29. The big two

Calvin, Kosta and I leave Nairobi and head off towards the Masai Mara NP. Calvin is cycling from England to South Africa (I know, how crazy can you be!). The first time we met was in Aswan in Egypt and along the way we have been meeting each other a couple of times. Now he’s enjoying a car ride with us, having a little break from his bike.

On our way to the animals we are stopped by the police for speeding.  We were apparently doing 90 were you are allowed 70.  But as we were worn about the Kenyan police being a bit of money seekers Kosta asks to see the prove. “Sir, I do not want to ruin your day and keep you here”, is the officer’s reply. “I understand”, says Kosta while he turns of the engine as if to show he has time “but show me the proof  I was going to fast. I was driving behind a car so how could the radar pick-up on how much we were driving. I was not speeding.”  After a couple of ‘yes you were speeding’ and ‘no I wasn’t show me the proof’ , the guy with the ‘speed gun’ signs to the officer to let it drop. Of course they had no proof so they can’t fine us for the speeding we were actually doing (but to our defence, we didn’t see any sign). : )

Next day we say goodbye. Calvin goes to Tanzania, we drive towards the national park where we hope to spot ‘the big five’: elephants, lions, rhinos, leopards and buffalos.

Our little barbecue

Calvin and his bike

We find ourselves a nice sleeping spot again overlooking the area. Here we will spend the night and in the early mornings we will drive to the entrance gate. As we are arranging the car for sleeping we all of a sudden hear what seems to be a woman screaming. And I tell ya’, not just a little scream but it sounded more like she is being assaulted. And you can not stand there and just do nothing, right?! What if it were you being in trouble and people would turn their back? The thought of a woman maybe being raped 200 metres away makes me grab the pepper spray (yes, we have some, you know, just in case) give it to Kosta and tell him we have to go and check what is going on. I pick up a stone for myself and off we go. The ground is super slippery, the bushes are wet and rain is hanging over our heads but we have to go and see.  When we see a guy in the distance leaving we really think something is seriously wrong with the woman screaming. As we approach further we are more cautious. Between the bushes we first try and spot what is going on… And then we see it: a boy screaming at the top of his lungs holding a sheep. When we ask him if he is ok he runs away. As we make our way back to the car Kosta spots some big claw prints. We’re guessing the boy must have seen a hyena and was trying to get the sheep to move.  The sound of the boy screaming (really, I’ve never heard somebody scream in agony like that before, it was incredible) must have chased the predator away. We are relieved that everything is fine, but less relieved that we might be needing to pee in the middle of the night with a hyena nearby LOL.

The next morning we get up at 6. The gate will open in half an hour. As it rained yesterday afternoon we just want to be sure to enjoy some animal watching before it starts again. The rains are quite short but it is enough to make driving a real pain afterwards as there is no tarmac.  But we are lucky that day, not a drop falls from the sky and we see loads of animals. As we enter the park we are greeted by impalas, we see small foxes and animals we don’t know the name of : ). During the day we see cute birds, an owl and whatever kind of birds the others are. In the high grass we spot warthogs with their little ones (they are so ugly that they’re cute, if you know what I mean LOL). We also encounter a spotted hyena, giraffes, ostriches, wildebeests and zebras. Although we drive near the hippo pools there are none to be seen. And then the highlights of this super day: we come across several groups of elephants (we counted 50 in total) and a huge group of buffalos (about a hundred of them!). No others of' ‘the big five’ but 2 out of 5 is not bad for one day : ). 

So yes, it really was a great trip. We were only about 25 metres from the hyena and the elephants. Normally you keep further but all of a sudden this elephant stands next to the road as we came out of a little curve. Off course we stop. Then we see that this elephant is a mother. Her little one is so small that we didn’t spot it immediately in the grass.  We back up a bit, as you never know with wild animals, especially when there are little ones. What a great thing to witness.

Take a look at some of the wildlife we saw: