Kenya: Masai Mara National Park
A dusty, bumpy drive west from Nairobi, across the Great Rift Valley, brings you to Masai Mara National Park. The jewel in the crown of the impressive Kenyan National Park system, Masai Mara was founded in 1961 and encompasses 580 square miles of rolling grassland, rivers and acacia trees. It also contains a wealth of birds and animals (including the famous “Big Five”: lion, buffalo, elephant, rhino and leopard).
This was the location of our first real game drive, and it was exceptional. We piled into open-topped 4x4s with our Masai guides and headed out.
Our first encounters were with some of the many (many many) types of antelope, and zebra grazing peacefully. A small heard of elephants grazed in the distance. The soundtrack from The Lion King was playing in the background. Actually, that last bit might have just been in my head.
Then some static came over the radio and our guide got excited - cheetahs were on the move. We took off, kicking up dust and bumping over ruts and rocks in the track.
It was so much better than I’d even hoped. Several years ago a litter of 5 male baby cheetahs had been rescued, rehabilitated and released into the park. Now they form a bachelor pack and hunt the savanna together. We saw all 5 of them slinking along through the grass.
I could only get 4 of the 5 in one frame
They were moving fast and we couldn’t stay with them - so fast I actually couldn’t get all 5 of them in the same frame - but we came across them again, as they stalked a zebra across the plains. We waited for a bit, to see if they would really hunt it (I am 100% Team Cheetah, if anyone was wondering), but they seemed to be setting up a long careful ambush and we heard there were lions nearby.
this was a totally different zebra
We found the pride resting under some low bushes - several adult females and their cubs, about 12 in all.
Other sightings included spotted hyenas, buffalo, wildebeest, ostrich and a gorgeously-crested crane.
he’s watching us and a tiny thompson’s Gazelle is watching him
I opted for a balloon ride over the savanna the next morning. The dust makes for rough driving but catches the light to stunning effect at sunrise and sunset. From the air we saw beards of zebra, hyena, warthogs and (at a great distance) a male lion fighting with a pack of hyenas. After our champagne breakfast amid a field of zebras and a quick trip to the loo with the view, our drive back to camp turned into another game drive. Our driver, Sammy, found us the pride of lions that had wrestled a kill away from the hyena pack. The huge male was still gnawing the bones.
We also came across a heard of elephants, including a tiny baby that was still nursing.
If you go: The road to Masai Mara is unpacked, rough and dusty - be prepared for that! However, it is more than worth the effort to get there. Stay as long as you can! Also, the park unexpectedly demanded to see our passports when we arrived for our first game drive. This was a new rule, nobody had their passports so they were all back at camp in the safe, and we had to make a 40-minute round trip jaunt to get them. They didn’t ask for them the second day. Just be aware.
