Our first weekend we spent it on a safari in the Masai Mara!

All those trucks... NOT MOVING!

 After passing the traffic it was a smooth ride through town. It was nice looking out the window at the local people.




Hey, look... a rhino on the street!!!!! (and the only one we saw the whole trip!)


We even saw a very clever guy sleeping on his motorcycle... missing the front wheel!




We then got to a town with tons of Masai people, so cool looking at heir outfits, all very colourful, many of them wearing beautiful jewellery!










On our way we saw some giraffes!... started to get excited about the Safari!


We kept going until we couldn't... we got stucked in the muck! I mean like... REALLY STUCK!

When we arrived at the muddy part, there was already one car stuck and our driver said we could go. The van was not 4x4 but we held on tight and hoped for the best but the best didn't happen! We got stuck and we all had to get off.


After we got stuck, they unstuck the car and then other safari vans decided to keep going and they ALL got stuck... except one!

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That one safari truck pulled everyone one out of the mud. The one problem? It took a couple of hours!











And some of the kids had to carry the buckets full of clothes back home.

So many spectators!

While we waited for the trucks to get unstuck I looked at all the local kids. At the beginning they were very annoying touching the windows and asking non stop for bars (April gave them some) but quickly moved on to the vans that followed us.






And finally... unstuck!

Since it was almost 6pm by the time that we got to the Masai Mara our guide said that the park would be closing soon so that we couldn't go in and do our first safari. Instead he said we could visit the masai mara village that cost $20. I immediately jumped out of my seat and said that it should be paid by them because we missed the safari. Plus, I knew that the masai mara village visit was $10 so from the start he was lying to us.

All the guys from the village came out to greet us and started doing the adumu, the traditional jumping dance. Apparently the higher the guy jumps the more attractive he is to a woman.

Singing

The one in charge.

Masai footwear

The children were adorable, they even started dancing and jumping like the grown ups; but they were quickly kicked out by the "chief."

Check out the jewellery

After the dance we got a group photo!

From the dancing they invited us inside their village.
The village is surrounded by a bush fence to protect it from animals like lions. They said that every night they have a night watch and make sure that no animals come inside and eat the cows.

Entering the village with a rainbow over it!

Traditional Masai hut!

We gathered around while the men showed us how to make fire.

We got fire!

After the fire making tutorial we were divided into pairs and went to visit their houses

Here's Sita about to enter the house.

Inside the house we could barely see anything, it was very dark and all full of smoke. We sat for a bit and talked about life in the Village but within a couple of minutes our eyes were watery from the smoke and had to get out.

Kid taking care of the fire.

Once out all the ladies were setting everything up outside to sell us all the trinkets they had for sale at 20 times ( or 35 times if you purchase a bracelet!) the price than what we would pay in Nairobi!



We then entered the park!


One of the first things we saw was a cheetah ready to hunt. The cheetah was in the middle of the field with some wildebeest and we thought she was going to kill one but it didn't happen.





But look how pretty the cheetahs were!









We got to see plenty of other animals:





We saw a gigantic (they are probably all that size!) ostrich!




The lionesses are maybe my favorite safari animals... they are so fierce! They are in charge, they are the hunters, the providers, the caretakers, their life is just better without the lion. The lion does nothing but wait for food from them and come around during mating season... so useless!

they look comfy!

So fierce!

Ok Ok... The lion is pretty cool too!

This one is so cute!

We stopped for the bathroom run at the airstrip in the middle of the park where airplanes land for people staring inside the park.



In the area near the toilets there are many Masai selling jewellery and trinkets.

Sita using her bargaining skills!

She is actually making it!

That's quite he accessories!

Lots of pumbas!

We also saw a lot of giraffes





We stopped by the river and saw some crocodiles.



And a cheeky baboon who came rapidly and took the whole box of lunches for a safari van! Sneaky!



Lots of antelopes... b-o-r-i-n-g! haha by the 3rd group of antelopes you just start to ignore them... "Can we get something exciting over here?"

Why is a male always surrounded by all the females?

At the end of our first day we saw some of the wildebeest migration. We saw a group of probably a hundred or so running far away and we stopped to watch. We were mesmerised by the speed of them, within 5 minutes the wildebeest that seemed to be miles away were just crossing the road behind our safari truck.
They all ran in one single line, they had arranged themselves in a way that the little ones would be protected from predators if they happened to see one. It felt like a very lion king moment (in a very small scale! the whole Mufasa crazy stampede migration happens a little bit later in the year- like a month or two after we were there.)



On our last day we went for a one hour or so safari before getting back to Nairobi and we were able to see a couple of animals.

I always love watching elephants so I was, again, excited to see them in the Masai Mara.





To be honest the most exciting part of that morning was seeing two hippos walking. It is very rare to see hippos out of the water during the day as they spend the whole day protecting themselves from the sun in the water. Hippos come out at night and feed. I think that because it was still a little bit early in the morning they had not made it back to the pond... so so SO Lucky!!!

Our last animal of the trip!

Pee stop at an all you can think African souvenir shop!

What the "butcheries" look like in Kenya!