Masai Mara

True to form, as soon as we pulled into our camp just outside the Masai Mara National Reserve it started raining (I am sure we are here in the dry season!). We again set up our tents in the rain - boy they smell awful. Since we pack them up wet, they get to create all sorts of malodorous smells during the day. We had lunch..rice and cole slaw. Our cook really likes making cole slaw. I made myself a pb&j. Then we set off on an afternoon game drive in the national reserve. We saw he usual - zebra, elephants, gazelles, wildebeest..but then we drove to a 'surprise'. We found a cheetah stalking a herd of wildebeest, two zebra and a gazelle. Unfortunately the cheetah had a limp in one of his back legs, so he wasn't able to run to catch dinner. A research vehicle pulled up beside us and the lady told us that the cheetah had wounds on its leg and can't hunt for itself because it reinjures the leg each time it runs. She said the park rangers were on their way to feed it so it could recuperate.

After the game drive we came back to camp and had dinner. I had the soup...we have soup to start every night but it's always a version of some type of curry...and after that I wasn't feeling so well, so didn't have anything else. That day 6 people in our group were having some problems, so I was afraid I'd become the 7th!

The next day we had a full day game drive. We left at 8 and were scheduled to be back at 6. We drove through the reserve, seeing animals, but nothing out of the ordinary. We stopped at a lodge to use five star toilets - first ones with toilet seats since the hotel in Nairobi! They also had a hippo pool and several families of small monkeys running around the grounds. We hopped back on the truck and drove for a few more hours to the Kenya/Tanzania border between the Masai Mara and the Serengeti. No border patrol, just a rock with T on one side and K on the other. We took photos there and then drove another 5 minutes to the Mara river for lunch. 

We had the option of eating lunch on the truck or by the river, but were warned the monkeys might try to grab our food. I was all for eating on the truck, but most people went to brave the river. Mo was the first victim when a monkey pretty much jumped in her lap to grab her food and Damon was the second victim when he left his lunch under his other bag while taking pictures. Monkeys are pretty smart and one simply picked up the bag and nicked his lunch! We pretty much all got back on the truck at that point and had lunch from the safety of the truck.

We again drove around the reserve and happened upon a broken down safari vehicle. As the drivers are all friends, our driver stopped to give assistance. We were there about 45 minutes and that's when I determined I was definitely the 7th victim of the dreaded sickness! Pretty much the end of my day! I got in the tent ASAP and didn't leave unless absolutely necessary.