To get to Amboseli from Nairobi, we had to get into a small plane that constantly made big drops. The plane ride was a little scary, but the view was incredible! The flight was only 1 hour. I saw some giraffes, some elephants, and even a dead zebra! The landing was super smooth and not bumpy at all. The drive to Ol Tukai Lodge was not too long, but it was super dry. There was a lot of water, yet the land was super dry. Amboseli has marsh areas but the water has a lot of naturally occurring salt and so the water is very salty.
What surprised me most was the number of dead animals. The animals were not all killed by lions and predators, but they died from the salty water! Too much salt can kill you. The dead animals smelled super bad. One time there were four dead animals within 50 yards of each other!
The Ol Tukai Lodge was beautiful! They greeted us with a fresh juice and wet towels to clean our hands! We were led to our rooms which were little huts. The kid’s room had three twin beds, and they brought a fourth in for Zeb. The beds were super comfortable, and there were giant mosquito nets to cover the beds.
The dinner food was excellent! I accidentally ate some Gluten and paid the price. The service was also excellent, and the people were friendly. We did an early morning game drive and saw some lions, elephants, and dead things. Breakfast was also delicious, and there was always rice at every super excellent meal! They also had killer mocktails which are non-alcoholic cocktails. This was my 2nd favorite place, and I enjoyed it, and I would totally recommend it.
a sleeping baby elephantthe flamingos were fun to see in Lake Amboseli
We spent a wonderful 4 days in the Masai Mara. My parents decided to rent a car to drive us on our own (called “self-drive” or “car hire” in Kenya). This made the trip much more interesting. It is a beautiful park full of animals and ditches where you can get your car stuck! The car we rented was nice: with a whole package deal of wobbly roof and butt bruising seats. Along with a broken speedometer and gas tank measurer. It also comes with a stick shift and broken seat belts. Enjoy!
Even though there were a lot of problems with this car, I am still super glad we got it. I liked it because it felt homey somehow. It was comforting to sit in it and fun to drive in.
I learned to drive a stick shift car. First, take off the emergency brake with your foot on the clutch and brake. Turn the car on. Next, take your foot off the brake and prepare to put it on the gas. Next, step on it! Slowly press down on the gas while slowly coming off the clutch. Also, make sure you are on gear one.
The park was very alive with many animals and only a few dead ones. We saw one dead giraffe, one dead elephant, and one zebra that we witnessed dying and being eaten.
Story of a Zebra Dying (Warning: if you don’t like death, skip this part!)
a zebra killed by hyenas and picked over by cultures
When we returned; the zebra was only the head, skin, and bones. It was astonishing! Watching the zebra die was not something I enjoyed. I wanted to help it or call a wild animal vet or something. I soon realized that the hyenas needed food, and the vets wouldn’t do anything to help. The zebra had a massive gash on its side that looked superinfected and a gash in its butt. I don’t know why the hyenas attacked there because I don’t think that would be tasty. The zebra kept sniffing its wound and tried to stand up when the hyenas were getting impatient.
They were probably wondering, “why can’t this zebra hurry up and die? I’m hungry. Hey Bill, you want to bite its butt again? Maybe that will make it die.” Bill says, “Naw, that part wasn’t tasty; I’d rather go for its head.”
My suspicions were confirmed. The zebra bottom is not tasty. The zebra got up and tried to walk around. Then it looked like it was trying to give birth, but mom said it was a boy and it was not rapidly going through pregnancy but convulsing. Which means your insides are blowing up. I asked mom if the whole zebra would explode and if all its insides would go flying because I didn’t want to be darou2nd if that happened, but she said “no.” After it was done convulsing, it had two seizures. The seizures were not as scary as watching it convulse. It was like watching a rodeo with a dying zebra. In the end, it fell, stuck its legs straight up, and died five minutes later. I won’t describe the rest because it was super gross and smelly.
Hippos Snorting in Masai Mara
The rest of the park was beautiful! In the river, there were hippos, and they communicated by snorting and what sounded like burping and farting. The hippos were also huge, like humongous water pigs. I don’t know why they are called water horses. They look nothing like horses. They look like pigs with oddly cute faces and cute little tails that wag like dogs. In other words, I loved them! Two astonishing facts about hippos. One: they are not animal-eating carnivores but are herbivores that are very territorial and will attack any animal that is in its space. Two: if a male hippo loses in a fight, it will become a lonely hippo that lives its life moping around and sulking on land. We did see a male hippo sulking, so it is true.
Zebra and Wildebeest Migration Across the Mara River
We also saw some zebras migrating across the river with a couple of wildebeest. I love how there will be a couple of wildebeest hanging out in a zebra herd like they are visiting old cousins.
I would go back to the Masai Mara and recommend it. The lodging at Talek Bush Camp is not great, but the scenery makes up for it.
The rooms were not fancy, but they were relatively kind. The food was super good. It was right next to a river, and we saw a hippo fight! The staff were excellent and helpful and even made gluten-free pasta for us! I would rate it three stars and say they could do better by patching up the rooms. I would probably want to stay at a different place next time we go.
My Favorite Part: Baby Lions!
Cute baby lion cubs!
On one of the days we came across a mommy lion and two very young baby lion cubs. They were just sitting under a bush next to a ditch crossing as we drove by. We were so surprised to see them! My dad was driving and stopped and turned off the car and we just sat there and got to observe them. We could hear the little sounds the cubs made, and at one point the mommy lion got up and walked over right next to our car! Then the cubs walked over near to us and started playing in the grass. After that, they all went back to the shade of the bush and laid back down. Eventually, my dad started up the car and drove away quietly. It was so special!
