Kenya Honeymoon 2007: Maasai Mara
At the Wilson Airport, we witnessed some of the worst fashion faux pas we had ever seen. Particularly atrocious was the woman pictured above who combined a leopard print coat, gold belt, leopard print shoes and gold shiny bag with...a pith helmet! After a short flight, we had escaped the beasts of tourist fashion and were began a new stage of adventure on the Maasai Mara. In our very first drive, we were just a few minutes away from the dirt airstrip where our plane landed when our guide pulled over and said, "Look -- lions!" And there were three lions asleep in the grass practically next to our Land Rover. They were not in the least disturbed or even interested in our presence.
Over the next four days, we saw some of the most amazing, beautiful, startling wildlife that Africa has to offer. One afternoon we spent forty five minutes watching a trio of cheetahs socialize, nap and stretch at very close range. We were able to see a mother lion with three small cubs in a dense grove of trees. The mother lion was quite protective of the curious cubs who mewed like small kittens. We also drove into the midst of a large herd of about thirty elephants which ranged in age from a wizened matriarch to a baby elephant which was just a few months old. One teenage elephant attempted to assert his dominance by trumpeting and charging towards our Land Rover.
We stayed at Basecamp Mara which was a lovely eco-lodge on the edge of the game park. We were lucky to have interesting and fun traveling companions in Beth, Heather and Peritu with whom we shared meals, game drives and stories. We were also fortunate to have two wonderful and knowledgeable Maasai guides -- Benjamin and Tonkei. The lodge was extremely committed to environmental principles and sustainable development. All of our waste and water was recycled, our food was cooked in solar heaters and our electricity was entirely generated by the sun.
Our tent bordered a river and we had our very own crocodile living in our backyard. We enjoyed resting in the hammock, watching the giraffe graze across the river from us, reading and playing the guitar. The wildlife of the savannah was never far from us -- we fell asleep to the sound of leopards and baboons at night and we even found a baby green mamba snake and an aggressive monitor lizard on the grounds of the lodge!
One of the most spectacular sights we saw on the Mara was a lioness feasting on a African buffalo that the pride had killed. It was absolutely incredible to be so close that we could actually hear her crunching the bones and tearing the skin! The smell was decidedly less amazing... And of course, we were able to enjoy the magical sunset over the expansive Mara every evening!
