Part of our African Adventure is in the journey between national parks. We drove from Lake Nakuru to the Masai Mara National Reserve for about an hour along this bumpy road. Our tour guide calls this a Safari Massage but the strange part of all this is we are seeing so many interesting people, sites, and animals that we hardly mind the bumps at all.

Before long we arrived at the gate to Masai Mara where our safari vehicles lined up to enter the park. Our group has a total of seven safari Land Cruisers and even though we are a pretty big group with 38 people we still are getting to know most everyone with us. The one thing we all have in common is our love of travel and we are certainly making some life time friends here.

Almost as soon as we passed through the gates we started seeing giraffes and elephants. This father and baby giraffe pair caught our attention first. I just love the acacia trees and love adding them into the photos with the animals. The trees are able to adapt to the harsh environment and to me, they are quite iconic to Africa.

The baby elephants who are so protected by the family are always exciting to see also.

Although these look like enormous boulders in the photo below, take my word what you see is two hippos taking a mud bath. They submerge their bodies to stay cool during the heat of the day and then during the evening they go to the marsh to feed once again returning to mud baths by early morning.

We did see many hippos out of the water in the park so let me just show you a shot of them before we continue into the park to our hotel, the Mara Serena.

And while we are focusing on the hippos basking near the Mara river let me share William’s favorite animal, the Nile Crocodile. These Crocs are eagerly awaiting the great migration that will happen very soon. Right now the scouts of Wildebeest are just arriving at the Mara, but soon over 2 million of them will arrive and cross the Mara River to feast on tall grasses. Many of the Wildebeest and zebras will not survive crossing the river due to the healthy population of these Nile Crocodiles.

The Mara Serena was just amazing as all our other hotels have been on this Safari. We’ve enjoyed five star hotel accommodations and bountiful buffets this entire trip. I like how the hotels blend into the landscape and how they are decorated with the African colors.

After check in, William spotted Julius in full Masai attire. Julius gladly allowed William to hold his fighting weapon for the photo.

After lunch and check in we headed out for our first game drive in the Mara. I’ve mentioned before how good our guide is at spotting the animals but for this first sighting of the Chetah it was Caroline’s sharp eye that detected this long-legged spotted African cat that is one of the swiftest mammals.

She blended into the landscape so well and from the size of her bloated belly she must have enjoyed a kill recently.

We would see another chetah the next day but she did not make herself quite as visible to us. She was camouflaged quite well under the brush trying to stay cool but look closely and you will see her.

I think it is important to mention here that William and I did much research on what camera would be best to take with us on this Safari. We both love photography but we are far from professionals. We mainly take snapshots to share with you! We knew the animals often were going to be some distance from us so we wanted a long lens but did not want a big heavy camera with changeable lens so we decided on the Sony RX10 mark IV. This crossover camera did everything the YouTube reviews said it would and we have loved having it with us in Africa. However there have been many times where the animals came right up to our Safari Vehicle and our iPhone cameras have done an amazing job as well. When the animals were far away, our family used their binoculars and they would confidently say that I would get the photo for them.

We had some very exciting activities planned for our time here at the Mara. One morning we headed out at 4:30 am for a hot air balloon ride over the park. William was an old hand at hot air balloons as he had flown them in Alaska advertising his business almost daily when he was a young man. For me and most of the other people in our group this was a first time event.

We had Arturus as our pilot and one thing for sure he sure loved his job. He was from Spain and certainly quite the character.

It was amazing to see the Mara River and wildlife from such a different viewpoint. I was able to zoom in quite close to most of the animals but it was the other balloons in the air that caught more of my attention.

It was so quiet and peaceful as we floated above the marsh with only the sound of an occasional addition of propane to the balloon to keep us aloft. We were so lucky to have such a passionate pilot because he took us further than any of the other balloons in our group. Landing was not too bad although we did end with the basket on the side and we had to crawl out.

This was such an amazing experience but as I stated earlier things just keep getting more exciting on this safari. Once we landed the balloon we had a champagne breakfast waiting for us. It was nice that our pilot, Arturus could join us.

