JAMBO MASAI MARA

This blog was in the making for God knows how long, but I have now finally managed to put my experience into words, although these words really fall short in describing the expansive gorgeousness that this holiday was all about!

The trip began on Aug 14, 2019, at Wilson Airport – Nairobi. We boarded this tiny aircraft that managed to fit in 9 people excluding the pilots, 7 out of 9 being our travel party including myself, the husband Venky, BFF Rashmi, her husband Nikhil, the guy who almost threatened to beat up my husband Meryl (a dear college friend), his wife Meryl and his mother Cecilia! It felt rather nice to have a mom on board, even though all of us were touching/had crossed our thirties, just some adult supervision, I guess.

After a quick 45 mins in air, we reached the Musiara airstrip, bang in the middle of the never-ending plains of Masai Mara! The tiny aircraft made its way on the landing strip and almost ejected us and our luggage. We got off and saw a sight that none of us had even dreamt of, just the vast grand Savannah with animals casually grazing everywhere. I am still unsure of the right words to describe it, but it did not seem real, it seemed like we were in a VR experience somewhere, but we weren’t, it was as real as it could get. Millions and millions of wildebeests, zebras, birds and animals that I hadn’t even seen on National Geographic were all around us. Before we could process this sight, our dear guide and friend from our camp, Cole received us at the airstrip. He loaded our luggage into the open top, windowless Land Rover and straight away began our Game Drive!

5 minutes into the drive, we spotted vultures doing what they do best – scavenging. The sight of those vultures made me squeal like a mouse and made my friend Meryl scream like a child in a candy store. We were quickly made aware of our decibels and politely asked to shut up and sit down. Cole moved closer to them, and we saw this majestic lioness guarding the carcass of a wildebeest as her lazy husband, Mr. Lion ate away in peace. So, Cole told us something funny and rather relatable; the lioness is usually the one hunting for food and the one eating only after the lion, his brother, his uncle and all their children are fed for the day, much like our desi moms who even worry about the neighbour’s dinner before themselves. We spent the next 45 minutes gawking at all the sights and finally reached our camp.

MARA OLAPA – a fenceless camp somewhere in the middle of 370, 000 acres of this wild, wild Savannah; of course that’s where we chose to stay! Did I mention fenceless? Yes. That. The area where the camp is located is called Kaboso, after the famous and elusive leopard of that part of Mara. We were greeted by some adorable looking zebras that lurked around right outside the tents. We’d booked 3 out of the 6 luxurious tents the camp had to offer, equipped with hot showers, fully functioning toilets, massive beds that were always kept ready for the night with hot-water bags to warm it up & make it feel like a cozy hug from mamma bear, and a canvas wall separating us from the wildlife outside.

We checked in and got ready for our first official Game Drive. A quick lunch later, we were on our way. We spent the next 2 hours seeing multiple prides of lions, herds of elephants, giraffes, gazelles, antelopes, jackals, vultures, wildebeests, zebras, cheetahs, cranes, wild hogs, water buffalos, hyenas, mongoose and if I am not mistaken hares, thanks to our friend, Nikhil’s impeccable spotting abilities! We obviously couldn’t get enough of what we saw, but it was getting dark, and Cole kept joking about losing our way and asking us if we had any clue of how to get back. I clearly didn’t sense the humour in his tone and started my prayers, I did not wish to be dinner for some big cat on the prowl.

We then cleaned up for the evening and whistled to call our Masai guard to escort us to the dining area, yes, we had to do that because we were in a fenceless camp. No matter how many times I say it, I still can’t get around the fact that we managed that stay rather comfortably, until we found out what that bird sound we heard every night from right outside our camp was. More about it as you read on!

Moving on, you wouldn’t believe the spread we had for dinner. Hot, vegetarian comfort food, cooked only for us, literally in the middle of nowhere; the Masai hospitality was extraordinary! We had to wrap up quickly because our game drives began at 5 am, so we each took our Masai guards and scuttled back to our rooms for the night.

05:00 AM August 15, 2019, we all got ready, had a cup of coffee and made our way to the open top, open window Land Rover. We basically just managed to get out of the camp’s vicinity and saw a sight that words cannot describe, even a photograph cannot do it any justice, but I tried. What played in all our minds was the opening track of Lion King – Circle of Life.

