It’s not often that you have experiences that you’ll still be talking about in 30 years time but the last couple of weeks of adventure certainly fits into this category…and Mt Kiliminjaro climb has not even commenced!
Our last week in Kenya included welcoming Shane’s
sister to Africa with a trek up the
Ngong Hills, a return visit to Hell’s gate, the home of the Lion King, a Hippo Safari tour around Lake Naivasha and an incredible
4 day safari to Maasai Mara. We then moved onto to Tanzania and went straight
to the world heritage listed Ngorongoro Crater before seeing our first glimpse
of Mount Kiliminjaro where we arrived for the Mt Kili marathon…it’s been a big
couple of weeks!
Having seen so much as far as wildlife and scenery goes in our
6 weeks in Kenya, there was only one thing missing…a proper safari to one of
Africa’s globally renowned game parks. A trip to Maasai Mara, Africa most famous game park, provided us with
this opportunity and it certainly did not disappoint!
We arrived in Maasai Mara for an afternoon game drive where
we immediately come face to face with elephants, buffalos and a pack of lions.
This was incredible, however it got better!
Day 2 was the big day for us. We set out with the objective
of seeing the big five animals of Africa…Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo and
Leopard. This goal however was pretty optimistic given even our tour guide had
not seen the big 5 in one day for 6 months!
Watching on closely as a pack of lions devour a buffalo
Upon arrival, we were greeted with a pack of 15 Lions devouring a buffalo that had been killed the previous day. The lions strolled past our vehicles at a distance as close to a couple of metres, almost incognisant to us even being there. Great start to the day!
Next up was the buffalo and enormous elephants leisurely
making their way around their natural habitat. We also crossed paths with an
abundance of other wildlife including wildebeests, gazelles, antelopes,
ostriches, eagles, zebras and warthogs! We also spotted two big cheetahs
shading themselves under a tree just before lunch which was brilliant. However,
the nocturnal and very rarely seen leopard and rhino remained elusive.
After lunch we bumped into a pack of hippos before catching
wind that there was a leopard close by. As our safari van pulled up the
leopard, which had been sleeping up in a tree had awoken, and literally
strolled along next to our vehicle. This can be a very dangerous situation as
the leopard when disturbed can get very aggressive, given how close we were
this could have got ugly.
Leopard aggressively stalking the vehicles...scary stuff!!
Fortunately it did nothing more than pose for us before and
give us a lasting memory for disappearing back into the forest.
Within 5 minutes of seeing the leopard our guide spotted a
black rhino! There are only 40 of these left in the whole park and they are
almost never seen here. We got very, very lucky here as this big beast crossed
through the terrain and right in front of our vehicle…incredible finish to a
magic day in the national park!
The evening was spent visiting the maasai mara local community where we learned of their culture and traditions. Very interesting to say the least! One local we spoke to said his father had 6 wives and he had 39 siblings. Still not sure how he remembers all their names! Marriages here are set up by the father who sells off his daughter for as little as two cows! Amazing to see that these sort of archaic tradition where women are sold as commodities still exists!
The enormity of the rhinos made for impressive viewing!
The evening was spent visiting the maasai mara local community where we learned of their culture and traditions. Very interesting to say the least! One local we spoke to said his father had 6 wives and he had 39 siblings. Still not sure how he remembers all their names! Marriages here are set up by the father who sells off his daughter for as little as two cows! Amazing to see that these sort of archaic tradition where women are sold as commodities still exists!
Day 3 was another fantastic game drive in Maasai Mara before
moving onto to Lake Nakuru, the home of the pink flamingo and white rhino, for
day 4. The beauty of this place with the surrounding wildlife was breathtaking.
Our Maasai Mara experience proved to be one phenomenal adventure!
The beauty and variety of wildlife on display in Lake Nakuru
We then parted Kenya on route to Tanzania. First stop was the world heritage listed Ngorongoro Crater.
The world’s biggest volcanic crater (no longer active) which inside the crater hosts a game park of wildlife including lions, rhinos, elephants, hippos, flamingos, zebra and buffalo's. Truly a magnificent sight! We also spent a day hiking up and inside an adjoining crater.
First taste of Tanzania...overlooking the somewhat dry Lake Manyara
The world’s biggest volcanic crater (no longer active) which inside the crater hosts a game park of wildlife including lions, rhinos, elephants, hippos, flamingos, zebra and buffalo's. Truly a magnificent sight! We also spent a day hiking up and inside an adjoining crater.
Shane and our maasai guide Daniel looking down into the enormous crater
The ngorongoro experience was an experience! Memorable for many things including
a sleepless night camping under the stars surrounded by the unknown wildlife. Shane told his sister that we
were going to give her a taste of the real Africa, and we certainly got this on
this on this adventure!
Camping in the middle of Ngorongoro national park...whose idea was this?!
Our first glimpse of Mt Kilimanjaro (Mt Kili) was next. After
being a little weary from our expeditions, we moved onto Moshi, a town that
sits at the base of the mountain. The aura of the mountain seemingly quickly
recharged our batteries, which was fortunate given Aurelie and
Cherie were running the half marathon the next day! Shane once again complained of a calf injury and was not prepared to risk doing further damage 2 days before the Kili Climb (soft!!)
Blue sky and sunshine greeted runners, so did the hills!
This course was tough. One of the toughest half marathon circuits you could
find! 10.5km uphill, 10.5km down! Somehow the local Kenyan and Tanzanian
athletes flew around the course. There was also a big contingent of white
runners. We saw more white people running than we have in the previous 6 weeks!
Aurelie was rapt to be first white female in a time of 1 hr 37 mins. Cherie also could not have been happier with her time of 2 hrs 14 mins! By no means a PB for either but very impressive given the layout, altitude, heat (30 degress by 9am!) and difficulty of the course.
Aurelie looking fresh and in full flight (must have been a downhill section!)
Aurelie was rapt to be first white female in a time of 1 hr 37 mins. Cherie also could not have been happier with her time of 2 hrs 14 mins! By no means a PB for either but very impressive given the layout, altitude, heat (30 degress by 9am!) and difficulty of the course.
Aurelie very pleased to have the kili half marathon out of the way!
After a couple of celebratory drinks and a day acclimatising, it's time to take on the climb of Mount Kili!
Can’t wait!!
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