The Big 5

Our group of 17 headed out in 2 safari vans bright and early. I had spent many hours the day before bakinf muffins and cooking hard-boiled eggs for breakfast on the road. Everyone loved the munchies and we arrived at Mara after less than 6 hours driving, much of the time on tarmac roads. I have to admit I was surprised that the road leading to the park itself wasn't paved (lots of tourists paying big money, can't they at least fix the road?). It was like driving on a washboard for close to an hour. A few of us were keeping our heads out the open windows.. When we arrived at the park gate, Matt and I got the pleasure of impressing the guards with our Maa skills. Many in the group took the opportunity to visit the gift shop... Soon after we headed to our hotel. Upon our arrival we were greeted with warm towels to wipe our faces and fresh mango and pineapple juices to drink. Wow did I feel spoiled. We look around the place and it’s gorgeous. There’s a pool looking out over the game park and we’re all disappointed we didn’t bring our swimsuits, but soon that is neutralized by the amazing looking buffet lunch. There is so much food! fresh fruit and breads, juices, made-to-order pasta, a variety of meat cut to order, rice, stir-fry, hot vegetables, salads, etc. wow. I totally stuffed my face. It was soo good. Afterwards we climbed back into our safari vans for our first safari. At first we were all nervous because we were only seeing baboons and a variety of gazelles. We were wondering, did we just trek all the way out here to see the same things I can see in my backyard? But then we started seeing bigger types of deer, like topi, heartbeasts and elands (which are really big, I often thought they were bulls). Then we saw huge herds of wildebeests and cape buffalo. just beautiful. Cape buffalo are one of the Big 5 safari animals, so were pretty pumped. Then we saw lots of zebras and some giraffes in the distance. We came to the top of a hill and could see all those different animals all at once, thousands of animals framed against the horizon with acacia trees making it surreal.
But then.... we saw a lion. It was super far awayamong some bushes and trees, but we just kept waiting to see if it would do anything. Then we saw his mate, a lionness close by at a waterhole. We kept watching. But it was a hot day, the lions were clearly enjoying lounging in the shade, why would they get up? I started to get bored and wondered why we just kept waiting, but then the lion got up and started coming toward us! He was within 50 yards. Then his mate came up and joined him, only for them to mate right in front of us! whoa. that was crazy. Our guide told us that at the peak of mating, lions will mate as often as every 15 minutes. that's a lot of action.
Eventually we moved on and then we saw elephants on the horizon! So now we had seen 3 of the big 5, buffalo, lions and now elephants. They were so huge and so graceful. They were gentle and peaceful, I just wanted to keep watching them, especially the mom with her baby. But we were off on hunt to find a black rhino. On the way, we see some beautiful giraffes right next to the car. As we continue to our pursuit we find out that seeing the rhino would only be one a handful of times that our guide has seen a black rhino. They are always solitary and really rare. And then we see it. We never got super close, but it was crazy to see this rhino slowly trodding through the tall grasses in front of us. We saw 4 of the Big 5 in one trip. By this time it’s late and we have to hurry to get back to our lodge without getting in trouble with the park (you're not allowed in the park after dusk), but we stop on the way back when we ostriches, more giraffes and a beautiful sunset. Now if only we could see a leopard...