Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts

Monday, October 27, 2008

3 Days Masai Mara Budget Camping Tour

This is a safari to Kenya’s greatest concentration of game - the Masai Mara. On our way there, we pass through Kenya’s rift valley escarpments which offer some of the most breath taking views.

The Rift Valley is part of the East African rift system; a massive geological fault line stretching almost 6500km across the African continent, from the Dead Sea in the north to Beira, Mozambique in the south. It was formed more than 30 million years ago when the African and Eurasian landmasses collided and then diverged again. As they moved apart, large blocks of the earth’s crust dropped down between them. Over time these movements resulted in the escarpments, ravines, flatlands and lakes that mark much of East Africa’s remarkable landscape today.


Day 1 - Masai Mara

Departing our office in the morning we drive down the escarpment via the floor of the Great Rift Valley. We camp at our permanent Talek riverside campsite situated at the edge of the park. Here we have stand-up tents with beds for use as well as small wood cabins for those after a touch more comfort. Hot showers are available in the camp and meals are served in the dinning mess or in the open.

In the night you can hear a chorus of different animal sounds as they communicate with each other in the darkness – more than a reason to visit.

Day 2 - Masai Mara

The next day shall be spent game viewing. On clear days, the Mara offers fantastic orange tinted sunsets and you will definitely want to capture this moment while sipping on a sundowner back at our campsite. The Mara reserve is 1510 sq km of incredible wide-open landscapes and fertile riverine woodland following the looping meanders of the Mara and Talek rivers. One glimpse is enough to explain its appeal; it is typical savannah, with a mass of amazing wildlife.

Wherever you go in the Mara you will see a frequent amount of wildlife such as Masai giraffe, baboons, warthogs, bat eared foxes, grey jackals, spotted hyena, topis, impala, hartebeests, wildebeest. Elephants, buffaloes, zebras and hippos also exist in great numbers. It is also common to see lions either basking after a heavy meal, or surveying the plains for their next meal. Cheetahs and leopards are harder to spot but are still reasonably common.

The ultimate action here is without doubt the annual wildebeest exodus in July and August when millions of these grass eaters move north from the Serengeti in search of lusher grass before turning south again in October.

Balloon trips are an entirely outstanding way of seeing the savannah plains and the wildlife after which you come back down for a beautiful champagne breakfast. These trips can be arranged at our office upon booking.

Day 3 – Nairobi

Depart Camp and drive through the northern part of the reserve viewing game as we proceed to the main Narok road where we stop to give you a chance to buy souvenirs, or just to have a cup of tea. We return to Nairobi by late afternoon.