The sun was rising, and the horizon was dotted with millions and millions of wildebeests getting ready for their great migration – the exact reason we were in Masai Mara was to see this unbelievable natural phenomenon. They all filled up their tummies and almost on cue started moving, we could literally feel the ground beneath shaking like a very powerful earthquake, they started moving in unison, if even one of them slowed down, stopped, or changed his pace, there would’ve been a stampede. Just then, something alerted them, the birds or the bees, and they almost immediately stopped. We circled the area a couple of times and then moved on.

It was to be the most unforgettable day: we just didn’t know it yet. Obviously brimming with excitement, we went on to spot ostriches and other birds, we made our way to the watering hole and saw all the animals chilling together – elephants, hippos, giraffes, water buffaloes, secretary bird, and so, so many other animals and birds just having a drink and making merry.

And just before all our stomachs started making noises from the lack of breakfast, we spotted a rather large number of safari jeeps gathered at one spot. We quickly found a spot to park and participate. There was a gazelle casually grazing and prancing around. And hiding among the tall bushes were three cheetahs calculating their moves to hunt down that petite gazelle. We waited there for over an hour, but no attempts were made. It almost seemed like the cheetahs made some inside jokes about fooling so many people into believing that they were setting up for a kill while nonchalantly chewing on some grass. We decided that it was time for us to eat, whether the cheetahs wanted to or not, so we went for our Bush Breakfast! What a fun experience, picnic baskets filled with sandwiches, yogurt, coffee and cookies! Cole set up the whole thing and we took a good 45 minutes to finish up. Once done, we made our way back to the cheetahs, and unluckily for us, they indeed went for the kill while we were away and were enjoying their sumptuous breakfast, piece by piece!

Next up, we heard something on the radio that we couldn’t decipher, but good ‘ol Cole sped up and followed lead to our next exciting moment of the day. A regal looking leopard, not Kaboso, was walking up and down the muddy path. He seemed rather angry with so many safari enthusiasts clicking pictures, surrounding him, and blocking his path. He found a narrow escape and made his way through and vanished behind the bushes.

We went back to the camp for lunch. We all grabbed a quick bite, rested for a bit and quickly headed back to continue our safari!

We first saw a pride of lions by a rock, the lion and the lioness enjoyed some alone time while the kids played elsewhere. “Can you feel the love tonight” played in all our minds, Meryl even sang it out loud. When people say that they felt close to nature, I always wondered what that meant, but this was the day I finally understood what it meant.

We then went to the Mara River, spotted crocodiles & hippos swimming happily as zebras and wildebeests crossed over nervously. We hoped and prayed for a dramatic crocodile kill, but it never happened! We just stayed there for a bit, taking in the views, the sunset and the calm. But sunsets almost always mean that we need to find our way back as soon as possible. We spun around and went to the other side of the river. We first heard it – something that can only be compared to a very loud drumroll, it kept coming closer and closer and closer and then we saw it. A massive herd of wildebeests were approaching us, we moved out of their way and cleared their path to the river. This was it, a river crossing. Their crossing of the Mara River was the climax of this odyssey, a spectacle filled with drama, death and endeavour and pretty much the reason why we chose this time of the year to visit Kenya. THIS would have taken this day a few notches up than it already was, and it happened, although partially. A big group crossed the river and some of them were left behind. I wonder what stopped them this time, the setting sun, too many tourists or a message from the birds, something did.

There was no time to waste now, we had to drive back. But could this day get any better? Yes, it could. While we were making our way back, it got dark. By now I had caught on to Cole’s habit of joking about losing our way and not making it to the camp. We were going as fast as we could, putting on the headlights only when it was pitch dark. We were just a few kilometres away from the camp when suddenly, Cole just stopped the car, headlights went off, engine went off and there was pure silence, just the odd cricket chirping when my husband, Venky said “Look!”. To our left was a herd of gazelles standing still like statues with their ears fully perked up. To our right was a herd of antelopes also standing still and expression-less. And in front were some zebras, ready to run on command. We did not know what was happening we stared in the dark for a few seconds to adjust our eyes to the darkness and then a magnificent lioness walked across with her little cubs. That’s when we understood that all those animals were literally scared for life, time stood still when they spotted the lioness, we could almost hear them pray, none of them wanted that night to be their last night! It surely wasn’t.

