28. 12. 2018
After a very good breakfast at the hotel we were picked up by Caleb on time at 7:30 am. He already accompanied us in the Masai Mara in 2015 in a very competent and friendly way and we were very happy to meet him again. Then we drove off in our safari vehicle, a modified Toyota Lancruiser, for the long drive across the great African rift valley to the Masai Mara. On the way we purchased a SafariCom mobile phone card (15GB data for €18,-) in Narok, so that we would not lose contact with the outside world in the Masai Mara.
The gravel road from Narok to the Masai Mara (approx. 60km) is currently being upgraded by the Chinese and the new road was already passable for a short distance. In one year it should be finished and make the trip into the Mara much more comfortable and faster. We see this with mixed feelings: if this should lead to a further increase in tourism in the Masai Mara, it would certainly be good for Kenya financially but bad for the National Park and its wildlife. Even now, at peak times when there are some interesting sights, there are sometimes more than 50 safari vehicles gathering in one place.
This time, nevertheless, we needed again more than 2 hours for the short distance and arrived well shaken at 2:00 pm in the Mara Bush Camp - Private Wing, where we were warmly welcomed (surprisingly in German) by Nadine, the camp manager. Nadine comes originally, as she told us, from Gummersbach in Germany, but she lives already many years in Africa and substituted the usually there working camp manager Michela who was on holiday over Christmas. Obi, the excellent cook of the camp, already expects us with a very tasty lunch. This time we moved into a tent directly at the camp's own hippo pool with about 40 hippos in it (in the pool, not in the tent ;-). Sitting on our terrace we were able to watch the humid hustle and bustle perfectly.
It's crazy, yesterday we were still in the dark and cold winterly Germany and today we are sitting outside on a terrace in the most beautiful sunshine and summerly temperatures, watching hippos. Very nice: In the camp there was a Christmas tree improvised from palm branches with flashing lights.
At about 4:00 pm we started our first game drive with Caleb. After crossing a small river with the LandCruiser (I was so glad not to have to drive myself)
At first we met a small group of giraffes which posed for us in beautiful light:
Afterwards we briefly tracked a lonely elephant:
and observed a lazy group of lions:
Later we discovered a very beautiful crown crane:
And at the end we enjoyed the first of many coming beautiful sunsets:
All in all it was a very nice start. Back at camp, after a shower we sat down at the campfire (called "bushman TV" in Africa) for a while and recapitulated the events of the day. The bartender recognized us immediately and asked if we would like 2 gin tonic and a bitter lemon for Luise as usual, which we happily agreed to.
This was followed by a wonderful dinner in the open under trees. Obi had prepared a "Star Cooking" for the guests - he prepared the food outside under the stars. Everybody could choose the ingredients they wanted. As always it was very tasty. At 10:00pm we fell asleep in our tent completely groggy. The "Wakeup Call" is ordered for 5:45 am - then we get coffee with some cookies in the tent, at 6:30am we have an appointment with Caleb at our Toyota LandCruiser to not miss the sunrise at 6:45 am.
During the night the nocturnal hippos made several loud noises - what did we miss these noises (and the smell 😉 ) in the meantime.
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