During the breakfast I had an opportunity to talk with some of the Masai Women. It was here that I met Nancy. I asked her if she could make a hat band for William’s hat just like the one she was wearing on her head. We agreed upon a price and made arrangements for us to pick it up from her the next day.

After breakfast we went back to the hotel for a brief nap and then headed out for yet another game drive. We spotted these lions resting after feasting on a kill. The grass is so high in the Masai Mara now so it was difficult to get a full view of them.

We also saw these two lionesses resting on the rocks. It was obvious they too had their fill of the recent kill.

You know that if there is a kill anywhere around the hyenas are close by. This fellow was scouting for his opportunity to grab just a bit of the spoils for himself.

On our morning drive the next day, Mwok our driver took us back in that same direction to see if we could see these lions again but instead we happened on this lion and lioness right along side the road. What a treat for us as this was a mating pair. They were so close to us we could have reached out to touch them.

Very quickly hey moved up to an even better viewing point for us. They just sat there resting allowing us to easily observe them.

It was only a few minutes before the lioness, who was definitely in charge of the mating process, approached him to let him know she was ready.

The mating moments were very brief and then the lioness would get up and walk away.

The lion would watch her every step not allowing her to get out of his sight.

We felt very privileged to observe the mating of this lion and lioness. Not everyone on a Safari in Africa will witness this.

The next morning we went out looking for these same lions. Mwok told us they would mate for seven days with only a few minutes between breedings. We did see the lion and lioness sitting in the grass but we turned around in our vehicle and saw these two lions walking up the road behind us. Mwok said they were probably in the same pride and were more than likely brothers.

One of these brothers approached the mating lion and there was a brief confrontation as the lion let him know the lioness was his and then the mating pair moved a distance away.

There was so much happening for us in the Masai Mara. We had yet another champagne breakfast in the bush.

Because we are in the bush the breakfast was guarded by a park ranger and a Masai Warrior. This place along the Mara River is best know for the Great Migration Crossing of Wildebeest but as you can see William and I were having the time of our life here on our first African Safari.

Masai Mara National Park of Kenya and the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania border each other and no safari is complete without this snapshot at the border.

We also were able to visit a Masai Village where the chief’s son talked with us about their lifestyle.

We learned that their cows are their livelihood and that when they marry the husband must provide a dowry to the wife’s family. They also live a somewhat nomadic lifestyle and the husband can have many wives. Mwok, our own driver had told us that he had to provide 8 cows, 8 goats and 8 sheep to his wife’s family when he married. Of great interest to me was making fire as I too am one of the few people who know how to make fire by friction. Look closely and you will see me gathering around the Masai to try fire making myself.

The tribe invited us to dance with them. I don’t know why or how but William always ended up holding Masai weapons given the opportunity.

We were invited to barter the price of our purchases from the village. They told us that the money supported their school so perhaps we paid a bit more than we could have bought at the gift stores but we felt good to help the village and their school. Two of the Masai warriors negotiated by writing down their best offer followed by my best offer until we met somewhere in the middle.

Nancy met us at this village and brought William the hat band she had promised to make for him.

Africa is much more than the animals. It is also a bird paradise. One of our favorite birds was this Royal Starling.

And Kenya’s national bird, the lilac breasted roller is one of great beauty.

My post is becoming way too long. I’ve barely scratched the surface of our amazing African Safari but for now we are going to move on to yet another adventure to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Before closing I urge you to consider going on your own African Safari. And when you book your trip you must use African Horizons. When we return to Africa we would consider no one else. They are the most professional tour company we have ever had. They took care of our every need and provided a five star adventure.

I’ll close with two group pictures. This first is of the 38 people traveling with us along with our tour guides. Don Dobson set up the trip for us with African Horizons and we are so very appreciative of his love of helping people see Africa.

And this last group photo is of the Al Bandy group. Al Bandy is Joe Bruton’s cousin. Both Al and Debbie have traveled extensively and often invite family and close friends to join them. William and I were so happy that we could accompany them on this African Safari and hope to travel with them more in the future.