.

The charge was very high.. 400 US $ per head.. anyway, we had no choice…

On the way inside the forest, we located lions. On the road side… they didn’t bother about headlights…

We reached the spot,, wow.. gigantic hot air balloon…it can accommodate 16 persons plus captain.

Getting into the hot air balloon is an art.. you need to crawl and get into it.. horizontally. Then it lifts up.

Wonderful experience…

Looking at the forest at dawn is superb.. we could see 1000s of animals, from bird’s eye view… marvelous.

After an hour trip, the hot air balloon landed.. OMG horrible it is…

The we had breakfast inside the forest arranged by the hot air balloon guys,,, as compliment.. with wine… eating breakfast inside the forest is a real nice experience…

Then we moved out of the forest and the driver took us another round inside the forest… we located many animals this time, including cheetah…

Only thing we missed of the BIG 5 is Rhino… bad luck.

Later we packed and started for our next destination… Lake Naivasha. Beautiful lake, full of HIPPOs

We reached late evening.. and immediately went for boat ride…

Wow.. hippopotamus… in bunches… real thrilling experience….

We checked into the hotel.. and slept….

Day 5.

We started back to Nairobi…

We reached the elephant orphanage .. yes.. its an orphanage for elephants.. wonderful place to visit..

You see, 10 months old, 1 year old, elephants fed milk with feeding bottles…

Then we moved to the fantastic restaurant …………… for lunch…

OMG, what a restaurant.. we ate whatever we like here.. full range of non-veg…..

After that we checked into the hotel… started packing things….

Day 6

Reached airport in the morning.. boarded the flight for Mumbai…

Memorable trip comes to an end……

Thanks to Siva, Ram, Ponnusamy, and Krishnan for the trip and we all enjoyed thoroughly..

 

Vamanan Sathyamurthy

vsathyamurthy@gmail.com

You Tube channel - Sathyamurthy Vaman