Safari: Masai Mara

The day has finally arrived for our safari adventure! It costs $360 for four days per person, all-inclusive. It might sound a bit pricey, but that’s just the way it is when you go on safari. We were super excited and by around 9 AM, we were all set to go. We were heading out with 15 other young travelers from England, the USA, New Zealand, Australia, France, and Germany. We quickly learned two things: 1) The roads in Kenya are incredibly bad. I mean, they’re downright terrible. There are huge potholes on both the dirt roads and the paved ones. This means you have to dodge the holes, so the vehicles often end up driving more beside the road than on it, weaving around a lot. More often than not, the car still hits a pothole, and we all go flying up to the ceiling. What an experience! 2) The second thing we learned is that you can’t really get a specific time out of a Kenyan. It’s just “after breakfast,” “after sleep,” etc. So, we didn’t rely on our watches much during the safari. After bumping around on the Kenyan roads for six hours, we finally arrived at our camp, which is right on the edge of the Masai Mara National Park. This is where we’ll be staying for the next few days. The camp consists of tents that are thankfully big enough to stand up in. They’re permanent tents, so they come equipped with a bed—pure luxury! There was also a covered dining area where our "chef" could prepare meals outside over a little fire. The toilet and shower facilities were pretty good—actually better than the hostel we had been staying at until now. Before it got dark, we managed to squeeze in a taste of what a "game drive" is all about. We didn’t drive very far into the national park before we were surrounded by animals. The first ones we spotted were zebras and giraffes. Deer, wildebeests, and buffaloes are also a big part of the wildlife on the savannah, and these are the animals you see most often. Back at the camp, we were pretty hungry. So when we were served spaghetti and meat sauce, it didn’t take long for it to disappear! After dinner, it got dark—really dark. Luckily, Jan had his headlamp with him, so we could find our way back to our tent. Everyone goes to bed early out here on the savannah since the day starts early too. So, at 9:30 PM, we said goodnight.