OMG!!! Not even sure how to describe the past few days in this land of “Hakina matata” …no worries. I’ll just start with a one word summary… FANTASTIC!!!

This area, the Mara Mara, is home to the Great Migration…the annual crossing of the river from Tanzania to Kenya by an estimated 1.2 million Wildebeest, and countless Grand Gazelles and Zebras each year in June. We did a hot air balloon ride thinking we would see the huge herds but it was cut short as the wind picked up, and for our safety, we landed early. Disappointed, we enjoyed a great Champaign breakfast in the “bush” . Determined to see the herds we were promised, we continued to the river in landcruisers and were thrilled to see more animals than ever imaginable. We were constantly surrounded by thousands of animals, including elephants, Cape buffalos, gazelles, etc. We watched a pair of lions mating…they do it every 15 minutes!!! See below for more details😜

Our camp was named after Karen Blixen whom the book and movie Out Of Africa was written based on her life and memories of her 17 years in Africa as a coffee plantation owner back in the early 1900s…a life changing experience as she came to know and live the Masara people. There are about 25 glamping tents next to the river …which is FULL of hippos …you can sit by the rivers and see hippos and elephants while having your cocktail or breakfast. BUT definitely no wandering from your tent after dark without a camp Host as an escort. The rushing water cascading over the rocks lures you to sleep… and the roar of the hippos outside your tent wakes you up 🥹.

Our local village adventure was filled with excitement as we all danced and chanted with members of the Maasai tribe. … especially when Sara was learning to start a fire with a stick and sent it flying thru the air to burn the chief’s hand. Their customs (which still exist but not as common in the last 20 years) include….
✔️Arraigned marriages …diaries are given to the brides father which includes 15 or so cattle, money, and honey
✔️When a baby cries non-stop, they cut a slit under each eye to put herbs in and this stops the crying.
✔️They cut out the 2 middle bottom teeth without anaesthetics of males around 8 years old to teach them to deal with pain. They are not supposed to cry. Then they have a big ceremony to Circumcise (without anaesthetics) the young males around 15 -18 years old and the can’t cry or they are shamed and sometimes beaten.

We were treated to a Bush dinner one evening at the end of a dame drive, complete with a camp fire and accompanied by the local warriors dancing around our table. The monotone chanting is infectious. There was a guard with a spot light to chase away the hyenas that kept circling our jeeps and wanting our delicious food. Somewhat scary when you needed to “go pick the flowers” (or as we say in Texas- go see a man about a horse).

Game drives- We did numerous game drives inside the conservatory (land leased to by the Maasai tribe to different camps) where you can go off-roading… if you can handle the bumpy (I’m meaning brain shaking) terrain. I guess one might say our most “memorable” experience was when we followed a pride of lions for quite awhile and then saw one separate from the group and go sit up on a hill gazing the horizon. Radio chatter got loud among our guides and we realized in the distance they could see a cow that had been left behind and since cows are sacred to the Maasai people, they were trying to figure out how to save it before the lion saw it. TOO LATE! The lion took off running across the fields and we arrived just in time to see him take down the cow by the neck. I won’t get into the gory details, but it confirmed survival if the fittest for sure. Mother Nature has her way of balancing the universe.

We SAW 3 of the BIG FIVE….

🦬Cape buffalo
Males have massive horns. 🦁 live 40 years… pregnant 9 months

🦁Lion – group of lions is called a pride, males try to kill cubs of other prides; they go 2-3 days without food; they like to eat zebras, wildebeest, and PEOPLE!!!😫
They Mate every 15 min for a week to make sure she has conceived. Gestation is ONLY 3 months…producing 2-4 cubs. We were really lucky (as anyone who knows me can relate) to watch a pair of lions mating…really cool experience. We also sat and watched a pair of lions with 2 baby cubs playing.

🐘Elephants stay together in a clan, males like solitary and only come in when mating,….males have thick tusks and rounded head…females are more flat headed and thinner tusks, they flap their ears to cool themselves….Eat 300 kg a day -spend 16 hours a day grazing
We saw one without a tail…born that way

Fastest animals ….Cheetahs, gazelles, then ostriches

Cheetahs have black marks between their eyes and are day animals vs leopards being nocturnal. Also cheetahs have single spots…leopards has rings around the spots
Cheetahs eyes appear orange because of the reflections. They love to eat the small Thompson gazelles.

Gazelles wag their tails constantly which is a signal to their young to follow.

Ostrich… males are black & females are brown …. their eyes bigger than their brain… they are polygamist.. the male sits on the eggs during the day and the female at night… it takes 13 weeks for them to hatch.

Lots of other animals to admire….

🦓Zebras…. Zebras are white with black stripes – belly is white
There are 2 types…the Common zebra found here and the Grivey found in in the north. There’s a difference in their stripes.

Topi – found in Mara Mara & Serengeti….have Blue patch on their side distinguishing them from other types of antelope…born brown and change their colors at about 8 months

Black jackels travel in pairs…babies are hid in the grass as mothers hunt for food…favorite food is Thompson gazelles

Spotted hyena – eat their own pups if stillborn or deceased (like from a snake bite)

Warthog – a group is called a sounder of pumas

Crocodile – can go up to six months without food …. Usually Wait on the wildebeest to cross the river during the Great Migration…also hunt baby hippos…LIVE FOR 300 years!!!!

Hippos – most dangerous animal…can weigh 3 tons … a Group is called a School and each school has a dominant male. They live for 25-30 years… 13 month gestation period.