Back in Nairobi for a day after the beach, we caught up on life. The Iowa Jensen kids had homework (they were out of school for 2 weeks for this adventure), Nate had a work day, Dave needed to test his soccer skills against the neighbor kids, and the girls created a ballet show for an appreciative audience. To round it all out, we discovered (to his mom's astonishment) that Will loved Kenyan dishes like sikuma wiki, which is basically sauteed kale.
Homework with "helpers"
Nate in his project car, basically showing off for his big brother
Our housekeeper, Maximelda, also enjoyed the ballet show.
Maximelda cooked us a Kenyan meal:
Beef cooked in tomato sauce, green grams (like lentils), sikuma wiki, and rice
The next morning, October 18, we began our Masai Mara safari trek. Our safari guide and driver, Benson, picked us up at ILRI at 6AM. Within the first 5 kilometers of leaving, we had a problem with the brakes. With a quick check at a local Shell station (way earlier than the mechanics are usually there -- Benson begged a guy to come from his breakfast), we were again on our way.
Leaving ILRI
Benson, our trusty guide
Checking the brakes
Back on the road, and down the escarpment we go, and into the Rift Valley.
After the first 3 hours of driving, the tarmac ends and this is what it feels like driving the second three hours to the Masai Mara:
A Maasai cattle market in action
And we made it!
Map of the Mara at the entrance gate
Entering the park
Shaking off the bumpy ride
Time to look for some animals...
A theme of our safari: zebra butts.
Dusty and happy
We did a short safari drive to our lodge, the Mara Simba, where we had lunch, a swim, and a rest.
View from the rooms' back deck
The lodge has a family of striped mongoose living under the restaurant boardwalk, and three crocodiles that reside in the river down below.
Of course we headed out for a sundowner safari that evening. We discovered that the wildebeest migration was still lingering in our section of the Mara.
We traded cameras with another car of tourists to get some shots of all of us together
Topi and their newborns
Back at the lodge that night, we played card games and enjoyed a Maasai dance at dinner.
Day two of the safari is a full-day affair. The lodge packed us picnic lunches and we headed into the reserve. First thing we saw was a cheetah next to the road:
Kids looking at the cheetah
Then elephants, elands, zebras, etc.
Jackal
We stopped for a pee break in what we thought was an uninhabited area...
And two minutes later saw this:
A family of hyenas
Lunch and a chance to stretch our legs came at the Mara River hippo walk.
Our guide called these "hippo shits", no kidding
Hippo footprint near the river
Our friend Karen and her kids, Aiden and Tiana, had been camping in the Mara for nearly a week. They joined us for an afternoon safari and picnic lunch.
The mom car
At one point we came across two leopards copulating in the bushes, and this big male walked away afterwards looking proud of himself. He stretched himself out in front of a barrage of safari cars.
Looking at the leopard.
The kid-and-dad safari van and a herd of elephants
We were lucky enough to find a lioness and two cubs drinking and playing.
Erin at the lion sighting
We said goodbye to Karen and the kids after the lioness and headed back to the lodge. We were happy to find cocoa and adult drinks ready for us, and had some time for games and reading, too.
The kids had a run-in with a mama Vervet monkey that afternoon at the lodge, so Will decided to be prepared for any future walks down the sidewalk.
The safari excitement wasn't over on day three, even though we had to head home that afternoon.
Goodbye, Mara Simba Lodge!
We came across two male lions basking in the morning sun:
At the end of our morning safari, Benson heard on the radio from other guides that a rhino had been spotted near our current route. So we went to see... and after a long wait and almost leaving at exactly the wrong moment: we saw them! (Middle of the video below)
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