Kenya/Tanzania - Maasai Mara and much more!

The big 5 animals of Africa in one day…it doesn’t get much better!!

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 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.

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 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!!

 

Kenya - Slums to Paradise!

From one extreme to another!

From the slums of Kibera….

…to the paradise of a 5 star resort on the Indian Ocean!

It really has been a diverse couple of weeks but a couple of weeks that we‘ve thoroughly enjoyed.

Having completed our month volunteering at the Orphanage we spent the last couple of days in Ngong visiting some of the other aide programs in the area. This included a day at a women’s HIV centre which has been established to educate, support and provide a future for women with HIV.

We also joined the founders of an organisation called Unity for Parity which provides food and assistance to those sheltering in KiberaSlums. Our day at Kibera Slums was a big eye opener. It is the 2^nd biggest slum in the world and consists of an area spread over 2.5km with close to 2.5m people. Homes are made from tin shelters, mud, garbage or whatever other materials they can get their hands on to provide a roof over their heads. Even after having been in Kenya for over a month now, seeing some pretty shocking sites throughout this time, the enormity and desperation within this place still knocked us around a little! 

 Typical Kibera...slums on one side, garbage on the other...not a pretty sight!

While providing food to some of the residents, they openly shared their struggles. The most interesting of these was a character named Sebastian. He was in his mid 70’s and has lived in the slums all his life. No electricity, no T.V, no comforts, just a 3m x 3m mud shack with a little bed in the corner! Quality of life obviously has little meaning but somehow he continues to survive and continues to smile!

 The effervescent Sebastian enjoying our visit!

 We also learnt the importance of avoiding flying brown paper bags! With no sanitation to speak of, and the smell being horrific as a result, apparently it is common that ‘waste’ is simply deposited into a brown paper bag and launched in any direction. Fortunately we escaped without being hit by one of these little flying missiles!

We also visited a couple of the children’s schools in the area which have been set up to provide an education to those who wouldn’t be able to afford schooling otherwise. 

The kids at JPK Children's School in typical jovial spirits!

The highlight was spending an afternoon with one of our running friends Julius Kimtai (Commonwealth Games and international marathoner) who proudly invited us into his home for a chai (Kenyan cup of tea). He introduced us to his family and showed us around the school that he had built over here called Mary Hill School (named after a school that he ran past every morning during his many years living and competing in the UK). 

 

Mary Hill School children look a little shocked to see a couple of white folks!

We were also fortunate to be invited for dinner to one of our maasai friends Tony. We’ve constantly been overwhelmed with how welcoming and friendly these people have been to us.   

The last couple of weeks with our Kenyan running group has also been incredible. Apart from the intense training regime that they have put us through (Shane has struggled constantly complaining of soreness, hip one day, calf the next…old age has kicked in!!), we’ve enjoyed the camaraderie and passion with which they approach each session.

They are a great group of people these athletes and we look forward to running with them again in the future.

A friendly running group...not sure if we stand out at all!!

The highlight socially was enjoying an after run chai one morning in the home of Sally Barsosio, a superstar over here who among her many accomplishments on the international stage finished 4^th in the 10,000m at both Sydney and Athens Olympic games.

A rare sight...Shane striding out without breaking down injured!

We then set off toward the Indian Ocean for 5 days of R&R in a small beach town called Malindi. Unbeknown to us, the area was inhabited by a large Italian community. Here we did very little but put the feet up and enjoy the comforts of the pool and the resort that we were staying in. We did spend a day on a boat snorkelling in what was some incredible underwater marine life. The marine life from what we’ve seen was rated 3^rd only to probably the Great Barrier Reef and Red Sea off the coast of Egypt for variety of fish and coral. Beautiful location and great day out.

The beauty of the beaches of Malindi

 

From here we’re back to Nairobi to meet Shane’s sister, throw the backpacks on and commence our voyage through Africa. It starts with 6 day safari before heading down to Tanzania for the Mt Kilimanjaro half marathon on the 3^rd March followed by an epic climb of the biggest mountain in Africa…can’t wait!!