On Safari in Kenya (Part 6)

This is the sixth post of my recent trip in July 2018 to Kenya. Along with my daughter-in-law Kim and granddaughter Lauren, I joined a Harambe Humanitarian effort. There were fifteen of us who visited Kenya for 12 days . We were guided by our American/Kenyan host couple  Marilyn and Oldere (OD). Links to the first five posts of my adventure are at the end of this post.

Although we were mostly based in and around the Maasai city of Narok, we did spend a day traveling to the savannah for a safari. The savannah straddles the Kenya/Tanzania border and is called the Maasai Mara on the Kenya side and the Serengeti on the Tanzania side of the border. 

This post is about the lodge where we stayed and our first day of safari. I have way too many pictures to share to squeeze it all into one post! So the next post will be Safari Day 2. 

We stayed at the Riverside Mara Camp.

The entry and reception area was very grand!

The tile work on the wood parquet floor was amazing.

And there was a large mural of “The Big Five” animals of the savannah; the elephant, the rhino, the cape buffalo, the lion, and the cheetah. The mural was located in the dining area.

Below is some seating off the dining area, near the bar. This is where we got our wifi reception.

The windows are just openings to the outside, as they are throughout the main lodge. This is a view from the dining room out to the cabins.

Here’s another view of the sign in front. These ladies, Shelly and MaryBeth, were in our group. MaryBeth had a wickedly dry sense of humor, and Shelly is a cat lover, like many of us!

And the below photo is the woman of the husband-and-wife team who own this lodge as well as a restaurant and hotel in the little nearby town. Their son, Leshan, was one of our safari drivers.

The first morning we didn’t leave the lodge for safari until 7:00 a.m., which was much later than usual. But we’d had an orientation the previous evening, plus unpacking, so they cut us some slack.

Our group was spread out in three Land Rovers. In the picture, that’s me on the left in the hat). Up front, driving (right) is Leshan, next to him (in front of me and out of picture) was Marilyn and OD’s son M, then that’s Marilyn on the center right holding their other son S. Behind her is Allison (with headband). Taking the picture was either MaryAnn or Jim Tufts (picture of them in next post). The window spaces were open, and we were allowed to stand on our seats (without shoes) to see out the open roof tops. There was plenty of seat pocket storage space, and even a shelf and electronic device charging station in our Rover. As well, huge canvas  totes accompanied each vehicle and were filled with fruit, chocolate and crunchy snacks. And a generous sack lunch and drinks were provided for us each day.

I was so excited when we saw our first giraffes! To actually see these beautiful, graceful creatures roaming free in their natural habitat for the first time is a true goosebump-inducing, “pinch me” moment.

We would see many herds of them over the two days of safari. We even saw two male giraffes “necking” (fighting by whomping each other with their necks). I got a picture but am not posting it because it is a far-off image.

We saw lots of cute zebras, too. Do you know if zebras are white on black, or black on white? The answer is that they are black on white.

And did you know that zebras, when born, are brown on white? See the brown stripes on the young one below? They are furry with brown stripes when born. As they reach maturity, the stripes turn from brown to black.

This is a silver-backed jackal.

Nearing lunchtime, we came to the Mara River. This is where the famed animal migration takes place (not necessarily this exact locale). Just to the right of the picture below, out of camera range, was a herd of zebra. They were considering crossing to the other size (Tanzania). But we saw hippos and crocodiles in the water and kept silently urging them not to do it!

The annual migration of wildebeest and zebra from the short grasses of the Serengeti to the long grasses of the Maasai Mara runs for several months and has historically peaked on or about June 20. This year, we were there almost a month later and there had only been sporadic crossings. It was said that the Tanzanians were lighting fires to hold off the migration, but I’m not sure how accurate (or effective) that would be. Nature’s forces will not be denied (delayed maybe, LOL, but not denied).

There were lots of hippos lounging in the river and on the banks. They are said to be the most dangerous animal in Africa.

And there were several crocodiles lounging around too. To me they are prehistoric and ugly-looking, but they have their place in nature I guess. 

We all snapped selfies and/or pictures of each other with the river (and hippos) as backdrops. It was a beautiful warm-but-not-hot day.  Here is my daughter-in-law Kim and her daughter (my DGD) Lauren.

We stopped for lunch in a shady grove of trees just off the river. The drivers scouted the area first to make sure it was clear of animals. After a lunch of chicken legs, cucumber-and-butter tea sandwiches, a hardboiled egg, fruit and a juice drink, we were on our way again. 

Impala

We saw hyenas here and there. They surprised us with their size - much larger than we thought. I thought of them as being about the size of an average dog, and some of the younger ones were, but the adults were much larger and taller. 

Hyena

One of the Big Five: the Cape Buffalo (similar to a water buffalo in Asia). 

Cape Buffalo

And you’re probably wondering about bathrooms out on safari.  We were told ahead of time (at the orientation the previous evening) that we would stop periodically to “mark our territory” to use the safari euphemism.  Whether it was in the tall grasses or in a grove of trees, the drivers would scout out the area first to make sure it was safe (free of wild creatures) . Then we were free to squat (women) or stand (men) to relieve ourselves. If we wanted to use toilet paper, we were not to leave it, but rather carry it back to a special trash sack for that purpose. We also had hand sanitizers to use to clean our hands.  

We returned to the lodge about five-ish and all of us hit the showers.  One gets really hot, dry and dusty on safari!  That gave us time to review pictures and have a drink before dinner and sunset, about 7:00 p.m.  

Below, Lauren and Kim sit on the wall outside our cabin (a small river in the background) checking out the day’s photos. 

Next post: Safari Day Two! That’s when we moved to a different area of the Mara and saw the big cats (lions, leopard, cheetah), elephants and lots more!  

To check out the previous posts of my trip, here are the links:

Part 1 - Elephant Orphanage and The Escarpment
Part 2 - Tenkes Elementary and the Mau Forest
Part 3 -  Days for Girls and Lunch in a Mud Hut
Part 4 - Maasai Warriors and Around Narok City

Part 5 - Cute Kids and Fantastic Foliage