‘Lions and tigers and bears, oh my…’ Safari!!

The title is a quote from the musical, ‘The Wizard of Oz’, and isn’t exactly accurate, but I’m stagey and always relish an opportunity to quote a musical.

Amazing daughter came back to Nairobi with me for a short break. She finished her A’ level exams just before the anniversary party and deserved a holiday before starting her summer job (she's in a summer production by the National Youth Theatre of GB and will be in London all summer). So as a treat for both of us, I had booked us on safari in the Maasai Mara - one more thing on my bucket list.

We stayed at a Little Governors camp (http://www.governorscamp.com/property-descriptions/governors-camps-masai-mara/little-governors-camp) which I am pleased to report was wonderful!  The camp consists of 17 tents with no fences or any barrier from the animals. Getting there was an adventure in itself; we were flown in tiny 12-seater plane, with just one other passenger and the pilot. I sat right behind the pilot and the safety announcement was 'fasten your seat belts, the emergency exit is the door you came in through, the flight will be just over 1 hour with one stop at Lake Naivasha'. That was it and we were off! Refreshments consisted of some mints passed round by the pilot.

I should have been terrified in that cold unpressurised rickety little plane but it flew fairly low and I was captivated by the beautiful topography. Kenya from the air is beautiful. From the Ngong Hills (shaped like a knuckle and said to have been formed by a giant holding on to the earth); to the rolling plains with herds of zebra, and the breath-taking lake Naivasha (a freshwater lake North West of Nairobi, that’s part of the Great Rift Valley). I was so busy admiring the view that I forgot to be afraid. That state of blissful ignorance lasted until we made our first landing at Lake Naivasha on a tiny strip of grass masquerading as an airstrip! I think that experience knocked a few days off my expected lifespan! 

We picked up two more passengers (honeymooners, I thought) and in no time our airborne reliant robin was up again and heading towards the river Mara. This time we could see herds of buffalo, elephants, and Maasai villages in their typical circular formation. In a shorty while, we were landing on a slightly higher grade airstrip (this one was clearly demarcated red earth but still un-tarred).

We were met at the airstrip by Collins, our guide for our stay and drove 20 minutes to the Mara River which we crossed in a small boat, pulled along by a very friendly boatman, who pointed out hippos wallowing in the water and crocodiles basking in the sun pretending to be rocks. Sadly the expected Wildebeest migration had not yet started so we missed the spectacle of seeing the migrating wildebeest crossing the Mara River under attack from waiting crocodiles!

Those who know me well will know that I like my creature comforts, so I'm pleased to report that the tents in Little Governors Camp are wonderful! We had ensuite washroom facilities (with showers and flushing loos) and lovely comfy beds – no sleeping bags in sight! I can’t recommend the camp highly enough; the staff were wonderful, the food was lovely - three course lunch and dinner; hot and cold buffet breakfast. Meals were served on tables facing the Mara River within view of hippos, waterbuck and elephants and surrounded by wandering groups of warthogs and mongooses (or should that be Mongeese?). Our tent steward Stanley was wonderfully attentive; the barman Isah found me a decent bottle of Merlot, and Joseph the waiter made sure the chef cooked my eggs just right.

We went on a number of safari drives and saw everything (except Leopards):

• So many majestic Elephants (we love elephants)
• Herds of aggressive looking buffalo (they stink!),
• A lone black rhino (rare sighting, only 43 left in the Mara),
• A pride of lions (one faction of the group filmed for the BBC Big Cat Diaries; did I forget to mention that this is where that documentary was made?)
• A cheetah family (I like them, sleek and graceful!)
• Hippopotamuses (or should that be hippopotami?)
• Crocodiles (lying in wait by the riverbank; (I don’t like them …)
• Giraffes, zebras, gazelles, a few early wildebeest, warthogs, mongeese (I've decided on mongeese over mongooses), and so many more.

However, the most breath-taking experience was watching the sunset over the Maasai Mara – nature at its finest.

We went on a visit to a Maasai village (you didn’t think Wanjiku would fail to visit her people, did you?). We were met by Alex, another good looking Maasai young man who was our guide. Alex looked remarkably like my cousin (note to self: ask Uncle if he spent any time in the Maasai Mara about 20 + years ago, he might have left something behind …). We danced with the women; bought handmade jewellery and blankets, judged the warriors jumping competition (those young men sure can jump!), and met an old lady who was over 100 years old! (The Maasai are very long lived; they thrive on a diet of milk, blood and meat, no vegetables or cereal!).

On our last night, I woke up in the early hours to see a mama Hippo with her baby right next to our tent and an elephant stroll right past our veranda! As it was my birthday, I have decided to believe the parade was arranged especially for me!

We returned to Nairobi via the same Reliant Robin aircraft and amazing daughter returned to the UK the next day.

Our visit to the Maasai Mara, one of the must-dos on my bucket list, was everything I had hoped for and so much more. If I can figure out how to add pictures to this blog I will upload a few later

Next, back to work; back to reality