Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Masai Mara Trip Report . 18-20 July 2008

Masai Mara Trip Report
18th – 20th July 2008

FLIGHT

Nairobi Wilson Airport – Ol Kiombo Airstrip, Masai Mara
Safari Link
Dash 100?
Seating Configuration 2-2. Seat somewhere at the back
STD 10:00 am ATD 12:00 noon
STA 11:00 am ATA 12:45 pm

We arrived at the Safarilink check in counter at Nairobi’s Wilson Airport at 8:50 am for a 10:00 am departure. It was a busy morning, and there was inadequate seating for all the passengers in the lounge.

At 10:00 am we were called and asked to board a mini bus that would take us to the departure area. We waited standing around for the bus for at least 10 minutes and finally left. After we cleared security, we stood on the apron for another eighty minutes. None of the Safarilink staff came forward to let us know that we were delayed, and why. It was not until the passengers started getting edgy, and a phone call was made to one of the directors of Safarilink, that we were told that the pilot had not turned up, and then we had a technical problem with the plane. This was the first time that I used Safarilink, where they were running a Dash to the Mara. Eventually the pilot arrived (never saw him come), and we boarded at 11:30 am. We took off close to 12 noon.

The flight was fine. Water and a sweet was served.

We landed at 12:45 pm, and were met by the Intrepids guide who took us to camp.

Mara Intrepids Camp and Game drives
2 nights – Friday 18th and Saturday 19th July 2008

Check in was done quickly. As we have stayed at the camp many times before, we did not hang around for the check in brief, and instead headed to our tents – 5 & 6. Tents 1-12 are on the left side of reception, while 12A – 30 are on the right side after you walk pass the dining room. Next to the dining room is a bar and seating area on an outdoor deck overlooking the Talek River.

The tents have been done up, and look good. They are on raised platforms, located in clusters of 4’s. Each tent has a deck overlooking the Talek River (we had a male hippo in a pool in the river in front of our tents. The river levels are low). Each deck has 2 safari chairs and coffee tables.

The tents have a traditional zipped entrance. Inside you will find a cupboard meant to house a mini fridge (our cupboard was empty), either a double bed, or 2 singles, a writing desk and chair, a dressing table with a stool, a wardrobe, and 2 luggage stands. There is plenty of space to keep clothes, etc. The bed was comfortable, with blankets (not duvets), and is a four poster bed draped in mosquito nets.

The bathroom is part of the bedroom, with a twin vanity in the middle. On one side is a toilet (behind a door), and the other side an enclosed shower with a rain shower head. Hot water is available from 5:30 am – 8:30 am, and 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm. It is heated by wood.

The tents are comfortable, although located too close to one another. You could see from our tent into the tent next door, and you can hear conversations, etc.

The day on Safari is long. You get either tea/coffee/hot chocolate and cookies delivered to your tent in the morning with your wake up call. You depart for safari at 6:30 am, and come back at 8:30 am for a cooked buffet breakfast. Then head back out again at 10:30 am, and back at 12:30 pm for a buffet lunch. Afternoon tea is served at 3:00 pm, before you head out again at 3:30 pm, and back at 6:30 pm. Canapés are served by the bar, and then dinner is served at 7:30 pm.

We used to have our wake up at 5:30 am, and made a point of departing by 6:00 am. We always carried breakfast boxes with us, so we could spend a full morning out on a game drive, as the wildebeest migration was on, the cats were a plenty, and we did not want to miss out on any action. I am not a huge fan of breakfast boxes as they contain too much bread. We made a request for boxes with boiled eggs, chicken sandwiches, bacon, sausage, yoghurt, fruit and some bread. We got what we asked for, and were very happy. The kitchen also packs tea/coffee/hot chocolate.

We would stay out of safari until around 12:30 pm, when we would get back to camp. We had 3 lunches at camp, and were disappointed that the food did not really change. There was always a vegetable soup (all tasted the same), then a good salad bar (the variety did not change), a roasted meat, stir fried vegetables and stir fried meat (always beef), a cheese board, margarita pizza, bruschetta, garlic bread, fruit platters and desert from the kitchen. It sounds good, but tasted the same for 3 days, and was very different to what used to happen here a year ago. The kitchen ran out of our desert choice on two different days. Lunch also used to be served outdoors, but is now served in the main dining area.

