Three days to the Masai Mara: On safari: simba, simba, simba!
Our day starts with a motorcycle ride from our WS home to the main road. This is a bumpy ordeal, and Gertrude has gone with us and connects by phone with the guide where to pick us up. Soon, we are on our way to the Masai Mara!
There are just three of us in the safari van. Nichole a science teacher from California and us. So begins the migration of the safari vans! We are not alone. It takes us 5 hours, first descending into the rift valley below sea level, then climbing up and over a very dusty, bumpy road to get to our hotel just outside the park.
The accommodation is a canvas tent on a concrete floor and a canvas door dividing the beds and bathroom. Very basic, but a beautiful setting. We head out late afternoon for the first of three safari drives. John, our driver and guide, turns out to be very effective at finding animals! We end up seeing two lionesses with four cubs on our first drive.
We also get our 4WD safari van stuck in the mud two times which proves John goes all-out trying to get us in the best locations. Nowadays all safari vehicles are equipped with two-way radios and a Land cruiser shows up to pull us out of the muck. These radios makes it much easier to find game, after John finds the lion cubs he gives us as much time as we want, then calls in his find, "simba, simba, simba" and within fifteen minutes there are a dozen vehicles on the scene.
Motorbikes are used for short distance transportation. A 2km ride from our host to Regen costs 50ks, about 0.50 cents.
These guys are chewing happily on the acacia branches. Look at those thorns, we are thinking we are not going to be free of flat tires much longer......
Masai. Twenty years ago Patrick was warned not to take photos of these guys: "They'll kill you for stealing part of their soul". Nowdays upon paying a fee for a "cultural tour" there is no problem.
