A trip to Masai Mara.... Review on Shimoni

The Masai Mara is one of the best game parks and the most popular reserves in Kenya and Africa. We visited that place during diwali holidays in 2007. A life time experience… we will not forget those moments in our life.

What is so special about Masai Mara?It has big sky(I mean it… sky look very big may be because of no skyscrapers or buildings), huge grass land for grazing, annual wild beast migration, variety of birdlife and fascinating hot air balloon ride.

For about six months I worked for a Kenyan organization at Kisumu. Kisumu is the third largest city in Kenya in Rift valley. We traveled to Masai Mara by road from Kisumu in our 4 wheel drive Isuzu. Took about 8 hours due to not very good road in some part of the journey. No issue, we enjoyed that long and rough drive. One has to carry snacks, soft drink and water etc because you could not find any fast food eating joint on the road. Better to carry first aid box and essential medicine. In Kenya medicine is very expansive. All Indian medicines are available there but at huge cost. Once I paid Kenyan 80 buck for four tabs of Paracetamol tablet.

We entered Masai Mara from the west side. Very near to the entrance there is resort Mara West managed by an American Couple. We preferred to stay there because of its location, beautiful landscape, nicely built cottages, few Zebra and Dears around and very decent very decent welcome. It’s little bit expensive but once in while that’s fine for very decent and prompt service.

We reached there around 3 O’clock in the afternoon. We were the only guest in that resort on that day. After check in, we ordered for food and decided to go for a drive outside the park. Came back after 30 minutes and food was ready. We were warned by the staff not to venture in open after dusk. We were even instructed to ask for guards if we want to walk outside and even for going to dinning room. We are also too tired so all of us decided to enjoy the beautiful landscape and sky from the balcony of our cottage. We could see wild beast, Giraffe, Zebra, different verities of dear gazing around the resort.

This resort does not have fencing. So, wild animal can easily venture inside, if they want. We were little shaky but enjoyed every moment of our stay over there. Around 8 o’clock we were escrted for dinner. Not that dark at that time. Had lot of beer(Africa produces high quality beer) and continental food. Big brands were available but I preferred local beer. Food was excellent(please do not ask me the name of those dishes). Went back to cottage at around 9.30 pm obviously with an escrt. This Maasai could see at night. He show us many bright, dazzling eye in the dark with his torch light. Fascinating but we were scared especially my wife.

At night wind started like Indian toofan and that place was very cool. Our cottage was facing the huge grass land of masai mara at the east and about 100 meters above the valley lavel. So, we occupied one of the best locations in Masai mara. However at night due to wind climate become very difficult with out woolen cloths. Resort blanket was not sufficient for me. Anyway, enjoyed that too.

Next morning went for Safari at around 7 am after breakfast. We paid(do not remember exactly) around KSh 500/- per head at the gate of game park and managed to convince the boss at the gate to spare a security guard for safari. Ksh 1000/- was demanded by the guard for the service which I had paid happily otherwise we not knowing which side to go or where to go.

Lot of harmless wild animals like wild beast, zebra, giraffe, deer were freely grazing around. Wild beasts were in thousands in that time. Normally they migrate to Tanzania side of the game park by November but we were lucky to see them in thousands. After a kilometer we could see huge wild African Elephants in a group of about 20, majestically roaming on the grass land. That was lovely. African elephants are huge and seems to less hostile. we were about 100 mts from that group.

With help of the guard we could go near to one natural pond like water body(look like a canal with blind ends) where we could see crocodiles and huge hippopotamus. Few smart zebras were there for water and they knew how to avoid those idiot crocodiles.

We could locate a group of leopards resting below a tree when we almost lost hope to see leopards. But King of the jungle we could not see even after moving more than 60 km inside the park and spending more than 6 hours. Black rhinos were also missing on that day(Tried to avoid rhino of Assam – me born and brought up in Assam). We were really upset because we could not see Lions and rhinos in massai mara despite the fact that the place is famous for lions and black rhinos. We also could not witness any wild chase that we see in TV.

Hyenas, jackals and bat-eared foxes were moving freely.  These scavengers were busy eating left over of last night killings. Giving free service to park administration. Sun was very bright on that day. According to the guard, big bosses do not venture outside in a very sunny day(lazy scoundrels). So, around 1 pm we decided to go back to the resort. After lunch we left for Kisumu. What we missed: Lions, Rhinos, Balloon ride, wild chase. In fact masai mara is famous for all these. Still we enjoyed a lot.

Local people: -The native people of the Masai Mara are the MAASAI. They are semi-nomadic people living in that part of the world. They have unique dress and tribal customs. Maasai still trying to maintain their traditional way of life. However things are changing fast because increasing numbers of children are attending school, adults are seeking employment outside masai mara for better living, and women are competing equally their male counter part.  Many continue their semi-nomadic, herding lifestyle on the outside edge of the Masai Mara National Reserve. They graze their cattle herds around the land. They are very possessive about their cattle. Actually, local economy largely depends on these cattle herds.

*Geographical information:

*Altitude - 1, 500-2, 170 meters above sea level

Temperature – may be 30 / 15 degree Celsius

Rain - April and May and again in November

Best Season: July to October(after rain). Best time to go there.

Winter: June and July.

Summer: December and January. But better carry some woolen for the night. I was about to freeze in November. According to me and any Indian standard Kenya has one season and that is autumn during the day and winter during the night.

How to go there-

One can hire tourist service from Nairobi. If you are new, better take guided service. Traveling in Kenya is not that safe. There is air service. Runway at Masai mara is made of clay/mud. Many people prefer that to save one day. Many travel agencies in India conduct regular trips to masai mara. Thanks friends for going thro’ the review. This is not the right category but I do not have any other option.