Karibu (Welcome) to our blog post on our extraordinary adventure to Africa.
Day 1: Arrive in Nairobi, Kenya and Travel to Maasai Mara
Our flight touched down at 6am, and we scheduled to start our safari immediately upon arrival. While we expected a bit of morning traffic, we were not prepared for the bumper to bumper traffic headed into the city. After a long drive complete with a fender bender, we arrived in downtown Nairobi, met up with our safari group, and made our way to Maasai Mara (5-6 hour drive). Along the way, we stopped at a lookout mountain to view the Great Rift Valley and Maasai Mara in the distance. Upon arrival we were assigned tents and set out for an evening game drive. At this point, I was running on a few hours of sleep from the red-eye, spent the entire day in hot cars, and was overall cranky and thinking we had bitten off more than we could chew with this trip to Africa. Within 30 minutes, I knew this would be the trip of a lifetime. In just a few hours we saw three of the BIG 5 and were instantly impressed!
Day 2: Maasai Mara
The second day of our safari was jam-packed with wildlife. The Maasai Mara is a smaller park than some of the others on our journey, but within its borders there is more wildlife than you can imagine. Our guide was incredibly knowledgable and was able to take us to one pride of lion's favorite shady spot.
We made a trip to the Mara River which creates the border between Kenya and Tanzania as well as the Maasai Mara Reserve (Kenya side) and Serengeti National Park (Tanzania side). The Mara River is often featured on Animal Planet or Discovery as the wildebeest migration makes its way across the border only to find crocodiles waiting in the water below. During this part of our tour, we were guided on foot by an armed ranger protecting the border. The river was full of hippos who reminded us through their noises that this was their territory. Along our walk we saw crocodiles, monkeys, impalas, giraffes and more.
Maasai Tribe - This was one of the coolest and most humbling experiences of the trip. We had one of the Chief's sons take us on a tour of their village.
It was a medium sized village with between 30-40 people.
He told us right away that if the villagers ears lobes are gauged that they are uneducated and do not speak English. I think this is hilarious because in the United States it is a super hip thing to do.
They showed us how to do the Maasai Dance and included us in the festivities. The dance consist of a lot of nodding and jumping. Jumping is very important in their culture. The higher the men jump, the cheaper the dowry is for the brides hand. So if a man jumps high he would only have to pay four cows to the other chief instead of six.
They also showed us how to create fire by rubbing two sticks together. It was much harder then they made it look.
There main source of drinking is Milk and Cow Blood!
Finally they end the tour with going into their huts. Keep in mind that their huts are made of cow dung. Don't worry, they did not smell a bad as it sounds. They are about a 10' x 6' hut that have one small window to keep away mosquitoes. In this hut one family (father, mother, and two children) lived along with their calf to protect it from predators at night.
The Maasai people believe in polygamy. All of the chiefs have multiple wives, and one chief in a local tribe has 8 wives and over 70 children. The family is so large that the children had their own school.
Be aware that they will try to guilt trip you into buying their trinkets and giving them money. This is pretty common everywhere. You need to learn to start saying "no" or you will run out of money quickly.
Maasai School - We visited a Maasai School that was home to about a 1,000 students from over 150 tribes. The school teaches English, Swahili, Math, and Science. Each classroom holds over 100 students. While at the school, we saw a dance that they preform for the alphabet.
Day 3: Maasai Mara to Nairobi
We started our day with an early morning game drive where we finally spotted the fifth member of the BIG 5, the Rhinoceros! On the long drive back to Nairobi, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. The food throughout our trip primarily consisted of stews, steamed vegetables and rice/noodles. Many of the dishes are overcooked to prevent any food-borne illnesses from spreading. Our Safari did not cover lodging in Nairobi, but we stayed at the Best Western. The hotel was excellent, and the hot shower and comfy bed made for the perfect break from our camping safari. That night we walked around Nairobi quickly before heading back to the hotel for dinner. The city is incredibly crowded, and we instantly stuck out as tourists.
