After a leisurely breakfast inside (instead of out on the lawn – it was cold) we finished packing up and got checked out. We are flying out to Mara North today from the little airstrip not far from our hotel. The flight was only slightly delayed.
The air field has no buildings and is just a flat, level ground cleared of brush, pot holes were filled in the day before, and the buffaloes and zebras and other animals chased off before the plane arrives by guys on motorcycles. No fences.
How do you know it is an air field? By the wind sock.
When boarding Mary went to put her backpack in the storage compartment in the back of the plane and managed to crack her head pretty hard on the edge of a vent. It bled a fair amount and the pilot pulled out his first aid kit and made a pad with gauze. It eventually pretty much stopped bleeding. At our first stop they had a doctor waiting to clean it up and check it to make sure she was ok. No real problem there.
Shortly after takeoff we could see the flower greenhouses that we have visited earlier.
We had good views of the Mara River and plains
and the Masai farms.
The plane seated 12 passengers…one could feel every bump in the air. And the plane we took was the local, stopping at two other air strips before landing at the Mara North airport. All three of these other runways were better - hard packed dirt - but still no buildings or fences.
And at the second airstrip the pilot buzzed the runway then went around again to land. We think he was scaring off a pack of zebras that was right next to the runway. We did see giraffes at a distances as well as running along side the landing strips.
All the airstrips (except the one we boarded at) had lines of safari vehicles waiting to pick up or drop off clients. And they were very busy with multiple small planes taking off and landing.
Upon arrival at the North Mara airstrip we were met by Dennis, from Karen Blixen Camp.
After our bathroom break, we met him under a tree where he had parked the vehicle and set up a small snack for us…nuts, chips, popcorn and juice.
Our drive was through the North Mara Conservation area where we saw the usual suspects…
wildebeests,
warthogs,
elands,
hyenas
giraffes,
and Thompson gazelles.
We also saw our first topi, a large antelope. This one was rather interesting as it tends to stand on little hills to keep an eye out for predators. They are also called the Blue Jean antelope because of the blue splotches on their hind legs.
The Karen Blixen Camp is in the conservation area and right along the Mara River. And we are Glamping here (glamorous camping). Our room is a large tent, maybe 20 by 30 feet, built on a platform with a large patio overlooking the river. There is a large bathroom at the back of the tent with a door (tent flap) outside to a very large open air shower.
We ate lunch on the grounds overlooking the river with a great view of a large pod (also known as herds or bloats) of 25 to 30 hippos on the opposite bank. There were a couple of pretty small babies in the group.
*******************************
Video of hippos
*******************************
We also saw impalas coming to the river to drink.
As we were
leaving the clinic the school children were headed out. And we met Dennis’ two girls, Sophia and
Clare. And a few other kids who wanted
to get into the vehicle. Dennis stopped
that immediately. Fun interaction.
From there we
headed out on safari. Saw some more of
the usual East African animals. There
were a couple of highlights. We saw a
really old elephant (maybe around 50 years old) with massive tusks. The elephants with the really large tusks
have been fitted with tracking collars to help keep and eye on them an protect
them from poachers.
We also saw lots
of lions…
a lone male,
a lioness with cubs
and a pride with 3 lionesses, a couple of adolescents and 7 small ones.
The little ones were for the most part nursing. Fun to watch.
**************************
Lion cubs nursing
**************************
**************************
Video of Fun with tails
**************************
*************************************
More Lions
*************************************
More animals we saw:
Cape Buffalo
and Ox Peckers on their backs
Zebras
Baboons
Monkeys (probably vervets)
and a Francolin Bird
We came across a lone elephant that was working diligently to pull down leafy limbs from a high tree.
*************************************
More Elephant
*************************************
We were back at camp about 6:30. Good time to get back, it was getting dark and cold. Fortunately, our open-air vehicle also had blankets to help ward off the cold.
Whenever we are
out after dark we are escorted by a guard (someone referred to them as Masai
warriors) carrying a gun. We were given
a small cow bell to use to notify the guard when we want to leave the tent to
go to dinner. But we didn’t need it
tonight as he was waiting for us when we came out of the tent.
To secure the
room you zip up the tent front screens and then padlock the three zippers (one
in middle and two on either side at the bottom) together. Same at night. Hope we don’t have a fire. We’ll never get out of the tent.
We got to bed
pretty early as we are getting up very early for a 6:30 safari.
Previous
Next
No comments:
Post a Comment