31.12.2020 – Masai Mara – Under Cats + Note

On this beautiful last day of 2020 we started at 06:30 our full day game drive with our Masai guide Josbhad. A funny guy in traditional Masai clothes, who was only grinning and laughing the whole day. He was also able to tell us a lot about the region and the wildlife. At the main gate we had to pay in addition to the fees for the tour (we would not recommend anyone in the Masai Mara to drive themselves) still $ 80 per person for the entrance well invested money, as should be seen later.

The first hour of our tour in the park dragged on a bit. Not an animal was to be seen far and wide and it was still so cool that even Andreas put the provided masaidecken thankfully and warming around the shoulders. So there was a little time for small talk and we could ask Josbhad where the name Game Drive for our activity came from. During the last days we had developed our own theory, which was now confirmed. It is a game – a game with nature and purely random whether you see something and if so, what. Even the most experienced guides can’t pull animals out of their butts – you can interpret signs, but luck is always involved.

Josbhad talked on the phone quite a bit throughout the day and suddenly he stepped on the gas. He grinned in the rearview mirror of his rickety old Toyota Landcruiser (from the look, smell and sounds of the 60s or 70s), when he saw our inquiring faces and said briefly and succinctly: there is an animal that we might want to see. And he was right. There it was: a leopardess with her cub in a depression at a waterhole. No idea who had seen the animal there and how, but when we arrived several jeeps were already there. We stayed about 30min and could watch especially the cub playing.

The knot was apparently burst. Andreas was very excited to be able to marvel at big cats in the wild for the first time and no 20min after the leopardess we saw lions. First only a single one, which was in the half-high grass on the way, when we approached however on 4m, we saw that here a whole herd of 11 animals in the grass lay hidden. The close stay was however only of short duration around the animals to spare, for safety reasons and because in the park everywhere the Ranger patrolled.

After these great experiences, the three of us treated ourselves to a coffee and tea break in the middle of the bush. During these short breaks Josbhad always had an open eye for the surroundings, but even he said: really dangerous for us were only the buffalos and elephants.

On we went with our excursion and animal finds. A few phone calls and some distance later we were at a single bush in the middle of nowhere. In this bushes 5 cheetah brothers were dozing in front of themselves and did not let themselves be disturbed even by us.

In the meantime it had become 13 o’clock and we headed for a single, shady tree to enjoy our lunch there. Like at a picnic, we sat down on a blanket in the grass and enjoyed our lunch. Afterwards we drove to a nearby river to have a look at the hippos and crocodiles.

Josbhad pushed a little here, as thick, deep blue rain clouds were gathering on the horizon and he didn’t want to get stuck in the mud. He was right. Shortly thereafter, it rained in torrents – driving on was out of the question and we took a short forced break on the side of the road.

After the heavy rain we decided to go again to the cheetahs, which had left the bushes in the meantime to dry themselves.

Not 10min later we met again a pride of lions, this time even with 2 males, which according to our guide is very rare to see and officially declared this day as our common lucky day.

He was also right about that, because on the slow way back to the starting point of our tour we could still see a cheetah that had torn an impala shortly before and was now enjoying it until it was full and lay aside for a short nap.

Around half past six we were back at the camp. After this eventful day we were now also hungry and a bit exhausted. Around 10pm all the staff and Josbhad came singing into the dining tent to say goodbye to the old year. After the small serenade and mutual congratulations for the new year, we enjoyed the new year cake together. In this sense: Hakuna matata.

Short note

Dear ones: Congratulations and thank you – you have endured to this point and accompanied us on our journey almost daily (when there was an internet connection). If you have read this post, we are already since three days on another adventure, where we will definitely have no internet for about 6 days or a bit shorter and will not be reachable. Keep your fingers crossed for us and hopefully see you soon in good health.