The monkeys threw things on our tent last night! Annoying! The wakeup hot chocolate and tea were delivered to our tent at 5:45 am. I didn’t wear my pajama top on the game drive this morning. The Fairmont has terry bathrobes for the guests so Amber and I both showed up dress with our robes over our clothes! It was chilly!!
The major things we have not seen yet are the rhinos, the leopard and the crested crested crane. Chase, Jimmy’s wife, was able to get away from surgery in Tenwek Hospital and joined her husband and children in our van. She kept asking Hunter if she had pictures of the elephants, the gazelles, the zebra…everything. And of course Hunter had lots! The first stop of the van was in front of a tree with a leopard vulture perched on top. Apparently it ‘cleans’ up the carcass when the leopard is finished.
We drove around looking for lions but seeing elephants, zebra, topi, wildebeest, gazelles, and impala. We have only seen the waterbuck twice and there were no cheetahs today. Finally, Wilson heard on the radio and went to the spot. A male lion was sleeping out in the open. We watched a while, he woke up and “posed nicely” for photos, then walked into the bush. Further in was the lioness that we have seen before. We have not been able to get close to her…only seeing her and the three cubs through the bush. This morning they were out playing. They were just fun to watch.
I had told Wilson we needed to see a crested crane. Soon a pair flew over. That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind but it would have to suffice. Our next stop was a Hippo Point. We got out of the van and walked up to the river’s edge. Our vantage point was high above the river so we were overlooking the point where dozens were sunning. We walked further and looked across to see a large crocodile sunning.
Back in the rover for our next adventure! We stopped at a Masai compound. The moran came out to see if we wanted to tour the boma. Chase and Jimmy were interested but their children were not. Amber and I were not but we encouraged the other s to go if they wanted to. We were ok to wait. After all, how often do you have the chance to go inside a Masai home? I went in 2001 and think once is enough but I did go then. They didn’t stay long but were able to take photos. We who waited were not allowed to take any pictures. (I’ve heard that the Masai believe that tourists come, take pictures and sell them to National Geographic or similar magazines. If their pictures are going to be sold, they want part of the money. Journalists have probably done that in the past.)
We went back to the Fairmont, had breakfast, packed, shopped in the gift shop. Amber had been eying a necklace since Friday. It has large cow bone pieces and some orange/yellow beads. When she paid for it, the clerk said the ‘beads’ are yellow AMBER! How wonderful that she was able to get amber. There was one amber pendant that was $300. The yellow amber is not that expensive. I bought the amethyst…I never get tired of it…and you know, it will match everything I own!
We were waiting for our bags to be brought from the tent only to find he had carried them out to the pickup spot. We paid our bill, Kennedy’s bill and after a farewell to Leah, the wonderful receptionist, we were off. We drove the 12 km to the t-road and Kennedy turned right. I thought it should be to the left but he had just come in from Narok so I assumed he was right. We were seeing lots of animals on this road and Amber and I both commented that we had not seen animals as we came in on Friday. Amber saw a crested crane but I didn’t have the camera out. After 45 minutes, Kennedy said “I am starting to question”, meaning he wasn’t sure about the road. We turned around. There was nothing out there. No houses, no traffic, no passersby. I saw a sign for David Livingstone Lodge and said we should go there. And now, the gas gauge is below ¼. It is 61 km to the main road from Fairmont. I am getting a bit concerned. I asked if the lodges sold fuel to independent drivers and he assured me they do. We neared the David Livingstone and stopped where there were three men gathered under a tree. Armed with directions, we headed back to the place just 12 km. from the Fairmont where he had turned right. Along the way we saw more animals and there were now two crested cranes! Kennedy stopped so I could get a picture. We finally located a Masai market where there was a shanty with a sign “filling station”. There was nothing there but they gave us directions to another Masai market. I had some candy so we gave it to the children we saw. It was another 6-8 km. to the next market. We pulled into the station. I said to ask the price so I would know whether to get only enough to get us out of the Mara or to fill up. She said it was 100 /- per liter. That translated into about 35 cents/gallon more than we would have to pay in Narok or Nairobi but she didn’t have any. She forwarded us to a mud/dung structure a few hundred metres away. They had fuel! They siphoned it from an old water cooler tank. There was no pump meter so Kennedy had to watch the gas gauge and estimate when it showed what he thought was 3000/- worth. Children were nearby so I motioned to them and gave them candy. They giggled and ran away. After a few minutes they came back with their hands out. We gave them more and they ran off happy.
Leaving this market, we still had to get out of the Mara. One of the drivers had told Kennedy a ‘short cut’ so after 2 hours of roaming around in the wilderness, we headed out. I took photos of the Masai women doing laundry at the river. They were not happy and were yelling at us! We had left the Fairmont at 12 noon. We finally got to the paved road at 3:30 pm. It was a long “61 kilometres.”
We stopped in Narok for a rest stop and a bit of lunch. The samosas were 100/- each, about double what they should have been but they were big. It was 1650/- for 9 samosas, 3 sodas and 3 waters….$22. Leaving Narok, we went up the escarpment and round the narrow road on the edge of the mountains. I love the view but Amber was not so impressed with the mountain on one side and the dropoff on the other. It is a beautiful but dangerous drive. We arrived in Nairobi by 6 pm. The desk clerk said “have you been on safari?” so we must look rough!
We were happy to have a/c and hot showers after our long afternoon game drive and trek to Nairobi!
(Monday-having trouble uploading photos. Will post them separately. Note that background of the lion is savannah and the cub is in green grass.....they were 20 feet apart! That is the diversity of the Mara!!)
Wow! Amazing photos.
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