Hakuna Matata: Safari Weekend!

This was such a busy and exhausting weekend!!! We got up at 5:30 on Saturday morning to make the trek to the Maasai Mara Safari Reserve, one of the largest and most famous safari sites in Africa. It is 1800 square km...aka 1,080 square miles! It was definitely one of the most gorgeous places I have seen...nothing but grasses, mountains, beautiful sunsets and massive animals in their natural habitat.
The ride from Migori to Maasai Mara took about 8 hours because we had to take the long way there. Got to the lodge about 3:00pm, with just enough time to revive ourselves for our first evening game drive! We saw SO many great things in just these first 2.5 hours (you have to leave the reserve around 6:30pm because it gets too dangerous after dark). We kicked off the safari with a female lion on the prowl. She stalked a group of antelopes and we thought for sure we were going to see a kill right off the bat, but she ended up backing down after about 15 minutes. From there, we came across more lions, which were literally on the "Pride Rock" of Maasai Mara. The scene could not have been more prefect...I think the pictures will speak for themselves.

photo opp outside our hut at the lodge

Team Young Lion

vans flock whenever there is a sighting

Pride Rock

 We spotted some ostriches, hyenas, wildebeests, buffalo, zebras, black-faced monkeys, warthogs, weird birds and elephants too. Holy cow, these guys are massive!!! They walked right next to the vans and were making all kinds of noises. Kind of saw some hippos, but they stay underwater for 7 minutes at a time and then barely come up for a breath, so they are hard to see. Despite that, I am fairly certain we each took about 8,573 photos of the "I spy a hippo ear" pond. We were all so pumped this first day that cameras were flying!
Finally saw a male lion, but of course, he was sleeping...the males sleep up to 23 hours a day and only get up to eat. ugh, men! haha.
We closed out the night with an incredible sunset and another female lion. She was so beautiful to begin with and then her walking into the sunset was the icing on the cake.
Despite the ice-cold showers, we slept like babies after the delicious, sanitary meal!

We got up early again on day 2, had breakfast and were just watching the monkeys while we waited to head to the reserve, but there were some issues/delays (per ush), and so we ended up going to the Maasai village in the morning instead. The Maasai are the indigenous tribal group. They are the ones that wear blankets, stretch their ears with giant rings, drink cattle blood, jump super high, etc...if you ever watch the Travel Channel or Human Planet, you know exactly what I am talking about.
There are about 200 Maasai living in this particular village. The men greeted us with a dance, as well as a demo of how they sharpen their knives and start fires. Their dances involve a lot of jumping and chanting. At the very end they started coming towards us and it was actually super creepy, but these dances are how they win over the women. They practice polygamy and can have as many wives as they want as long as they have enough cattle to trade for them...Each woman costs 10 cows, or they can trade woman for woman. The families all stay together, but they do not intermarry within the village...instead, once a woman is married, she follows her husband. Each wife has her own house and the husband rotates, staying with each of them, so he does not have a permanent house, per se.
Men are circumcised at age 16 at a ceremony, in which they are not allowed to show any pain. They must show their "strength and manliness." damn. After that, they are considered "warriors" until age 21. At this time, they grow their hair out and prove themselves by hunting, etc. At age 21, they are allowed to get married. Women marry younger, usually age 16.
The women are the ones to build the houses. Each hut takes 2 months and is assembled out of wood and cow dung. They must move the village every 7-9 years because termites destroy the homes. (However, they have a permanent school now, so they stay relatively close). We didn't get a chance to talk to the women, but I would have loved to hear their perspectives.
We did get to go into a hut though, which was awesome! Slight panic attack as we were ducking into the hut and breathing in smoke in the pitch black. Eventually our eyes adjusted so we could see the inside a bit more and we sat low enough to avoid the smoke. This hut was tiny, but housed 5 people...as well as their baby sheep and cows, who had their own rooms!(By room, I mean extremely small cubby, but in relationship to the whole hut, it was substantial).
We waited to get out the the center of the village to buy anything, which was by far the most stressful and overwhelming experience of ALL time. The woman all set up their stands with jewelry, masks, bowls, etc, etc, etc. Most had very similar things, but because the money goes to each family individually, they are super competitive and do whatever they can to get you to buy from them. Some girls were literally surrounded by the women! They put bracelets all up your arms, pull you over, tell you to buy, and it is hard to say no at first, but eventually, you get used to it.
Despite the chaos, it is absolutely incredible that people really do live like this and I am so glad we got to witness it firsthand.
After that morning, we were definitely ready for a nice relaxing day of safari.

The entire village floor (and huts) are cow dung
#squishy

The Young Lion & his Maasai family

On day 2 of game drives, we saw a family of lion cubs lounging under a tree, more zebras, elephants, ostriches, wildebeests and water buffalo, but also saw a whole field of giraffes, a river full of hippos and crocs, a leopard in a tree (super though to spot), a reunion of a lion family and....A RHINO!!! This was a HUGE deal....there are only 15 rhinos in the whole entire reserve (1,080 square miles)!!! We were actually about to leave the reserve, when Martin (our driver, "young lion") got a call on the radio. Hearing the radio is the best thing ever because you can't understand  anything they are saying since it is all in swahili, but you can tell by the speed and volume of their voices when it is going to be something REALLY good.... then Martin puts the pedal to the metal, you fly around curves, bugs and dust hit your face, you smell the fresh African air...best feeling ever (...besides the bodyslamming the sides of the van...that's not such a good feeling, but comes with the territory) Such a rush!
When we got the call about the rhino, we lead the pack of safari cars, raced to the spot and were honestly on 2 wheels at some points! This rhino was ridiculously fast. We followed him so close through the bush and I thought he was going to charge the van a time or two! Anyways, it was amazing and completed our sighting of the BIG 5! The Big 5 include: lion. leopard, elephant, rhino and water buffalo - the 5 most dangerous. To see all of them in one weekend is extremely rare!
AND, to top it off, after the rhino chase, we came across another male lion! This time, he was up and about...also rare, because, like I said, this only happens about 1 hour a day. He walked right up to our van, in front of it and reunited with the group of lionesses and cubs waiting in the bush. There were soooo many lions and they were literally close enough to touch...unreal. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous again...bright pink. I tried to capture it with photos...no matter how well they turn out, it is impossible to capture the true scene. Words and photos just don't do it justice.
Oh, so we also went to the border to Tanzania within the reserve...this is the point where is turns into the Serenghetti.
Definitely a successful day.
Another great dinner, a warm shower this time and clean beds...amazing night's sleep.

Lazy Lions

I Spy a Leopard

16+ giraffes!

2 places at once! Tanzania & Kenya :)

Hungry Hungry Hippos

Zebra Migration

Lioness

Unreal.

This morning we tried to get to the reserve in time to see the sunrise, but it was too cloudy. We only had about 2 hours, so all we saw today was a group of lion cubs. Guhhh, I want one!!! So snuggly. The baby one was purring and it was just too much. Couldn't even handle it. Love.
We grabbed some breakfast at the resort, said our goodbyes to Katie and Justin, the first group to head home (sad day) and then hit the road for a 5 hour buuuumpy ride back to Migori. We are all so wiped out! Definitely bedtime J

One last family photo before Katie & Justin left :(