off to masai mara........... advise needed
 

Hello to all fodorites, have not posted for a long time. Hope all of you are well. I am visiting the mara for around 12 nights staying at different locations for 3 days a piece.

My stay starts with

3 nights serena
3 nights lion porini
3 nights serian
and 3 nights entim at the last leg of my trip

Got a private vehicle for the entire stay, and hope so loads and loads of lions along with the migration. Also I am vegetarian, but i guess that should be really fine as all camps have a veggie option now. Anyways plan to eat, sleep and drink lions !!!!!!!!!!!

Lynn ( atravelynn) is in the mara too and we do plan to meet up, really really hope we can

How does this trip look to all u africa experts ? Any suggestions, advise is very welcome, Thanks, Sonali

Sorry for the typos, it's hope to see loads and loads of lions, rgds, Sonali

Hi,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, where is everybody ???????????

I guess atleast,one reasons for no replies, that my trip is perfect :-) :-)

Pls advise the best way to maximise my lion sightings ?

... and if any of us didn't like it, would you change it? Though you didn't say when visiting, if soon... probably too late to make changes anyway.

Enjoy and have fun.

Best way to maximize lion sightings is to go to the zoo!

Sandi, that was really cute, about the zoo thing !!!!!!!!!!!! :-) :-) :-) , actually did not plan this trip in advance, it just sprung up on me as at first my plan was to vacation with my cousins for 15 days, but that's not happening so then on a short notice decided to do africa.

Knowing how crazy my interest is in lions and the migration, naturally decided to do the mara. Frankly I really consider you an all time expert on africa, as I have been reading your posts so have taken advise indirectly on a regular basis , before deciding and finalising. Well it is kind of finalised, but can still tweek the itiernary a bit. It's just that serena and entim are very close to each other, so was wondering whether to stay for 6 nights around the triangle. Pls give your frank opinion.

Also while surfing have located paul kirui's blogspot, the link is
http://paul-kirui.blogspot.com/ ,he has given a map showing excatly where the migration is. The maps are different compared to the heritage migration news which also he writes,have a look, u will enjoy it.

Actually I think I can increase a night at the serian/porini/entim if I want too, I am going on the 13th september,and leaving serena on the 16th morning, in porini till the 19th morn and serian till the 22nd morning, lastly leaving on 25th, now 25th is a saturday, so i felt that i would stay for one more night, subject to rooms being free at any of the three places i.e serian,porini and entim and then stay in nairobi for a few days and then head home.

If you had to add another camp to this trip, which camp would you add ?

Thanks, Sonali

Sonali, you will see lions and lions and lions and then more lions. Have fun and please let us know how it goes. I stayed at Kicheche Bush in June (my very first trip to the Mara) on the Olare Orok conservancy near Porini Lion. Don't worry, LOTS of lions.

Hope everything is well with you! Safari njema.

Leely couldn't have said it better. We stayed at Lion Porini for 3 nights and one night at Mara Intrepids (near Entim) and saw mating lions, sleeping lions, yawning lions, running lions, etc., etc. I will try to post my photos before you leave.

Entim in inside the Reserve on the east of the Triangle. Serena Lodge can be seen (that darn red light) from Entim, but it's actually 30/miles away. And, Serian Camp is outside the Triangle to the north on the Mara North Conservancy... also a good 30 (maybe even 40) miles distance.

Thanks leely and crosscheck and sandi,

Leely, Thanks for your concern, all is well with me, hope all is well with you, I will post a detailed trip report, once am back. I have told my ground operater to include a kenyan usb, which is pretty cheap around 1500 kenyan shillings, and have my own small laptop, so i guess i should have some internet access. Will try to post short notes on my trip,wherever i get signals.


Crosscheck, guess what ? The only regret i will have when leaving for safari,is that i will not be able to read more of your report, if the internet signals are bad in the mara. You write really well, pls post asap, looking forward to reading your humourous descriptions of animals and others :-) :-)

Sandi, mostly will do the game drives in the triangle when am at serena, and at entim near the southern eastern and central region around entim, so both hopefully will be different experiences

Also serena is on one side of the river and entim is on the other, so to reach the entim area from serena and vice versa, one would need to cross a bridge. Am i right ? Any idea how far is the bridge across the river from the serena and entim ?

thanks, Sonali

Cheers, Sonali

Thanks for your kind words, Sonali. I should have another installment up tonight or tomorrow. I cannot wait to hear about your trip, especially your comparisons of the camps. You will be our resident expert!

I believe that the water that runs in front of the Serena isn't the same as that at Entim... believe one is the Mara and the other the Talek or some such. And, I haven't the foggiest where one crosses from one side to the other... I leave that to my driver :)

I don't recall crossing a bridge anywhere coming from north/south or west/east... we just got wherever we were supposed to be. Some riverlettes (streams) but no "real" water.

Sonali,

Hi - just saw your Serian dates - 22 -25 - there will be two fordorites there with you if you want to grab a drink or something before dinner and share experiences - me (MoneyBurns, - I will be looking poor) and Tinydancer from Australia..
Look for us! A GTG in the Mara; how fun. Anybody else?

As Leely says- Safari njema!

MB

Hi, money burns, love your name, africa's expensive, and tiny dancer,am in serian on the 19th, 20th and 21st, leaving 22nd morning, when will you be checking innn ? Oh I wish I can meet you, my e-mail address is given with my profile, u can send me your e-mail and contact details, atleast we can talk .

Luckily I have my laptop and am in serena on the 14th and 15th,also lynn is there, we can have at GTG, of 4 fodorites, in the mara, wow

Kavey, just read you returned from serian, what should I do to maximise my experience of sighting lions at serian and the mara, pls write back,

Sonali

Bon Voyage and Safari Njema, Sonali.

I'm envious of your Fodorite GTG at Serian. I can just picture you arriving and inquiring about your "good" friends Money Burns and Tiny Dancer.