We then headed out for a game drive at 3:00 pm, and always carried a cooler box of our favorite drinks for sun downers. Both evenings we got back to camp at around 7:00 pm. A quick shower and we were at pre-dinner drinks by 7:30 pm. The canapés on both evenings were finished by the time we got there. Dinner was in the dining room, and the room was way too bright with little atmosphere. The menu consisted of a choice of starter, soup, main course, desert (and cheese if you had room left), tea/coffee. On the first night there was a salmon starter which came to the table frozen, so that was sent back. The soup tasted the same as lunch. The main course was good (steak/chicken/fish), but they ran out of choices the both nights. We would order desert at the same time as our mains to make sure they would not run out.

The camp was reasonably full, but the staff did struggle with service.

Enough about food and service and the camp. Now to why we went.

About 3 weeks ago, we started getting news from friends in the Mara that the migration had started, so we booked to go.

Game Drives

Afternoon 1

The bridge that used to pass through the camp over the Talek River washed away a while ago, and the camp has not managed to get permission from Narok County council to re-build it. So we had to drive further down river and cross. We started driving towards Lookout Hill. This is located about 10 km from the camp. We started seeing the huge herds of wildebeest and zebra after 20 minutes, and headed to one of the crossing points, where there was a herd of wildebeest moving towards the river. We waited for them to see if they would cross, but instead they just started feeding and lay down, so we left that area.

We then came across three cheetah brother (nicknamed the Artur Brothers after some famous Armenian brothers who were deported from Kenya last year). They were feeding on a wildebeest. We sat with them for around 20 minutes. They then decided that they had enough and started walking off. About 70 meters away, they stopped where they had left another dead wildebeest. This one was un-touched. They were not interested in eating it.

We kept driving, and passed one hyena who was being bothered by the flies, and one silverback jackal.

We had heard of a leopard that had been seen less then 1 km from where the Cheetahs were. We found her (and 6 other vehicles). She was the same leopard we had seen in March 2008 and had named her Madonna. She was in a tree with a Grants Gazelle that she had killed, and was eating. The vehicles got too much for her, and she came down the tree and went into the bush. We waited a distance and had our sun downers. The other vehicles left. After half an hour, we saw her moving in the bush, and she came out. She gave us such an open display of her, grooming herself, stretching etc. We sat with her for at least 30 minutes, before she headed off towards the river and we had to head back to camp.

We would have seen herds of at least 200,000 wildebeest and zebra. We also saw large groups of giraffe, a herd (200 +) of buffalo, Thompson’s Gazelles, Grants Gazelle, Topi, Hartebeest, and Impala.

The game drive had been an amazing one.

Morning 1

We left camp at 6:00 am, and headed back into the same direction of Lookout Hill. We went to the spot where we had left Madonna. She was at the base of the tree where her kill was. As we approached, she climbed up the tree, and gave us an amazing display of her agility on thin branches, she ate for a while, before starting to relax. A few vehicles started arriving, so she came down and hid in the bush. We drove off to look for more.

About 1.2 km later we came across a female lion from the Shongo Pride. She was near a herd of Zebra. The Zebra came closer to her, and then changed direction. She stalked them when a mother and foal walked to the edge of the herd. The lioness attacked, startled the zebra who started running, and she then abandoned. She got very close. This lioness had a scar around her right eye, as well as the right side of her lip was drooping. She looked very strong.

We left her and headed out towards where the crossing points were. We drove past 4 hyenas who were running. We spent an hour among Wildebeest and Zebra. They crossed a stream. The river levels are so low, that they practically ran across the small pools. At one point, 9 Zebra came down to drink at a deeper part of the river. A foal walked into the water and was drinking. We saw two eyes come up out of the water and the foal saw the Crocodile too. The foal turned and leaped onto the river bank, and ran to safety with its herd. The Croc was too small, but made an attempt.

We then found the Artur Brothers. They were walking, so we followed them. They came across a tree trunk which they played on, and marked their territory. All of a sudden they got wary and started purring very low. We looked to see where they were staring, and eventually saw two lionesses in the grass. They were so hidden, we would have driven right past them. The cheetah turned around, and after 400 meters settled. We had our breakfast sitting watching them.

