The Beautiful Maasai Mara

Wow, so much to say about our last few weeks! We had a great time with my parents and were able to cram a lot of events and visiting into our 2 ½ weeks with them! It was so nice to be able to sit in the same room and talk and laugh, and also to be able to experience fun things together. It’s amazing how easy it is to take quality time together for granted until it’s not an option anymore! It really was such a fun thing for us to have family here again. There were definitely a few highlights of their time here, so I will elaborate on those.

We all splurged a little, and went on a safari to the Maasai Mara for the weekend! Trevor and I hadn’t been there since our trip to Kenya in 2006, and Mom and Dad had never been on a safari of any kind, so it was well worth it! We hired a safari company to pick us up at our house, drive us there, and also do the game drives for us. Our driver, Jackson, was here at 6:30 am Friday morning, and off we went!
It was Mom and Dad’s first trip out of Nairobi, so they got to see The Great Rift Valley and other parts of the beautiful Kenyan countryside as we drove about five hours to get to our Lodge. We stayed at the Sarova Mara, which is a tented camp in the Maasai Mara…and if by the word tented you think small tent, no lights, outhouses, camping…think again! These are luxury tents, with running water and flushing toilets! The coolest surprise was when we got there and got treated like royalty with hot moist cloths to wipe our dusty hands and faces after the drive, and were given fresh passion juice to drink…they said they were very happy to inform us that they upgraded us to the Club Tents!!! It was great! Two men carried all our bags and we followed them, past the swimming pool, past beautiful groomed trees and shrubs, on a bridge over a small lake, past the tents we thought we were going to be staying in, and straight into the doors of our amazing tents with a gorgeous view of the Mara!! Oh wow!! It was incredible! It was like staying in the best room in a fancy hotel, except here, we look out the windows and see trees and birds, and we walk out of our doors and see the endless Maasai Mara!

So, after exploring our tents and freshening up, we went for lunch, which was the first of many delicious meals there, and then started our first game drive at 4:00 pm.

We are in our rainy season here in Kenya, which is wonderful…except when you’re talking about going on a safari, then it can be not-so-wonderful! Jackson (our driver) said a few times “let’s just hope for the best” when talking about what animals we were going to see. If it’s just so rainy, then the animals don’t come out much, it can be hard to find them, and visibility is poor. We were feeling a little worried…coming all this way and paying all this money, and mom and dad’s only safari, and then not seeing very much and just hoping for the best??? But we didn’t say anything to them and just prayed! :o)

Our first game drive was incredible…so many animals were out! Zebras, Cape buffalo, lots of elephants (and a few baby elephants!!!), a lion, a leopard (!!) lying in a tree, tons of cools birds, more and more and more elephants…and we ended the game drive with a view of the sun setting on the African landscape. Perfect. We came back in time to have supper, and talk about our awesome first day!
The next morning started early, with a game drive at 6:30 am, after a cup of hot chai. To be out in the middle of the Maasai Mara as it’s waking up is amazing. The sun rising, sending a fiery glow on all the trees and animals, feeling the cool air on your face, and just being able to enjoy God’s wonderful creation is something that can hardly be explained. We love Africa.
Giraffes were the highlight of our morning. We saw a mama giraffe with her baby…so cool! Along with that we saw ostriches, hyenas (so funny-looking!!), all kinds of deer, buffalo, and more giraffes!
We returned from our morning game drive in time for a scrumptious breakfast, and some time in the sun to warm up!! We had a relaxing afternoon, time to explore the lodge grounds, time to sleep, and time just to hang out.

Our evening game drive also held some exciting promises for us…we saw all of the animals we’d already seen, plus warthog after warthog, after warthog!! What interesting creatures…have you seen them run before?? Their tails go straight up like an antenna…it’s hilarious!! But the best part about this Saturday evening game drive was seeing a whole pride of lions!! Unreal! They were eating a zebra in the bush, and we got to see the male lion fighting with another lion…it was awesome! After that we also saw hippos in a river, and over forty baboons! Add to that another captivating African sunset, and you have a pretty perfect day!

Sunday morning. Our last morning game drive before we had to start the drive back to Nairobi. We saw a few of the animals that we had seen the previous game drives, but the best part was seeing three cheetahs relaxing in the bush!
The scary saying of “let’s just hope for the best”, turned into “we saw ALL the animals except the rhino!!” Our weather was absolutely perfect, our days were filled with exciting things, we saw God’s magnificent creation up-close and personal…what a weekend!! It was as close to perfect as you can get!

The Maasai Mara…you just have to experience it!