What I learned from my second ever safari in Masai Mara was that the amount of the animals you see depends on luck and on how good your driver is. More than a driver he has to be a spotter who can drive.
We went to Masai Mara with Monkey Adventures. They have offices both in Tanzania and Kenya. Apart from them being late for the pick up at the airport in Nairobi everything else was smooth. Sometimes even more than necessary. Our driver Alex was a living example of the pole pole (slowly slowly) philisophy which is one of the pillars of Africa culture apparently. Interestingly enough it took us 8 hours to reach the park, after multiple stops for any kind of a reason – wc, food, fuel, tyre check, water, ecc. On the contrary, on the way back, when we had a flight to catch, we covered the same distance in just 5 hours. In a hindsight, if I had to redo the safari I would definitely choose to land somewhere closer to the park, there are a few airports around it that will save you hours on poorly maintained or inexisten roads and avoid a high risk of frontal collision with another vehicle.
The safari itself was an incredible experience. Masai Mara is a land of pure amazement with its mix of hundreds of fascinating animals, raw nature and blue skies. I thought that after seeing the lions our mission was accomplished and we could tick off the safaris from our future to-do list. But, on the opposite, it’s an addictive pleasure. You always want to see more and more. Also because it’s difficult to spend more than a few days there, at least for me. Driving all day long from sunrise to sunset on extremely bumpy “roads” could be a bit tiring even for the strongest soul (like me for example).
I was surprised by the traffic there was in some places. Everyone is eager to see the lion, cheetah and leopard so when the first car spots any of them all the rest come to join the party too. We were informed that there was a leopard sleeping on a tree so we drove for around 30 minutes to reach it. You can get an idea of all the cars in one of the photos below. All we managed to see was it’s tail. Better than nothing I suppose.
Something that we learned is that the animals are most active very early in the morning and after sunset. Our driver knew that too but he would start the day around 7:15am. At first I thought that this was fine but then, after two days in our camp, I noticed that we were always the last ones to leave and the first ones to come back. I would suggest to anyone going on a safari to check the reviews of the drivers and ask for a specific one. This really can be a game changer.
Without further ado here are some pictures from an unforgettable two days in Masai Mara.
