Masai Mara Safari

Our first big Kenya trip was a safari to the Masai Mara National Reserve. We were a bit spoiled, as it turned out to be one if the highlights of our time in East Africa and our favorite safari by far. We had a fun group, a great tour guide, and the opportunity to see some amazing animals up close.

Goodbye Masai Mara!

Jami on her first Safari

The Mara

The reserve is a huge expanse of protected grasslands, connected to Tanzania’s Serengeti national parks for thousands (millions?) of square miles of protected grazing for the herbivores and protected hunting for the carnivores. It was far drier than I expected, with acres of yellow grasslands dotted with the iconic umbrella trees, and only interrupted now and then with rivers and their green banks.

Masai Mara

Sunset over the Mara

Safari vans in the grasslands

The Group

The safari was through our volunteer organization, NVS, and we had a fun group of volunteers along for the ride, and a fun and outgoing tour guide, Mike, who really got into the chase and had a Mack for knowing where to be.

Our group

Jami and our guide Mike

The Animals

The highlight, of course, was the animals. I was prepared to be a little jaded and unimpressed by the safari (having been bored by plenty of zoos) but I was blown away. Floored by how cool it was to see the animals in their natural environments, even if I’m sharing that experience with a number of other safari vans. Some of our highlights:

Cheetahs

Lions

Wildebeest in migration

Bucks

Vultures

Ostriches

Zebras

Giraffes

Elephants

Goodbye Masai Mara!