My day as a Tourist

While staying in the Mara last week, I was able to become a real mzungu tourist and go on a game drive to see the animals. Early in the morning we headed through the gates into the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. The Game Reserve is not fenced in so animals are free to come and go. During our drive I sometimes felt like I was watching animal planet. I had to pinch myself to confirm that what I was seeing was real. Imagine a deer crossing the road in front of your car….now, change the deer to Zebras, elephants, wildebeests, lions, or buffalos and this was what I was seeing. The animals were just a few feet from the car! Here is a list of animals I saw while on the game drive. I can’t wait to get home and post some pictures for you!

1. 5-6 elephants crossing the road in front of our car.

2. One lone Gigantic Elephant with huge tusks crossing the road very slowly.

3. Thousands of wildebeests migrating to water.

4. Hundreds of Zebras mixed in with the wildebeests

5. Two male lions hanging out

6. A cheetah walking through the grass

7. A family of Giraffe’s feeding

8. Wild Boars

9. Okapi grazing

10. Many hippos hanging out in the water

11. Crocodiles sunbathing

12. A black Rhino walking across the field (this is a rare sight, many tourists come back for days looking for a Rhino. I was very lucky.)

13. Buffalo grazing

14. A family of lions waiting for the lion to bring its kill of a wildebeest to their den.

…I am sure there are others but I saw so much it is hard to remember them all!

I was very, very lucky during this game drive. I was able to see the big 5-Elephant, black rhino, cheetah, lion and buffalo- all in one visit. It is very unusual for this to happen. There are some Kenyans living here that have never seen some of those animals. If you ever have the opportunity to travel to Kenya, you must visit the Mara and go on a game drive. It is fantastic!