At 12:00 noon, we headed back to camp.

Afternoon 2

We left again at 2:00 pm, and headed towards Fig Tree area. At lunch one of the managers had told us that she had seen 2 leopards walk through Mara Explorer camp site that morning.

We headed to Fig Tree along the Talek River. As we were chatting one of my friends spotted a leopard sleeping on the river bank. We stopped and started taking photos. He got spooked and walked off into the bush under a Fig tree. We waited for a while, and he then walked up the river bank into the grass. He sat, then walked, sat then walked. All of a sudden another leopard came out of the same bush and headed down to the riverbank to urinate. We could not believe that two huge male leopards were together, and had been sharing one bush. The second leopard then relieve himself, and headed back into the bush. Meanwhile some other vehicles had arrived and we saw the fleet of mini vans (I cannot tell you how much I detest these vehicles and their drivers. They have no respect for animals, and should not be allowed to be used for game drives at all.).

We headed off towards Fig Tree. We then saw a car park with around 11 mini vans. Here we came across the Fig Tree Pride of Lion. There are three males (all cousins), 4 females and 6 cubs (4 from one litter, and two singles). It was so sad to see them surrounded by so many vehicles.

Further up the river, we saw a Fish Eagle, Snake Eagle, Tawny Eagle, and a Bataleur Eagle. We spent the rest of the afternoon just driving, and avoiding the mini vans. We went back to where we had seen the leopard earlier and spent 90 minutes waiting to see of they came out. They did not, so we headed to camp at 6:30 pm.

Morning 2

Out again at 6:00 am, we went to look for the 2 male leopards. We did not have any luck. We then came across the 6 lion cubs. Their mothers had gone off to hunt, and left them alone (probably with a baby sitter who was hiding in the bush). They played for a while, before they headed back into the bush. Why did they do this? The mini-van brigade was on is way. We started to drive off when one of the cubs came out of the bush looking for his siblings. The mini vans saw this, and he was surrounded by 7 of them. Sick!!!

We headed out towards Lookout Hill. 2 female and one sub adult male lion from the Shongo Pride had killed a Wildebeest. We watched them gorge themselves for a while, as we had our breakfast boxes, before we headed off to look for the Artur Brothers.

The three cheetahs had not eaten for 36 hours, and were stalking a herd of Gazelle. They attempted to kill a Grants Gazelle, but missed, and the effort had made them thirsty. They headed off to the river to drink, and then crossed it, before they headed off towards Rekero Camp.

We started driving towards where we had seen Madonna. We passed one female lion from the Shongo Pride who was resting. We saw Madonna up her tree, but with 9 vehicles near her, we headed once again to the crossing point. Not much action there, but we saw huge herds of them making their way to the river in a single file that stretched for kilometers. We just sat there and watched and enjoyed the peace and tranquility. On the Mara Triangle side, we saw 19 mini vans head down from Serena and drive towards a pride of 7 lionesses who had killed a wildebeest.

At 11:30 am we started heading back to camp.

The game drives had been so rich and intense. In less the n 48 hours, we saw 2 prides of lion (Shongo – 4 female, one male. Fig Tree – 3 male, 4 female, 6 cubs), 3 Leopard, 3 Cheetah, 2 attempted kills, 3 kills being eaten, 5 hyena, 4 silver backed Jackal, elephant, buffalo, Thompson’s Gazelles, Grants Gazelle, Topi, Hartebeest, Impala, Bush Buck, Water Buck, Giraffe, Warthog, Dik Dik, Spring Hare, Hippo’s, Crocodiles, Vultures (Lappet faced, White backed, and others), Eagles (Snake, Tawny, Fish, Bataleur), and so many other bird and animal species.

FLIGHT

Ol Kiombo Airstrip, Masai Mara - Nairobi Wilson Airport
Safari Link
Cessna 208
Seating Configuration 1-2.
Depart 1600 Arrive 1700

The rerun flight was pretty much hassle free. We left Ol Kiombo on time with 11/13 seats occupied, Flew to Royal Mara Camp (10 minutes), picked up 2 more passengers and then headed to Nairobi. The return flight took 45 minutes.