Some of my Masai Mara Photos
Some of the many photos I took while my family self-drove in Masai Mara
We had to wake up early that day because we were going to a giraffe center and a baby elephant orphanage. The giraffe center was super short. The giraffes were not. We had to feed the giraffes little pellets. Their tongues were super long and funny looking. I especially liked feeding one of the baby giraffes that would duck under the bar to get the food. It was super cute! Mom got bit by one of the giraffes, which looked super painful. There was also a hotel in the area called the giraffe hotel, and the giraffes would stick their head through the windows to wake you up, and you get to have breakfast with them. I wish we could have stayed there, but mom said it was super expensive because of the giraffes. I probably would not go back there, but it was a fantastic experience.
The next place we went was an elephant orphanage for baby elephants. Some of them were super duper tiny! Twelve would come out and go for the milk bottles. They were very excited about it and were also a little pushy. We got to learn their names, and I got to touch one, but I am not fond of touching elephants, small or big. After seeing them play, we got the chance to foster one of them! I chose to do so, and I picked Kinyei. She was one of the cuter ones and was pretty small. I am super happy about being able to help her, and I get to hear stories about her and her friends. One day she will get to go into the wild again, but only when she is older. I would highly recommend this experience as a heartwarming, funny endeavor. Seeing the small elephants play and eat was super cool and fun. I would most definitely go back there.
Jabulani the elephant was trying to get into Bardez’s backpack to get his apples out! We were at Herd elephant orphanage. A place that took care of orphaned elephants. They would find the elephants then rescue them out of situations and nurture them back to health. Jabulani was the elephant that started it all.
Jabulani was the elephant that also sniffed out anything from apples to cigarets. The cigarette story is true. One day a teenager boy and his family went to go see some elephants. The boy had been secretly smoking and Jabulani took the pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. The boy was ratted out by an elephant!
Bardez did not have cigarettes, he had apples. And Jabulani wanted them! There were two other elephants there that we got to meet but Jabulani was the best one. We got to learn about the elephants and see them. I would totally recommend this. It is personal and you get to hug and touch the elephants. Being in Africa and seeing all the animals makes me think it is weird that we don’t have lions or giraffes or elephants or zebras in America. I feel like there should be some there but there isn’t. The elephants were gentle giants and I really enjoyed seeing them and being up close. I would go back there and visit again to see Jabulani and make sure he does not steal anyone’s things ever again.
Today is Thursday and we were supposed to go to school again, but instead, we went to Kruger National Park! We had to wake up at 5:00 am and get in a safari vehicle with doors and a canvas roof to drive the hour to Kruger. Before we got to the ticket station we saw three elephants and one rhino! At 8:30 am, we had breakfast at a lookout point. Charlene had made us muffins that were so good! After breakfast, we drove more and saw a hyena and a lion!
Lioness in the Grass
The first lion in Kruger that we saw was a female in the shade of trees. We were driving down the road and there were a lot of cars idling in the road and on the side of the road. We were told that there was a lion somewhere in the field and we looked for about ten minutes without seeing anything. As we were driving away I saw the lion’s tail flick up through the tall grass and I told everyone. The lion was behind a giant root and under a tree and through all the time we were looking for it everyone kept saying there is nothing under the tree. The lion proceeded to sit up and look around for thirty seconds, then she laid back down again to sleep. A little while after the lion, we saw a herd of buffalo! They were mostly laying down in the tall grass so we could not see their full mass.
Pride of Lions
You might be wondering if we only saw the big five. No, we did see a lot of giraffes, antelopes, and wildebeest. After the buffalos, we drove around for a long while, and then we came upon a pride of lions! First, we just saw one mom with three cubs then we saw other lionesses. I also saw what looked like a male lion laying in the shade of a tree. It was a male, and in the end, there were eight females and four cubs, and one male! While watching the lions, we saw a herd of elephants visit the water hole very close to the lions! After the Lions, we went to see if the elephants were in an ideal place to see them and as we turned the corner on the road and the whole herd of elephants! There were a couple of bulls and some smaller elephants and one tiny baby. The small one mostly hid behind the older ones but we got to see it briefly. We stayed next to the elephants for 20 minutes then we moved on. The air was literally as hot as the breath of an oven so we were all ready to go home. Luckily, our driver said it would take us about 15-20 minutes to get out of the park. It took us 45.
Behind the Elephants
On our way down the dirt road we saw some giraffes and a wildebeest but we had seen so many and it was so hot that nobody went “Look a giraffe what an exotic animal! we all just said “oh, there are four giraffes on the side of the road, what a surprise.” After about 7 minutes of driving we got stuck behind a herd of big, slow elephants walking in the road. We had no idea where they were going. I was thinking, “they’re just trying to slow us down so they can be first to wherever they are going.” All of the elephants except one went off the road. This one elephant was going so slowly. He was probably tired and hot like the rest of us but couldn’t he just get off the road? No, he had to walk on the road, and poop on it. Fresh elephant dung is very smelly especially when the elephant is ahead of you and the wind is blowing toward you.
Lunch Behind the Elephants
As we were driving slowly we got lunch out. Lunch was under my seat so I had to get down on the floor and get out all the food and drinks. Lunch was the best lunch wrap ever! I bet the elephants were jealous:) By the time we were eating lunch the elephants were all off the road. We finally saw what they all were heading for. A water hole! Or a mud hole. The elephants were playing in the mud and splashing themselves! Three elephants had strayed from the group to drink from the fresh water spring, man-made! After the elephants got out of the way, we drove off. The ride home was so hot and long! At one point I pulled out my hair tie and my hair flew around and stood on end. When we finally got home my face felt like it had been burnt by the wind
