The Masai Mara Safari game drive was our very first game drive for this trip. Going from a metropolitan city to a vast land of wilderness with absolutely no buildings and lights on the horizon took us at least 3 days for our eyes to adjust, but once we were used to the surroundings, it was so much easier for us to spot the wildlife!
The reason Darren and I picked Kenya and Tanzania for our Safari trip was because we have always wanted to see The Great Migration of the animals when millions of wildebeests, zebras… cross the Mara River every September and October. It’s considered one of the world’s most spectacular natural events. We will share the images of the migration on a separate post!
All of the andBeyond Safari vehicles are the open air ones with stadium seating. They are perfect for wildlife viewing as well as photographing the animals. Everyone has a good view from the vehicle. Even though we did not pay for a private “exclusive use” vehicle, we were lucky that the camps weren’t super busy or full during the time we were there, so we were able to have the whole Safari vehicle to ourselves on most game drives without having to share it with other guests at camp. We wouldn’t have minded sharing the vehicle with others because part of the fun of traveling is meeting new people from all over the world!
The Bataleur Camp staff welcoming us with snacks and beverages at the Masai Mara Airstrip. As you can see from the photos below, they had it all down when it comes to picnicking out in the wild!
I brought my Canon 5D Mark III camera with me, and right before the trip I rented the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4 – 5.6L IS USM lens from Borrowed Lenses. I needed a lens that was compact for traveling and also gave me the extra zoom capability than my 70-200mm. Darren brought his Canon 7D with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens (for wildlife) and the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM lens (for landscape). With the cropped sensor of the 7D, he was able to get the extra distance with his telephoto lens.
Eric, our Safari guide, set up a nice picnic lunch for us:
We had chicken, pasta, black beans and salad and an African beer:
Besides the game drive in a Safari vehicle, andBeyond also offered a walking Safari. Darren and I both signed up as we wanted to learn more about the plants and vegetations in Kenya and how the local Africans use them in their daily lives. Here in this photo, our guide Ann was showing us these leaves that we could use as toilet paper! 🙂
Our hike continued up the mountain:
And we saw an andBeyond Safari vehicle down the hill from where we were:
With any walking Safari, there was always a ranger with a shotgun to protect us not from the wildlife but actually poachers! Wildlife animals are usually very respectful if you give them their space, but poachers are a whole different story.
At the end of our walking Safari on the top of the mountain, I saw a camp fire in a distance and told Ann about it. She smiled and suggested that we should check it out. Little did we know that we were greeted by more andBeyond staff at their “surprise” sundowner! They set up a camp fire and table full of goodies with chairs and blankets around the fire. It was such an amazing experience. We loved the sundowners even though I am not much of a drinker, but I enjoyed sitting together with fellow campers and talk story.
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