We were on the move again after breakfast and Joe drove us to Wilson Airport for the flight to the Mara Club in the Masai Mara, where we expected to find a representative from Pullman Agency at the airport to collect the itinerary and vouchers for our Safari in The Serengeti afterwards. As no one in the office knew anything about it John went of phone the Nairobi Office, he was told that a driver was in transit and would be there within minutes. Time went on and there was no sign of him. Eventually he arrived with all our papers the poor man had a puncture en route!!! John then decided to go upstairs to the Air Kenya Office to check the Malindi-Lamu flights were in order. He took forever, I saw people being taken to immigration and security I got into a frenzy imagining that if John did not reappear we would not be going anywhere today. No need to worry for the groups were colour coded, blue, yellow, green and each group were going to different destinations.
After going through immigration and security checks we boarded a 14 seater plane as we were sitting at the back and I against a door I was frozen. A young Asian sitting in the seat in front of me very kindly offered me his sweater which I accepted gratefully. On arrival at the airstrip I returned it and told him he was very kind, he in turn said he was pleased that I had accepted it. He was travelling with a colleague who was a Philippine and they were taking a break whilst on a business trip to Nairobi. Waiting for us were four 4×4 vehicles each one taking four passengers, we reached the Lodge via a dirt road, on arrival we were greeted with mango juice and hot flannels, then allotted a tent similar to the one in Pangani.
The tent was very comfortable, twin beds washbasin and WC with a small terrace to the front with director chairs and a small table overlooking the Mara River. We could hear snorting and grunting on investigating we could see Hippos emerging and submerging from the river, we also heard cattle bells, the sound coming from a boma on the opposite bank. We then went to the bar and ordered a beer to drink then and water to have with lunch, we couldn’t believe the water was more expensive than the beer. We then sat down with the two gentlemen who had sat in front of us on the plane for lunch and an older man, also Asian, who had a business in Hong Kong in chemicals and plastics, we were sitting outside overlooking the swimming pool and it was all very jolly.
For our Game drive at 3.30pm, we were allocated a vehicle with two honeymoon couples. One couple lived in Luxembourg he was French and she Danish, the other couple English. Our first sighting of game was a herd of zebra and some jackals, next a cheetah with three month old cubs and later another with very small cubs. The mother was lying very still whilst we were watching her and the cubs playing, mum got a bit nervous and decided to move. Further on a lioness with two big cubs, then another lioness with very small cubs walking them out of danger from us. On the return trip were four giraffe they were a bit edgy, as we rounded a bend we discovered the reason, there was a lioness lying on the side of the track. Then we came across some birds a white bellied bustard, a secretary bird and a loan female ostrich. We found a herd of elephants with two calves of different ages and the bull was enormous. Then on the track was a cheetah with her three big cubs playing and climbing trees that had forks low to the ground. We have all seen the Masai Mara on TV but to see it live is amazing because the small screen cannot convey the sheer vastness of the area.
Our fellow passenger, the Frenchman, had a state of the art camera and he took many photographs and as it was nearly sunset, he wanted to capture the moment on camera when the sun dropped below the horizon, therefore we arrived back at the lodge a bit late.
We then showered and dressed for dinner and on arrival at the main building an educated Masai Warrior was giving a lecture on their way of life. I had noticed that he was also a driver/guide. We then joined our lunch acquaintances for a drink and dinner which was riot and very enjoyable. After that we never saw them again. From the craft shop we bought two dog collars for Rafiki our dog at home and the new puppy yet to be born. We then went to bed and found a hot water bottle, warming our beds and we slept very well.