Safari in the Maasai Mara

I woke at 5.30am when the generator came on, making my phone buzz.

Breakfast at the Mara River Lodge was on an open balcony, next to the river with 50 odd hippos and one crocodile floating beneath us. A couple of monkeys hung off the balcony in trees, waiting for the opportunity to sweep empty plates. It was a buffet much the same as Sunbird - omelettes.

Mara River Lodge breakfast spot

Monkeys waiting for breakfast

The hippos

We were ready to go at 7am for our morning safari. 10 minutes away from the lodge, we saw a huge lioness sitting on the road in the sun. Paul, our driver was more prepared than yesterday to get in close to her. We were planning on running that same road tomorrow for the Maasai Marathon.

The lioness

She disappeared into the bushes by our race track

The safari was good but the initial excitement of seeing gazelles and wildebeest had worn off after yesterday. Now we really wanted to see the Big Five - elephants, rhino, lions, leopard and buffalo. As well as the lioness, we drove into a herd of buffalo with little birds sitting peacefully on their horns. We also came across some elephants with their babies crashing through the bushes. I had imagined them the most peaceful of the Big Five, but when one looked at us directly less than 5 metres away, our driver told everyone to sit down in case it charged.

When the elephant stared at us

The family of elephants

Keeping a safe distance

Luckily my lens could get close! 

We also saw hyenas mating, jackals, and a baby giraffe learning to walk with her mother.

The hyenas

A dikdik - tiny gazelle-like creature the size of a hare 

The baby giraffe's hair was still all ruffled

Learning to walk

As it was a long day, toilet breaks proved a mission, stepping into the mara to relieve yourself behind the truck was a little nerve wracking! At one point, the driver forget that Nina was 'using the bathroom' and drove off, leaving her exposed mid-business to the other safari truck in our party that had cruised up!

The second truck

The others weren't so lucky in terms of the animals they had seen, so they went back to the lodge to have lunch. We picnicked alone in the grass under a tree on a Maasai blanket. We returned home at 2pm.

I had a couple of dips in the pool, trying to avoid a family of monkeys who were also cooling off. Nina wanted to go see a Maasai village but I was hesitant, thinking it would be a tourist trap. But it was great, their welcome and dance performance, vibrant clothes and peculiar singing was worth it.

Spot me looking incredible confused

Maasai woman

The jumping dance

Our guide's house

Nina inside the house

The village fence to protect against wild animals

We also went inside on man's house, it looked just like a small mud hut but it was a rabbit warren inside, with multiple rooms! They had a section at the front for keeping calves in at night so they didn't get eaten by lions. The only truely touristic part was a high-pressure gift shop at the end of the visit, where they expected you to buy something.

At 4pm we waited for the drivers to take us to the race registration. By 4.45pm we had one truck ready to go. The registration was next to the lioness's spot. Truckloads of Kenyans were setting up tents overnight. Actual buses arrived. We were told registration was at 7am the next day. An Australian lady asked bazillions of questions, to which most answers ended up being untrue - the race is at 10am not 8am...we finally left to find registration at our lodge.

We filled our CamelPaks, prepared our running clothes, had a drink on the hippo deck with a log fire going and National Geographic Africa playing on a TV in a cage to keep the monkeys off it. The mood was fairly tense so everyone was quick to bed.

Buses arriving

The stage being set up

Zebras nearby