Luxury Location, part Deux

After bidding adieu to Sosian, I drove two hours to the landing strip, boarded a plane and flew 45 minutes south to the Masai Mara. The stark difference between the two locations were immediately apparent.  The Mara was hot, flat, brown, and a never ending expanse of land in every direction.  And then there were the flies. They swarmed in the thousands... tens of thousands... hundreds of thousands, and especially loved the midday sun.

The Masai Mara is an extension of the Serengeti, near the border of Tanzania.  Twice a year the wildebeest migrate across the border, in the winter they go from the north to the south and the summer from the south to the north.  My trip was timed perfectly, as the wildebeest were at the tail end of their migration north.  They dotted the land as far as the eye could see, yet, Penny, the Offbeat Mara Camp manager, stated it looked nearly empty to her compared to a few weeks prior.

While we waited 20 minutes for the next plane to arrive with 2 more guests at the Mara Camp, Penny suggested we go on a drive.  Not once did I think we'd find anything, with the previous experience I had at Sosian, in only 20 minutes.  But 5 minutes later we sat gawking at a lion cooling itself under the shade of a tree.

I was in awe at the vast number of animals we saw in such short periods of time.  From my tent I was able to see a sea of animals grazing nearby. Every few minutes on drives we'd stop to see yet another animal.The ease in which to see the animals was amazing.  They were everywhere.  And I was thrilled.