Deeper into the Masai Mara

The Obama family may have stayed at Basecamp Mara, but we were unimpressed so were more than ready to move on to Entim about which we had heard great things. This camp is inside the reserve and has an extremely good reputation.

First, though, we still had crayons and pencils to give away- we should probably have given more to the Samburu village as we brought quite a lot and haven’t found other opportunities to interact with the communities we’ve visited. So Chris took us to a village not far from the park entrance where we gave most of what was left to a lovely Masai lady who had the most beautiful smile.

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We braved the local saleswomen at the park entrance while Chris attended to paperwork and then we were off on our next exploration. This drive made me realise again just how big the Mara is. We drove from 7am until 1.30 pm without ever retracing our tracks from yesterday. Again there were wildebeest as far as the eye could see, all on the migration and headed for a place where they could cross the river.

Although we had a destination, this was also a game drive and we spent a good thirty minutes enjoying the antics of eight young lion cubs- two different litters – as they had a morning nap in the shade and then began playing with one another and with their mothers. We had just missed cubs on our last visit so were very happy to have seen this especially as they were out in the open  and easy to see.

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And then there were the wildebeest, the zebra and a few giraffes… and gloriously expansive views.

On arrival at Entim, we were greeted with a ginger and lemon concoction that was deliciously refreshing and a very good lunch of grilled white snapper. The chefs in Kenya are inventive and come up with very interesting desserts, too and, of course, it would be rude to reject them!

An hour or so to catch our breath, download images, recharge batteries and we were off again. Chris was determined to find a crossing for us though he had in the past waited and seen nothing for hours. So we headed to the riverbank. On the way coming across an elephant in the river enjoying an evening snack, young giraffes grooming one another and a mob of mongeese running away from something as well as a pair of silver backed jackals running along the path ahead of us. There was a hippo on the river bank and more of them in the water. We saw no crocodiles.

All this while heading for a crossing point and on the lookout for signs that a crossing might happen.