Waking up at 4:30 we quickly loaded up the car and left Sunrise Acres. The drive to the Mara was six hours and we all got to sleep pretty quickly. We all stopped to go to Delamere's to get breakfast and snacks for the rest of the journey. While we were there we saw Velvet monkeys on the roof of the building and we all found them very cute, but we also knew that they could be vicious so we were cautious. We met Judy, Julius and Nina and some of us swapped cars, to make the ride more comfortable.
When going to the Maasai Mara you see a lot of Maasai people, they all wear a traditional blanket (shuka) around them and they can walk for ages. Their status in the tribe is determined by how many cows they have. They live in mud huts which you can see when driving to the Mara.
When we finally got to the Mara the hawkers were unrelenting and they basically harassed you to buy their products. They would put the item they were trying to sell you on your lap in the hope that you wold buy the product, even though you had had already said NO! 10 times.
When we got inside the Mara we were greeted by impala and Thompson gazelles. We were trying to get to our accommodation as fast as possible so we sped past lots of the animals, while still getting a good look of the whole park. The scenery was breath taking and it is so cool how there is just grass for miles and one tree in the middle. We saw a family of warthogs and some vultures while getting to our accommodation.
When we got to our accommodation were were impressed. We were only separated from the Mara by the Mara River and we were impressed by the luxury of the permanent tents we were staying in.
We quickly had our very late lunch and then we were back to the Mara. We saw some very cool birds which were different to the birds in NZ because they flew and they were multi-coloured. We saw lots of buffalo and we managed to get close to a herd of them which was very cool.
We then went down to the river and saw some hippos. There were lots of hippos in the river and they were swimming and doing the usual thing that hippos do. In the day we saw six lions all of them lazy and lying down. Just before sunset we managed to see a spotted hyena which was injured and we got amazing photos of the sunset.
We had an amazing dinner, sped through our combined devotion and then crashed in our beds.
We couldn't wait for tomorrow.
What an extraordinary place you're in! The animals and scenery look and sound amazing! Rooftop monkeys and hawkers sound like the most threatening element... Glad you're enjoying :)
ReplyDeleteThe environment is so amazing - but it is very harsh on the people. Erosion and degradation occurs quickly, so this has helped to shape the culture of the people. Maintenance would be a full-time job, but when survival is most important maintenance is not a priority.
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