Maasai Mara

Since we were in Africa, William and I really wanted to go on safari. It took us 30 hours of travel time to get here, and now we are only a few hours flight away from some of the best wildlife reserves in the world. We talked to a few people here at Kibuye, who hands down recommended the Maasai Mara in Kenya.

We decided to go on William's last weekend in Africa before he had to fly back to the US for a wedding. It was much cheaper for him to get a flight home from Nairobi, rather than Bujumbura (Burundi), so it worked out well.

A few people at Kibuye recommended Porini camps, so I looked into them. Porini was one of the first who adapted the 'conservancy' model of safari. Most safaris take place on large game reserves (or parks) which are controlled by the government. Big companies, some of which are foreign, run safaris through the game parks, and the profits are mostly concentrated to these companies. Surrounding the game parks are local people, who mostly own livestock as their source of income. Animals don't know or respect boundary lines drawn by the government, so there are frequent clashes between local people and animals. The lions, leopards, or cheetahs see a tasty cow or goat in a pen and grab it, while the owner shoots the cat to try to save his livelihood. Bad for everyone involved. In traditional game parks, the local people typically do not benefit from the parks. The conservancies were an attempt to change this. The company owners of safari camps (in this case, Porini) approached the local Maasai people, who owned the land around game parks. The Maasai agreed to lease the land for 15 years to Porini. Local people were involved on where to build the camps, and only local people were employed to work in the camps. The Maasai receive money from the leased land, which benefits their income and makes them less susceptible to financial ruin if a wild animal makes off with one of their goats. They realize the value of live wild animals to keep tourism high and keep them employed at the camps. The wild animals have more room to roam. And (selfishly) best of all, the camps on conservancies don't have to apply to the same rules as game parks. You can drive off the road, there are no time enforcements, and there are much, much fewer people. It's generally more expensive than other safaris, but I can honestly say, it was worth every penny. I had been on one safari before in Botswana (when I spent a month in Zimbabwe in 2017), and it was great, but very crowded and could be difficult to see animals from the road. I was completely blown away by our experience at Porini Cheetah Camp, on Ol Kinyei Conservancy.

We left Kibuye on a Thursday with our driver, Aloys, to take us the 2.5 hours on narrow roads and winding hills down to Bujumbura. It sounds fancy to have a driver, but it is actually very necessary. Unless you have a lot of experience, driving in Burundi is dangerous. The roads are mostly dirt, although some closer to the capital are paved. There are incredible pot holes. There is no center lane, and the roads are only really 1.5 cars wide, so you have to sneak around cars. Big tractor trailers share the same road, which go painfully slow on the 10-15% inclines on the mountains. And the road is shared by pedestrians and many, many bicycles. A lot of the transport here is via bicycle, as most people do not have cars. Anything and everything is transported by bicycle. People walk the bicycle and the load uphill, or try to hang on to the back of a truck to be pulled up.

In some cases, lucky people have a motorbike, which can carry even more things:

Like I mentioned, the roads are narrow and winding, and this truck took the turn a little too quick:

Thankfully, we made it to the airport without incident- but we did see the president of Burundi and his convoy!

We flew from Buja to Nairobi, then spent the night at a hotel before flying out on a small plane to the Maasai Mara region. We landed on a dirt strip, surrounded by wildebeest and antelope grazing. A land rover picked us up and we were driven about 30 minutes to the camp. Even that small trip was incredible- we saw so many different types of antelope, warthog, jackals, buffalo, and giraffes. We then had lunch at the camp and settled in before our evening drive at 4. Our guides spotted a few lions hanging outside a bush.

It started pouring rain for about 30 minutes, and the lions headed inside the bush to take cover, and we were a little discouraged. However, when the rain stopped, the lions all came out- the younger ones to play in the water!

We were so close- it was incredible! And the animals really didn't care that we were there- just glanced at the truck every once in awhile.

I loved the Topi, an exotic looking antelope.

William & the truck.

We saw zebra, giraffe, and cape buffalo.

One of my friends from Kibuye let me borrow an iphone attachment for binocularrs, so I was able to take some pretty cool shots through the binocs.

Hyenas, Eland antelope, and hippos.

And a cheetah!

Plus her cubs!

Elephants, aardvark (on a night drive) and more lions.

We had an absolutely incredible time!

After two nights, we returned to Nairobi and went to a grocery store to bring back some things to Kibuye (they have a much greater selection in Kenya... including chocolate).

William headed to the airport for a red eye flight to London, then onto the States. I headed back the next morning to Buja, which was supposed to be a 1.5 hour flight, but we were diverted first to Entebbe (Uganda), then Kigali (Rwanda) for weather. We waited on the tarmac for about 2 hours in Kigali, then finally flew back to Buja, where I met our driver again and we headed up to Kibuye.

This last week I've been busy in the OR and working on organizing some medical supplies.

I have one more full week left in Burundi, then I fly back to Arizona next Sunday- where I will be reunited with William (and Hazel) again!