Maasai Mara Adventure

I've always loved animals. In fact, the Animal Planet channel is a must at home.

But while I like the Singapore Zoo, the Singapore Night Safari and Australia's Currumbin Wildlife, I was never fond of Zoo Negara.. or any zoo in Malaysia for that matter.

I think our zoos back home are pathetic. They are smelly. The animals are scrawny and pathetically caged. And the workers all look like it's a torture to work at the zoo.

Okay. I'm digressing. But my point is.. I love animals. Especially when I see them being free and happy.

So the trip to the Safari in Africa was in my "to do list" when I found out that I will be posted to Sudan.

I mean, come on... To be in Africa and not go to the safari? That's like going to Cairo and not see the pyramid.. or to be in KL and not spot the Twin Towers.. or to go to Paris and not snap a picture at the Eiffel.

Kan....?

So yeah.. I was so looking forward to the trip to Maasai Mara.

Now.. Maasai Mara could be spelt either way. I think the Mat Salleh's spelt it as "Maasai Mara" and you can find wiki stuff on it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai_Mara

But when you get there.. most spellings you see are "Masai Mara", referring to the "Masai" group.

Well anyway, enough rambling. Here are the pictures... and the story..

We flew to Nairobi (Kenya) via Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) from Khartoum. It was the cheapest fare we could get.. at USD450.The flight timing was also great, although we had to stay for a few hours at the rest house in Nairobi.(We arrived in Nairobi at 2am, and had to wait till sunrise to start our journey to the Safari.)

And this is us. In our vehicle. All geared up to go to the Safari.

The journey from Nairobi to the safari was about 4 to 5 hours. Depending on traffic. Halfway through, we stopped at this rest area.. and the view was amazing.

We had to go up the hill before we go down to the safari plains.. but oh my.. the land was so vast, no camera lens could capture what we saw. No man-made equipment can do justice to capture the view.

Such is the greatness of God. And I was humbled.

Oh.. and we also found a cute map of Africa when we were there. And that was the thing that strikes me about Kenya. The colors were simply awesome. The country is very colorful. And oh.. I must say that the toilets are really really clean. I guess, they truly understand that they depend a lot on tourism money. So they are not only very friendly and hospitable, but they made sure that their public amenities are all clean and nice too.

And this is us.. again. Posing with our new safari hats which we bought for 750 shillings (RM28). Now don't we look like real travelers? :)

And here we are, at the Masai Mara Reserve Park. I couldn't really describe the view. It was vast... it was splendor.. and I must say it was majestic.. like how animal kingdoms should be.

Now if you are the 'shopping malls' and 'glassy modern buildings' kinda person, I doubt you would appreciate the safari much.

Because really, apart from the animals and the trees, there's really nothing much to see. The colors are basically brown, green, blue and white. You will not spot patches of purple or red or pink or maroon at the safari.

But to me, the view was absolutely breathtaking. Everything looks so peaceful and nice. So clean. And it was then that I realize only humans make a mess out of mother nature. Only humans (funnily, the ones with bigger brains than animals) simply throw rubbish everywhere and mess up the earth.

So here's a typical scenery at the safari.

Check out the trees with the artistic designs. No two trees are the same.. an indication that in God's creations, nothing can be a hundred percent the same. Not even trees and tree-trunks. :)

And it's common to see herd of animals roaming freely at the safari. Aren't they lucky? They have the awesome landscape to look at every single day.

Oohh.. I got really excited when I saw the zebras. Particularly because I love zebras. Ever since the movie Madagascar, I have kinda fallen in love with zebras. Marty, the zebra in the movie Madagascar was such a smart alec. Always having something to retort. He was such a funny character! :)

And so yeah, I think zebras are awesome animals. I think when God created them, He must be reminding humans to not think too much. After all, does it really matter if the zebra is a black animal with white stripes ... or a white animal with black stripes?

I actually tried to see if there's more black than white on the zebra.. or if there's more white than black.. but you know what? They are equally the same!

So yeah, why should humans get so hung up about skin color kan? When zebras don't even care if they are black or white! :)

Oh .. and this was taken at dusk.. just as the sun was setting in. It's such a surreal feeling, you know. The safari seems too quiet.. that I just had to plug in my walkman as I admire the view. It's a feeling that I just can't describe. I felt a certain kind of happiness.. everything seemed so peaceful and nice.

Made me think.. that when I see my Maker, I want to tell Him how beautiful this earth was. How happy I was to be in the animal kingdom. The weather was splendid too. It wasn't too cold.. and neither was it too hot. It was around 15 to 16 degrees, maybe.. so it was just nice and breezy.
 

And how could one not fall in love with such majestic view?

The next day, we had such an adventure. We finally saw the gates to the safari..

And guess what..? We saw some vehicles got stuck in the mud. See? Humans again. They created sort of an off-road lane.. and.. err.. over time, the soil must have eroded.

But then again, if humans don't make these off-roads, we will not be able to witness this majestic animal kingdom right?

