The Masai Mara
Friday, November 16, 2007
This past summer, after a tough survey trip to southern Sudan, the group I was with spent 2 days at the Masai Mara game park in Kenya. It was amazing in it's own way, but you're not going to hear any jealously in my voice when I talk about this safari versus the West African safaris that I am more used to. 
Just to get this out of the way so I can move on to extolling the virtues of The Masai Mara: It was very much like a zoo, while the experiences we have at Pendjari, Nazinga, and (soon) the W parks are much more wild and untamed. I am more of a fan of the latter, but the former also has it's place and it's own virtues...
First great thing is the grand scale of Masai Mara. It is spread out, wide open and easy to navigate. There are animals everywhere, so if you don't spot anything, you must be blind. We happened to be there at just the right time of year, and we had an incredible time watching the annual wildebeest migration.
What really makes The Mara is the big cats. Everyone wants to see the lions, cheetahs and leopards, and the park has them in pretty good numbers. We saw lion and cheetah, but the leopards are just too shifty for more than a handful of people each year to lay eyes on...
Speaking of eyes, that it was I was struck hardest with about East African safaris. Yeah, you may see something, but if it's good, 50-100 other people see it too, and at the same time as you. The drivers have radios, and when they see something good, they radio it out, and dozens of vans and SUV's roll to the scene with a quickness. This shot here really embodies it: Yeah, we saw this lion, but so did everybody else. It was about as NON-intimate as it could possibly be. As a hardcore safariist(new word), I prefer my animal encounters to be intimate, just me and a few friends and some lions. Or some angry elephants ;)
On another note, zebras are cool. And I've decided that they are white with black stripes, not black with white stripes...
Cheetahs. I really wanted to see cheetahs. On our way out, we saw them. It wasn't dramatic, but it was cool. No less than 25 vans and SUV's were following the same 3 kitties, but it was still cool to see them. Cheetahs are very solitary, so it was a rare treat to see 3 young males out laughing at the tourists together...
Matt and his Masai friend were funny. Matt knew him from his previous trip to The Mara, and for some reason that I cannot explain they ended up in a foot race. Matt is not track star, but he gave Masai man a run for his money, although I'm pretty sure the Masai guy was just humoring him...
Giraffes! So tall and majestic!
So in summary, The Masai Mara is UH-mazing, but I'm glad it's not my home park. I'll take Pendjari and it's hidden treasures over sharing my experience with 100 crackers I've never met before any day of the week. The Mara has it's purpose, and it serves it well, but I'm glad that for now my home is in West Africa, a truly wild frontier.
Just to get this out of the way so I can move on to extolling the virtues of The Masai Mara: It was very much like a zoo, while the experiences we have at Pendjari, Nazinga, and (soon) the W parks are much more wild and untamed. I am more of a fan of the latter, but the former also has it's place and it's own virtues...
First great thing is the grand scale of Masai Mara. It is spread out, wide open and easy to navigate. There are animals everywhere, so if you don't spot anything, you must be blind. We happened to be there at just the right time of year, and we had an incredible time watching the annual wildebeest migration.
What really makes The Mara is the big cats. Everyone wants to see the lions, cheetahs and leopards, and the park has them in pretty good numbers. We saw lion and cheetah, but the leopards are just too shifty for more than a handful of people each year to lay eyes on...
Speaking of eyes, that it was I was struck hardest with about East African safaris. Yeah, you may see something, but if it's good, 50-100 other people see it too, and at the same time as you. The drivers have radios, and when they see something good, they radio it out, and dozens of vans and SUV's roll to the scene with a quickness. This shot here really embodies it: Yeah, we saw this lion, but so did everybody else. It was about as NON-intimate as it could possibly be. As a hardcore safariist(new word), I prefer my animal encounters to be intimate, just me and a few friends and some lions. Or some angry elephants ;)
On another note, zebras are cool. And I've decided that they are white with black stripes, not black with white stripes...
Cheetahs. I really wanted to see cheetahs. On our way out, we saw them. It wasn't dramatic, but it was cool. No less than 25 vans and SUV's were following the same 3 kitties, but it was still cool to see them. Cheetahs are very solitary, so it was a rare treat to see 3 young males out laughing at the tourists together...
Matt and his Masai friend were funny. Matt knew him from his previous trip to The Mara, and for some reason that I cannot explain they ended up in a foot race. Matt is not track star, but he gave Masai man a run for his money, although I'm pretty sure the Masai guy was just humoring him...
Giraffes! So tall and majestic!
So in summary, The Masai Mara is UH-mazing, but I'm glad it's not my home park. I'll take Pendjari and it's hidden treasures over sharing my experience with 100 crackers I've never met before any day of the week. The Mara has it's purpose, and it serves it well, but I'm glad that for now my home is in West Africa, a truly wild frontier.
