Last weekend, I checked something off my bucket list, and I went on safari!!
I was invited to join the safari by George and Tom, my two British friends. They were invited by their roommate Scott, and the whole thing was organized by Scott’s colleague Pragya. Along with two more friends of Pragya’s, Mary and Megha, we formed a ragtag gang of seven who were cramped together in an open-top safari vehicle for three days straight. Needless to say, we got to know each other very well by Sunday.
The gang: Me, Pragya, Megha, Scott, Mary, Tom and George
Trip essentials
We booked (or rather, Pragya organized and booked) a 3-day, 2 night Safari with Natural World Kenya Safari. There are a few options for accommodations, but as a group we chose to stay at Sentrim. Lodge-wise, Sentrim was really nice, especially considering it was one of the budget options offered by our tour company! There are a few different types of rooms, and we didn’t stay in the basic tent ones. The ones we stayed in were essentially small cottages, but they had all your basics: beds with mosquito nets, hot water (!!!), coffee, etc. The only downside was that there was no safe in the room, even though that was advertised. The rooms were cleaned daily, and at night, the staff even fixes your mosquito net for you! The stay at the lodge also includes food for all three days- and the food was fantastic. Especially to all of us who are used to cooking our own food and eating mostly lentils and rice. There were a wide variety of dishes available for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which were served buffet-style. The whole trip cost us $370 USD, including park fees, meals and accommodations. This doesn’t include drinks, tips and optional activities (visit to a Masai village or hot air balloon safari).
Day 1
We left Nairobi around 7:30 am with Chris, our guide, and drove to the Masai Mara (roughly 7 hours). Our drive took us past the Great Rift Valley, and we were able to stop at a lookout to take some photos. It was a big too foggy to really look out into the valley that day, but it really is awe-inspiring.
We arrived around 2:30, had lunch, and then had time to check in and relax before the game drive. A game drive, as the name implies, is when your driver takes you in your open-top safari car into the Mara and you go out looking for animals. These guides have a wealth of experience, and they know where to go to spot the “Big Five” (African lion, African elephants, Cape buffalo, African leopard, Black rhino). You could tell that Chris had heard something good on the radio when he would start driving really really fast to get us somewhere. Likewise, if he spotted something good, he would radio out to the other drivers, and within a few minutes there are a convoy of safari vehicles zooming down the road for a chance to spot these animals.
Life in a safari car. These cars get pretty cramped! The top opens so that you can stand on the seats to get a glimpse of the animals. I can’t tell you how many times I banged my head on those bars at the back.
George and Tom are very safari-ready.
Zebras grazing in the grass. This time of year, there are these huge herds of zebras and wildebeest in the park.
Impalas and Zebras. These guys were often just chilling together.
This is one of my favourite photos of the entire weekend. At one point, Chris started driving really fast through the Mara. Eventually, we were able to see this cheetah, who was eating its kill. As the cheetah was eating, vultures started landing closer and closer. At one point, we counted 27 vultures! I managed to snap this photo just as the cheetah stood up to chase them away.
We had the chance to check out this incredible sunset.
Day 2
Saturday, we woke up early to have a very long game drive, and we were lucky enough to spot a lot of animals!
These are female impalas. The males are the ones with the long horns. There is only one male per herd.
Spot the male!
This is a herd of bachelor imapalas, which are composed entirely of males. They generally stay pretty far away from each other.
Vervet monkeys. These guys were in the middle of grooming each other when we arrived.
African elephant. 1/5 check!
This was one of the cooler things we say. This little pride of African lionesses (2/5!!) were hanging out in the shade and eating their kill. No vultures dared come close to these guys!
The word Mara means “spotted” in the Masai language. The reason for that name is the fields that are “spotted” with wildebeest.
This rock represents the border between the Serengeti, which is in Tanzania and the Masai Mara, which is in Kenya. Mary and Megha are in Tanzania (without a visa, I might add!) and Scott and George are in Kenya.
From there, we went to the river, which were we saw the hippos! We had a guide take us around the river to the spot where we had lunch.
Those may look like rocks, but they are actually hippos!!
This the Mara river that the wildebeest cross during the Great Migration. The Great Migration is an annual event when the wildebeest migrate from the Serengeti (in Tanzania) to the Masai Mara (in Kenya).
From there, we had lunch in this popular lunch spot right next to the river. The tricky thing about lunch is that there are monkeys (no photos, unfortunately!) that hang around and try to steal your food. Our guide, Chris, has a slingshot which he uses to shoot rocks at the monkeys. They still get really really close sometimes!
This little mongoose was also hanging around our lunch spot.
In the afternoon, we drove around the Mara a little more.
Masai giraffe
You can see these huge herds of wildebeest and zebras in the park. There’s so so many of them!!
These are grey crowned cranes. Real cute.
We also say a rhino (4/5!!!) at this point while heading back to the lodge. Unfortunately, he was really far away and hidden in the grass so I didn’t take any photos (no zoom lens).
The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out at the lounge. A few people went to check out a local Masai village while the rest of us chilled out (it does get to be a long day!)
Day 3
On Sunday, we woke up ridiculously early (I’m talking like before 6 am) to go check out the sunrise in the Mara. And honestly, it was totally worth it.
We had enough time to get one more game drive in before driving back to Nairobi. We got incredibly lucky and spotted some male lions. They were just on the side of the road, so we got really really close to them. So close that Chris told us to get back in the car rather than hang out the windows.
After our adventure spotting the lions (!!!!) we headed back to the lodge to pack up and headed back to Nairobi.
All in all, this was an incredible first experience for a safari. Not only did we get to see 4 of the Big Five, but we were able to spot a lot of animals. As Chris mentioned, we saw more animals in three days than some people do when they do these week-long safaris.
I’m just so glad I get to check another item off my bucket list. Go on Safari: √
Complete list of animals we saw – (Big Five are in italics)
- Zebra
- Maasai Giraffe
- Thompson’s Gazelle
- Dikdik
- African Elephant
- Cheetah
- Hartebeast
- Wildebeest
- Topi
- Impala
- Cape Buaffalo
- Warthog
- Olive Baboon
- Vervet Monkey
- Lion
- Mongoose
- Hippopotamus
- Brown House Snake
- Black Spitting Cobra
- Nile Crocodile
- Black Rhino
- Lappet-Faced Vulture
- White Backed Vulture
- Lilac breasted roller
- Martial Eagle
- Bare-faced Goaway Bird
- Superb Starling
- Red Bill Oxpecker
- Grey Crowned Crane
- Common Ostrich
- Bateleur Eagle
- Steppe (or Tawny) Eagle
- Secretary Bird
wanderingmousey 
All I can say is WOW!!!
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