Oh.. and as if being stuck in the mud wasn't nerve-wrecking enough (I mean, like what if the animals pounced on us since we are stuck and couldn't go anywhere?), we were also chased by an animal. The thing is, we were watching the elephants when one of them stood in our way. Our driver honked at him and chased him away.

But halfway through, he turned and trumpeted at us! No kidding! For awhile I was so afraid he would just nudge us and turn us sideways. After all, he is HUGE and just a little nudge and he would be able to knock the vehicle off.

He didn't nudge us, of course. He just trumpeted and stepped aside and let us pass. Oh but what an adventure! I still like elephants (actually I'm very fond of elephants.. I think that although they are big, they are actually very gentle..)

So yeah. And then it struck me: Why wasn't elephants featured in the movie Madagascar? Elephants are actually one of the "big  five", alongside the lions, cheetahs, rhinos and buffaloes.

This big boy didn't have the heart to nudge us.. heheh..

Oh.. and there are certain places at the safari where we were allowed to get down from the vehicle and roam around a bit. At the safari, even the trees are interesting. In the picture below, I was actually standing underneath the sausage tree.. because you can see sausage-like fruits hanging from the tree.

And Rosli took a picture of me and the lions. I was in the vehicle of course.. and it was exciting just to see the lions lounging around. They looked healthy and happy.

And we saw a lot of buffaloes too. The buffaloes in Africa are not quite like the ones back in Malaysia. It's like they wear a certain kind of crown on their head.. :)

Ahh... and this is me in my most diva pose. Standing just outside our vehicle... enjoying the sun in the middle of the safari. Who knows, this might be my profile picture on Facebook soon.. as a reminder of my amazing time at the safari.

Ahhh.... Melman! (The giraffe character from Madagascar.) Apart from the zebras, cheetahs and lions, my other favorite animal is the gentle giraffe. And don't know why.. every time I tengok giraffe ni, mesti teringat jugak kat Toy"R"us.

We did manage a detour to the Masai village. And here's a picture of me with some Masai kids. It was an experience lah.. as they live in small huts made of dried cow dung. And there were so many flies! Hygiene is definitely not a trait of the Masai.

They still 'do their business' in the bushes and tak mandi kot. The river is like 1km away and the womenfolk will go take the water daily for cooking purposes.

And what is the safari without some unexpected incidents kan? We had a flat tire on the way back to Nairobi.. and woahhh.. susah rupanya nak tukar tayar. Nasib lah the tyre didn't burst when it was near the lion's area.. :)

Somehow, this is my favorite picture which I took of Rosli. It depicted his diva-ness... Like a stranded diva in the middle of the safari.

The picture below, is just a pose though. I didn't have to hitch-hike back to Nairobi of course. The drivers changed the tyre in like 30 minutes and we were off on our way back. But of course, sementara the drivers sibuk nak tukar tayar, me and the gang dok sibuk ambil ambil gambar.. :)

We did stop at this craft centre.. tempat beli souvenirs. I didn't buy much. Heh. Believe it or not, I only bought one fridge magnet (which cost 400 shillings or RM15 per piece) and a postcard which cost 200 shillings.

Yes, Kenya's souvenirs are expensive. In fact, while trying to finish up the balance of my Kenyan shillings, I bought another fridge magnet for 1,400 shillings (RM53). Mahal kan.

Oh, but here's some nice wood stuff kan - one of my favorite items found at the shop. The "big five". Of course, I couldn't afford this lah. I'm sure it will cost thousands of shillings and I don't exactly know what to do with it if I did buy it.. so tengok je lah ye.. :)

The others banyak jugak beli.. but no lah. I'm on a tight budget. I only buy things I really need. Like fridge magnet (sebab I collect fridge magnet) and a postcard because I send home postcards when I travel.

So yeah.. while waiting for the rest, Dodi, Rosli and me went around the shop to take pictures. And yeah, after awhile, I got tired of that too.. and went back to our vehicle to read my book. :)

Ho ho.. we had to fly this cute airplane from Khartoum to Addis Ababa.

Alamak. Gambar terlari sikit.. but this is Ezlin and Imaan standing in front of the Masai's dried cow dung hut. In case you are wondering about the smell.. well.. I am happy to report that the hut itself didn't smell (apparently if you dry the dung for a few months, it will not smell anymore). But the smell at the surrounding area.. err.. well, that's another story lah kan.

And here's handsome Ikhlas at the craft shop jugak. So comel kan...

So itu lah.. our Kenyan adventure.

Would I go again? Yeah of course! Without a doubt! (If time and money permits, of course..)

It was an amazing 'back to nature' adventure. My kind of holiday. I felt so relaxed. So calm. There's nothing to worry about.

Phone line and internet connection didn't exist for the three-days and two-nights that we were there. And we only had the luxury of electricity from 7pm to 11pm daily .. and from 5:30am to 7:30am.

We slept in tents which were equipped with the toilet and shower area.

Oh. And there's also the sleeping net.

In one of the evenings that we were there, we heard that they found a green snake under the bed in the tent across from mine.. but I guess, that's expected kan.

So yeah. Kenya has been incredible and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be there with awesome friends.

Happy weekend semua..

xoxo