Why I will never forget Masai Mara National Game Reserve

A Traveller's Guide to East Africa by Timothy Ijala



Avisit to a Masai village at Masai Mara



"I hope you will be back again,"this
Giraffe seems to be saying as we left the Mara. 

"Look,look, look," a friend of mine called out excitedly. I stopped the van and looked in the direction she was pointing. It was a lion rolling on the grass. Having been to several national parks in Uganda and not seen a lion this close, it was quite exciting not only to see one but to see the theatrics it was performing. As if knowing that it had an audience the lioness rolled over several times in the grass. Little did we know that this was the first of the many lions we would see until we had had enough of seeing them.

We were on the plains of the Masai Mara National Game reserve made famous by its annual migration of wildebeest from neighbouring Tanzania. We had driven for two days from Kampala,Uganda with an overnight stopover in Kericho. It would not be my first time in the Mara but this was an expedition I had organised for my friends and we spent three days seeing lions, elephants, buffaloes,giraffes and we even saw a leopard(very rare to see) in the three days we were there.
It was the rainy season and twice we got stuck but with the help of our Masai guide called Edward Lion and a good four wheel drive van we survived. we had a great time in the three days we spent at the Mara and an adventure I am not about to forget.
I will never forget one of the times we got stuck. We were on our way to see Rhinos.Though it had rained and the roads were muddy our guide assured us that everything would be okay(big mistake). As we crossed a stream we got stuck right in the middle. No amount of pushing the four wheel drive van would get us out. Stuck right in the middle of the Masai Mara along the path of elephants (or so Edward said) with nobody knowing exactly where we were in this park of 580 square kilometres! Not very exciting. I was the only one who had carried a cellphone though what good it would do in an area with almost no network and my phone charge being low (we were staying in a campsite so there was no where to charge my phone)was anyone's guess.However I did manage to send a text message to Thomas Were the manager of Mara Intrepids camp where we had fuelled in earlier in the day. I wasn't sure whether we would get a response but "a drowning man clutches at straws" as the saying goes. Oh yes and I forgot to mention that it started to rain. A feeling of despair fell on the group as we settled to the grim reality that we might have to spend the night in our vehicle in the middle of the park.
That could easily have been a reality except for the fact that my message did get through and help came. With the help of a strong landcruiser and some determined men we were soon out of the stream and on our way back to Crocodile campsite the campsite near the Talek gate where we were staying. Its true we never did get to see the Rhinos and tick that off the list of the big five to be seen but we also never got to spend the night in the middle of the bush in a van with lions, elephants and Buffaloes for company.

I never once regretted that trip to the Masai Mara and vowed I would go back to the Mara one day come rain or shine,I still would prefer shine though.

Factfile
The Masai Mara is one of Kenya's great National Game Reserves and is famous for its annual migration in July/August of millions of Wildbeest,Zebras and Gazelles and the fearless Masai people. It stretches 1510 sq KM(580 sq miles).
It takes about 6 hours to drive from Nairobi or 45 minutes by flight. You can also drive from neighbouring Uganda to the Mara but that requires a strong four wheel drive vehicle and a good knowledge of the road.The option is to fly to Nairobi from Entebbe with Fly540 which has daily connections to the Mara.
Accommodation available ranges from basic campsites to luxury tented camps. The best time to go is in the months of July/August during the annual migration.