Wildlife Eye Spy

     Two weekends ago we went on amazing safari in Maasai Mara. It is an area that is attached to the Serengeti in Tanzania, but called Maasai Mara because it is located in Kenya. I figured the best way to write this post is mostly through pictures because they can describe much more than what I could. Overall, I saw so many amazing animals it was hard to keep up. There were many moments where we were unsure whether we would be lucky enough to see any more and then all of a sudden a rhino or cheetah would come our way. We were definitely very lucky throughout the weekend. We were able to see 4 out of the 5 Big 5 (what they call their most famous animals, which consist of the lions, leopards, elephants, buffalo and rhinos), seeing them all except for the leopard. The leopard is apparently one of the hardest animals to find, so maybe next time. It’s also very difficult to come upon the black rhino, but we were able to see two! It was so cool, and they were even running around a bit, playing with each other.

 The other amazing part was when we came upon three cheetahs, 3!, who were just lying in the brush with no care in the world even though tons of trucks were surrounding them and watching. We also got a flat tire as we were coming up to them, so we had to drive a bit past them so our driver and Maasai friend who came with us could jump out and fix it quickly. Probably not the best idea to fix it while looking at the cheetahs.

 We saw tons of elephants and giraffes, too. I think giraffes have to be one of my favorite animals because they are so tall, but seem so delicate at the same time.

 There were tons of buffalo, impalas, and zebras as well.

 The first day we saw a pride of lions just relaxing in the bushes.

 We jumped out of the truck before lunch and were taken around with a guide to see the hippos and crocodiles. We went with a guy who had a huge rifle, so of course I had to ask him if he has ever used it. He said only once when they had to shoot a warning shot towards the hippos, who just got in a fight and kicked one of the hippos out. He said they had to carry the guns more for the buffalo that could be around. The buffalo are one of the most deadly animals, so I just said okay and moved along a bit quicker. The crocodiles were pretty cool though, very historic looking and the hippos were huuuuuge, weighing almost 3 tons.

 The absolute best part of the weekend had to be on our morning drive that Sunday. We left to start our eye spy game that morning around 6:30am. We knew that we would only be out a short time, since we were still going to visit a Maasai village and then drive back to Nairobi before dinner time. We were driving around the area for more than an hour without any sights of lions. Our driver, David (best driver ever, he has been doing this for 14 years and was an awesome guy), knew that we really just wanted to find lions or any other rare animal in the area. We had seen all the other animals the day before, so we were definitely on a mission to see the cats. It was nearing 8am and we would have to head back soon to get on the road in time. It seemed like it was going to be a pretty disappointing drive for the morning, but we tried to remember that we had a great time the day before seeing some lions, cheetahs, rhinos and more. All of a sudden there is one, two, three…. all the way up to nine trucks racing to the right. We jumped on the race and quickly came upon one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. There was an entire pride of lions out in the open eating breakfast aka a wildebeest that they had just taken down. There was one lion, six lionesses, and eleven cubs all in a circle chewing away. The pictures below say it all. I have put even more up in my picture gallery too. I even have video of the event, but I doubt my internet is going to allow me to put that on here so we will just have to wait until I get back. Here are some of the best pics below.

Another post is soon to follow this one about my adventures along the east coast of Kenya. Directly following the safari, Lauren and I flew to the coast and spent the next week traveling along each area. It was a lot of fun and very packed with stuff we did throughout, so I will have to save that for next time. Enjoy the pictures!