Photo bomb from the amazing Masai Mara
Last week end we had some days off, so some of us decided to go on safari in Masai Mara. We were devided into two groups who visited two diferent camps. This is some pictures from Masai Mara and Base Camp - an eco-lodge we were told about during the introduction to this course.
The drive from Kisumu took about seven houres. We were picked up at 7.30 at the guest house by Joseph, our guide throughout the trip. When we arrived at base camp we were quite hungry and shooken by the last part of the road - it's made really rough in order to decrease the traffic the Mara, only safari capable cars are supposed to be able to go there. So we were thrilled about the welcoming lunch, which was served shaded by some trees with the view of the park right in front of us.
After the lunch, western inspired with avocadosoup as entre, pasta carbonara as maincourse and strawberry mousse as dessert we went out on a late afternoon safari. (There was a lot of photographing of the food, it was an appriciated contrast from the food we've been used to here.)
Safari it was.
The landscape and the light was almost as beautiful and exciting as all the amazing animals, especially during the sunset. It really contributed to the first overwhelming experience of the Mara. At the point of the last picture we joined a gruop of professional photographers who had spotted a cheetah.
And so had some other animals.
It was a great first day in terms of aminal spotting too. The first group of lions we saw had just hunted down a zebra which they enjoyed in the bushes.
Joseph and our super car!
The morning after we headed out for a safari after breakfast.
We saw two hippos fighting. Quite mature, only using their vocabulare. Very expressive though.
The big mission for the day was to find some elephants. But we just saw some other animals.
A baby giraff.
A half eaten antelope hung in a tree by a leopard who wanted to save if for later.
A lion pooping.
And we went to a hill top and got a great view over the Mara.
But then, we found them. We didn't come very close, we're lucky they are big though.
This amazingly comfortable lion rounds up the pre-lunch safari trip.
After the lunch we got a camp tour when our Masai guide, Richard, told us about how and why base-camp is eco-friendly. He showed us were compostable waste and poop from the dry toilets were burnt. And he showed us the solar panels which produced the electricity and also heated the water to the showers, a big water harvesting container, the water cleaner where the water from the showers comes in order to be cleaned and reused at the camp.
We also got to try to brush our teeth with a branch that tasted chili and we saw the hut were Barack Obama slept when he were there.
After the tour we hung out at the camp before dinner. And afterwards we watched The Lion King. Of course.
The third safari day we brought picnic as lunch.
After lunch we saw a leopard! Can you see it?
The late afternoon gave us a beautiful rainfall with an incredible light coming through it.
The morning after, the day we headed back to Kisumu, everybody but me went on a walking safari (I was way too comfy in bed) so pictures from that might appear later on. I did had a small chat with out server before the others were back tough. He told me there had been 20 lions just by the camp during the night, hunting down a couple of cows. The camp has no fence, the devision between the savanna and it is just a dried river... That information was enough morning safari for me.
To sum this up, it was amazing! Everything.
