Leleshwa Camp Masai Mara National Reserve

... to get it off.

The drive back was fairly quiet as most people were tired and dosed off, until we came across an elephant crossing the road with her calf. She stopped right by the road plucking leaves off a shrub, allowing us to take some great photos. It’s amazing to see how unperturbed the animals seem to be by the vehicles and so long as you keep quiet they don’t seem to mind us.

Our last stop was for a silver ...

... we were up and on our way to the crater by 6am. We stopped at the top for some photos before descending down into it. There were three 4x4s. Alan and I were in the bigger one sharing with four others while there were five in each of the other vehicles. The view was spectacular and we were very excited about the day ahead. We spent the whole morning driving around the crater and we were rewarded with sightings of lions, warthogs, elephants, hippos, buffalos, zebras, gazelles, impala ...

... but through binoculars you realise they are all wildebeest or zebra with a few elephants and giraffe thrown in for good measure. Just incredible. Big Pete knew just where to try for the river crossings. The last place we went to we found group of wildebeest who were heading to the river. They were being called across by others but for some reason they decided to head back up the bank. Apparently they can do this for hours before actually making the crossing but we had ...

... to call it an evening at 1600 and headed back to the lodge. Again radio transmission informed us of a black rhino north of Keekorok but we were unlucky. Enroute saw a reed buck. Reached the hotel showered and ate dinner and retired for the night at 2025 hrs. At about 2045 hrs the lodge had a Masai dance performance on their terrace but as the rest were sleeping and I was typing out this travel diary we skipped it.

... off to a great start. We saw Giraffe, Zebra, Elephant, and a huge old male lion within feet of our van. It's hard to describe, but it felt like we stepped back in time a few thousand years, when animals simply roamed free. Like a true version of Jurassic Park We spent the entire next day driving around the reserve, seeing loads of wildlife. At one point, a van in front of us blew a tire and had to change it in the ...

... is needed. I haven't yet been able to use the bathroom at Imani, and I cant really imagine having to do so in this state. The one disappointment of this weekend - that we weren't able to find Marilyn and George! We were looking for their hotel's cars everywhere, and I had tried calling their game lodge earlier and couldn't get through - it was on radio contact only. I cant wait to hear their stories of Africa, and compare pictures!! One last note ...

... week trip in Africa Ellie - from near Crewe and another on a pre-uni adventure. Had spent a month in Mombassa volunteering at an orphanage Rebecca - from London on a 4 week adventure in Africa before heading back to the UK then off to tour the US for 6 weeks Anita - our other Aussie The next morning we set off on 6am game drive and at first we weren't seeing much until we turned off the main track following the lead van past a sign for Simba Lodge. We learned ...

Day 3 started with a bang! As we headed out from the lodge, we turned left instead of right and headed up into the foothills, rather than out onto the savannah. After about 15 minutes bumping through the trees we arrived at the cross-roads of a couple of small tracks and saw a couple of guys in fatigues sitting on empty ammo boxes. Needless to say, we were a little puzzled - and even more so when our driver, Gerald ...

... animals, head to Chobe National Park in Botswana. The Maasai live in and around the park and it was these red-clothed tribespeople and their cattle I watched become more distant as we left our campgrounds this morning. For the first time, we have left a section of Kenya we will not return to on this trip. And this will be our last return to Machakos. I looked longer into the faces we passed since I won't again see the young girl with her cows ...

... heeft hij ook nog steeds en gebruikt hij als vliegenmepper.


Wat ik ook wel apart vond, is dat de Maasai hun doden niet begraven, maar
in het veld leggen voor de hyena's. Op die manier leeft de geest nog voort
in de hyena. Dus hij vond het wel moeilijk om te zien toen we een dode
hyena tegenkwamen die door gieren werd opgevreten (stinken joh!!). Hij
zei: nu vliegen er wat Maasai geesten in de lucht.