Day 4: Nairobi to Arusha
We boarded a shuttle to take us from Nairobi to Arusha. The drive takes about 4-6 hours depending on how backed up the border crossing is. For more information on the border see our other blog post, Crossing the Kenya-Tanzania Border! Along the way you will catch a glimpse of the big and beautiful Mount Kilimanjaro. Once we arrived in Arusha, we had the rest of the day to explore the city. Our time in both Nairobi and Arusha taught us that you travel to Africa for the wildlife rather than the cities. Neither city offered a cultural experience comparable to other cities we have previously traveled to. Waste management was an issue in all of the cities we saw. Trash piles up throughout the street, and as far as we could tell, nobody ever came to pick it up.
Day 5: Arusha to Tarangire National Park
On the fifth day we officially started the Tanzania portion of our safari. Our first stop was Tarangire National Park. This park had largest herds of elephants that we encountered! We saw multiple herds of 20+ elephants ranging from big males, that weigh between 7-8 tons, to elephants that were just a few weeks old! This is the only are area we were able to see the boabab tree. Not sure what this is? Just think of the tree that Rafiki lived in the Lion King. Make sure to bring bug spray because this park definitely had the worst tsetse flies and mosquitoes throughout our trip.
That evening, we drove to our campsite near Lake Manyara. Although we did not go into the park, we were able to see the lake from afar. This was the only campsite that had wifi and private charging stations.
Day 6: Lake Manyara Campsite to Serengeti National Park
From the campsite, we traveled past the Ngorongoro crater where we stopped to take pictures of a lookout point. Luckily there were no clouds and we could clearly see the crater full of animals. This was a truly spectacular view. On our way to the Serengeti, we drove through beautiful scenery of mountain ranges and passed Maasai villages along the way. Depending on the season, you can see big herds of wildebeest and zebras migrating. The Serengeti is considered the best safari in the world, and we quickly understood why. Within the first 30 minutes we saw two families of cheetahs! Both families had young cubs, and one family we were able to see just a few yards away.
That afternoon, just as we reached our campsite it began to rain. We pitched our tents in the rain and as we were cleaning up for dinner a rainbow emerged across the sky.
Day 7: Serengeti National Park
Day two in the Serengeti was even better than the first. During our morning drive, we were able to see a zebra migration with hundreds of zebras forming a line and making their way across the savanna. We also saw a group of hyenas tearing up a campsite. Finally, the icing on the cake was the dozens of lion cubs that were enjoying a recent kill with their mothers. We stayed there for close to an hour with the lion cubs using our jeep for shade. This was one of the unforgettable moments of the trip and listening to the baby lions learning how to roar is a sound I will never forget. We also got to witness a cub breast feeding right next to our jeep. One of the mothers was not very happy with us taking pictures as seen below. While these animals look so cute and playful in pictures, the lionesses are fierce in person. Their paws are the size of your face and their roar is nothing short of terrifying.
After our eventful morning drive, we drove to our campsite overlooking the Ngorongoro Crater. It was a beautiful campsite!
Day 8: Ngorongoro Crater
The Ngorongoro Crater was probably our favorite location. Once you enter the crater, you are surrounded by mountains on down in the valley lives an abundance of animals. the steep crater walls prevent animals from leaving creating a unique ecosystem within the crater. The elephants here are some of the oldest in Africa and their tusks were more than eight feet long. The entire floor of the crater was filled with wildflowers creating breathtaking scenery during our drive. A limited number of vehicles are allowed in the park at once to limit crowding. During busy season, the wait can be a few hours. We ate lunch at a lake in the center of the crater, where we were just a few yards away from one of the deadliest animals in the world, the hippopotamus. This was the perfect ending to our amazing trip.
Day 9: Arusha to Nairobi
On the last day of our safari we took the shuttle back to Nairobi, officially ending our safari.
Our African Safari was an unforgettable experience that we will not soon forget. We met so many incredible people and saw unbelievable animals and sights.