Time did stand still while we waited for the lioness to cross the street and ensure her cubs followed her. We slowly went back to the camp, showered, and got ready for dinner, whistled for our guard to pick us up and carried on. We spent that evening having some beers and chatting about the day, about life back in Dubai and what not under what I’d describe as a blanket of a gazillion stars, I hadn’t experienced anything like this before and that overwhelmed me. I cried a little just processing that beauty, was I really that moved or was it the alcohol, I can’t be sure! Our guards walked us back to our rooms with nothing but a torch light and a Masai spear, and while we were walking, we heard that bird sound again. Rashmi innocently asked him which bird it was, to which he chuckled and said Hyena. I swear to God we all had goosebumps and I spent the night praying.

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

Christopher McDougall

Last day at the Mara Olapa camp started with a hot air balloon close to the Tanzanian border. We woke up at 4 am to make it in time for this spectacular experience. I had never been on a hot air balloon, so I obviously did not know how to get in, we actually had to get in horizontally, not climb in, but crawl in. The hot air balloon offers a completely different perspective of Mara. Picture this – we slowly rose to tree level and after a near miss with a branch, the basket clears the treeline and we gracefully inch up the sky, it’s not long before we see thickets opening up to vast plains and the sunrise rapidly illuminating the Mara River and the vegetation below. The morning was freezing cold, we saw the sunrise from mid-air and tried to zoom in to anything that was moving to check if it was a rhino, unfortunately for us, there weren’t any. After about 35 mins in air, we landed close to the Tanzanian border and enjoyed breakfast out in the open. It really was an amazing experience and we even got certificates to prove our flight!

We then went back to our camp to rest and have lunch.

Post an hour or so, we resumed our game drive. About 500 metres away from our camp, we finally spotted Kaboso, the leopard after whom our area was named, dragging a fresh kill to his tree and enjoy his meal in peace. We took a lot of pictures and went ahead.

By this time, we had picked up the talent of spotting animals in the distance and chasing everyone else to a front row seat for the viewing. Birds, beetles, zebras, wildebeests, leopards, cheetahs, ostriches, giraffes, lions, we had seen them all. We finally were slowing down for the afternoon, and we drove by what I now call the “PRIDE ROCK”.  Two fully grown lions, two fully gown lionesses, and about eight cubs, we spent the evening at their home. This was a moment when I was excited and nervous at the same time. Excited because this was almost like a one on one with the #KingOfTheJungle himself and nervous because this was almost like a one on one with him.

And all I could do was capture this moment and pray that nothing untoward happened. But that’s the whole point. These animals of the jungle went about their day without bothering us, even at a proximity of about 2 feet. So many jeeps, so many cameras and so many people, but it was their home, and they were comfortable. I wasn’t, so, I was sitting on the floor of the car, willingly making myself the butt of all jokes for the next 24 hours.

There’s something about seeing lion cubs that creates a warm, fuzzy feeling inside one’s soul. Perhaps, it’s because they grow up to be such majestic looking creatures, yet their cub-like antics and adorable curiosity couldn’t be further away from their ferocious adult versions. You almost want to pick them up and cuddle! Right when I was warming up to that idea and getting back up on the seat, the lioness growled and put me back in my spot at the floor of the car.

We spent hours there, I don’t even know how many. One of the lionesses even seemed to look for a kill, we waited with bated breath for it to happen, but it didn’t. It was the guilt of missing the cheetah kill that made us hope against hope for a NatGeo moment.

We finally moved and found our way back to the camp. Remember we spotted Kaboso a few yards away from our camp? He was no longer there, instead there were some hyenas noisily biting into the bones of that poor gazelle that the leopard had killed for himself, we heard the eerie sounds of a hyena’s laugh and that bird like sound, and instantly feared for our lives. We had seen a lot of carcasses, a lot of dying animals, but this was the most unpleasant sight and sound we had experienced in this holiday. Hyenas are known to be scavengers, they ganged up on Kaboso and got his kill all to themselves.

As much as I didn’t want my Mara holiday to end, this was it, the end of our Masai Mara experience. It has been one that cannot be contained in words. The sights we saw, the sounds we heard and the chills we experienced, they are personal, they are private to us. I know I will make another trip, soon. Until then, Kwaheri marafiki! Hakuna Matata!