As a child, when not at home, I always felt most at home at Disney -World – Land – whatever… it was my heaven… for most of my childhood and then into adulthood – I was always striving to get back to Disney! For my mom, it is the tropics… really anywhere HOT with a great pool (maybe a beach for variety) but truthfully, Mom is happiest on any of the Hawaiian islands!
all that being said, it didn’t know the real feeling of “I have arrived” or “this is where I am meant to be” before the Masai Mara – however getting there isn’t a journey for the faint of heart or weak stomached 🙂
They have done a ton of work on the road but the road leading to the Mara is effin’ brutal!!! I think this is how they weed out the riff raff – where you decide if you really really want to visit it. sssooooo many bumps and divots that a few times you are literally thrown out of your seat… but because I knew what was on the other end; I didn’t bat an eye and told him to barrel on through.
(side note… there is an airstrip right on the Mara…so if you are loaded, clearly that is the route you would take)
We pull up to the gates and I am convinced they are pretty pearly to me and St Peter is gonna come out to welcome me… alas nope, no fanfare, no nothing…but the second I pass thru them and see the open landscape of rolling hills, spotted trees and then see my first wildebeest I am truly convinced I am HOME and in HEAVEN!!!
First off, I was shocked by how few wildebeest we did see, because on the previous trip they were EVERYWHERE – they were constantly mingled in with the huge groups of zebras… but this time, not so much. I was convinced that the migration is over, i was a lil choked. Now again, this is within seconds of arriving… of course, you know me, I was SHOCKED that every mamml in the Mara wasn’t at the gate to welcome me back so once doing alil more driving we did find plenty of them around. But seeing them in huge lines and looking like groups of tourists corralled to see the sights – it was pretty clear that their long trek back to Tanzania(the Serengeti) was starting already.
Of course, you had your bucketfuls of Thompson gazelles and elans, your elephants herds and giraffe families, your warthogs and hyenas, your cheetahs and lions and loads of them all BUT the funnest part this trip was the BABIES everywhere… even scampering baby warthogs…too friggin cute. Baby giraffes trying to reach the leaves on the tall trees like mom and dad…baby elephants in the watering holes trying to spray mud/water onto their backs to cool off like their parents but only spraying everything and everyone around them instead –gotta work on the ‘truck control’ and baby zebras standing behind or beside mom, resting their lil heads on her bum or her back – – so flippin adorable.
there was not a moment during those 3days that I would trade for anything on the planet (well except one but that’s for a later post)…and easily would have given up these 9days in paradise to go back to my heaven on earth and to feel like I was home again!!
To just sit in a truck and be surrounded by LIFE is such a gift… the sun rises and sets are 600% times more beautiful, even the disgusting carcasses (which are everywhere) never bothered me because it represented the circle of life; well, there was one that made my stomach flop (all the skin on his face was pulled right off the bone…uuggh)but the bird life was stunning and even the snake encounter I had while using the BUSH TOILET -yep I peed out on the Masai Mara… was magical in its own way.
The wonderment of the MARA has my soul wrapped up tight!
Now back to another day at the beach then on to the pool.
Many pictures to follow as I will be home in a few short days,
Big hugs to all
Carole