Maasai Mara

Maasai Mara, the last park on our itinerary, turns out to be the land of big cats. We know our niece Mara would love “the Mara,” as this beautiful park is called. It is the land of the Lion King and the great migration that meets the Serengeti on the Tanzania border. Coming off of the plane we’re greeted by our new driver Levy and glasses of champagne.

Levy is cheerful, about 5 feet tall, and turns out to be an exceptional darts player. After drinks we drive to the Mahali Mzuri camp and another great tent experience.

We have lunch, settle in, and head out for our first afternoon game drive. Levy spots a dead Thomson gazelle at the top of a tree almost immediately and shouts “leopard!” The leopard is waking up in a nearby bush. She jogs over, climbs the tree and starts tearing into her kill. She’s apparently a new mother but will keep her cub hidden during the day bringing him out to feed in the safety of the dark.

We drive along for a bit past many todi, zebra, wildebeest, impala, and gazelles.

Wart hogs run along the road, surprisingly fast given their chubby bodies.

We see a truck stopped by some bushes and park next to it. A pride of maybe 12 lions are waking up for the night. It’s a slow but fascinating process as one-by-one they stand, yawn, walk 5 feet out of the bush and collapse into a heap of more napping.

There’s a young male with the beginnings of a mane. There are also two young cubs who wake up more playful. They seem to like their big brother best, rolling around on him, while he licks them.

Eventually the older females stand, become more alert and start their hunt.

Levy and John Scorpio continue the tour but it’s an early dinner and bedtime tonight because…On our second day in Maasai Mara we wake at 4 am to drive into the National Park for a hot air balloon ride.

We’re skeptical of any event that starts at 4 am and nervous as we lay down side-by-side in the balloon basket. We lift off! It’s spectacular! Thousands of wildebeest are roaming underneath as part of the great migration. We dip down and they start running.

We spot elephants, hyena, zebra, and giraffes. The siluette of the other balloons in the sunrise is beautiful. A pride of lions is at our original landing spot, so we land further out. It’s a bit bumpy but not terrible.

We have a champagne breakfast with a crowd of obnoxious tourists, many of whom are dressed like the man in the yellow hat from Curious George. We then head back to camp for a rest, lunch and I take a bath in our claw-footed tub.

We head out for an afternoon game drive and spot our first cheetah. We watch him stalk a herd of impala munching on grass, but they are beyond his 50 meter hunting range and heading in the other direction. We reflect that it is kind of perverse to be rooting for a kill.

After our game drive, Levy takes us for an apero on a nearby plain.

As the sun sets, Levy trounces the boys in darts while I chat with a family from Singapore about international schools.

We head back to camp for dinner and John Scorpio joins us. We learn about his two wives — and the fact that many Kenyan men have multiple wives. My boys are fascinated. Scorpio tells us about the dowry negotiation his father led for his first wife. “They wanted fifteen cows but he got them down to seven!” he tells us. Matt feels sad that he has only one wife; I contemplate my worth in cows.

The next morning is chilly, but Levy has set us up with ponchos and hot water bottles.

This game drive involves elephants, hippos, giraffe and another cheetah. We’re starting to feel like we’ve seen it all.

In the afternoon we visit a traditional Maasai village. Or we’re told it’s traditional but feel a little skeptical. We play along. Francis, a young Maasai man, introduces himself and takes control. He blows his horn and a group of men, dancing and singing, march out.

At this point Francis takes Matt and Xander’s phones and maybe 500 pictures and 30 minutes worth of video footage.

I’m grateful to stand with the ladies while the men (including mine) march around dancing. We laugh at them.

Francis explains that the number of wives a Maasai man will have is determined by how high he can jump. All the men, including the Langs, take turns jumping, but it is really too sad to share Lang photos. They will have only one wife, tops.

Then Francis takes is into a traditional house and explains the ceremonial circumcision that takes place for men at age 15; you can show no fear. He tells us men can have up to 10 wives if they’re very wealthy and have many cows. There is no family planning because children are a gift from god. And then women do all the work.

We negotiate for some gifts and head home. We spot a pride of 5 lions hunting in the dark on our drive. They are annoyed by our flashlights.

One last night at camp with a delicious dinner. The next morning on our drive to the airstrip, we spot mongoose, a big todi driving off a couple hyena, and two bat-eared foxes snuggling in their den for the day. Lucky again.