last day of the Mara

5/2/07 - early!

Very early rising again, 6:30 a.m. and we were off - this time off to the border with Tanzania and the edge of the Serengeti Plain. The Masai Mara is the Kenyan continuation of this famous wildlife area. As we left the lodge, several Japanese tourists were getting ready to go on a balloon ride - we were told it was $300 per person!

We saw more beautiful animals this morning - my favorites, the giraffes in the sunrise light, two Secretary birds in the tops of the tree, and for a special treat, the "Helmeted Guinea Hen Jogging Club" out for their morning run. A group of about 10 of these large ground birds (like a large partridge) were running in front of the Land Cruiser and would not fly. Alex was following them pretty closely but they were not ABOUT to give up the road. You could see little puffs of dirt fly out from under their feet. Very cute. We also saw Maribou storks and a bat eared fox - a little guy with HUGE ears.

We ended up at the west gate of the park and a mile or so beyond was the border with Tanzania -- not a soul there, so we walked across for a minute and back again -- and of course took pictures.

Riding back, I couldn't get enough of the view all around us. I stood up the entire drive back - I just wanted to drink it in and remember everything. I was starting to become aware of the end of the trip approaching.

Breakfast, packing, and then a long wait for the plane. We said good bye to our friends, Joel and Ole Kuya, who again asked us to write to them. I asked Joel if he would like me to ask for a blessing on his family and he beamed and said yes, so I prayed for his little family's peace and continued health and welfare.

The trip back was uneventful and we were met by the rest of our group - after lunch in Nairobi, we returned to HEART. The afternoon was spent frantically repacking and weeding out items to give to Paul to take back for anyone who wanted them in Masii -- several of us had WAY too much stuff (myself included) and I sacrificed several items for the space I needed to pack.

In the evening we went to Carnivore, a restaurant that specializes in exotic meat in addition to regular barbeque-on-a-spit type items. The exotic meats for the evening were ostrich meat balls (very good) and crocodile. Now, some people I know have tried croc and liked it, but to me it tasted just like the smell from the bottom of a fish tank when you clean it out. Nasty. One bite, that was it.

And that was it for the day. I had had it. My stamina was definitely waning by this time. Three mornings in a row up at 5:30 a.m. didn't help either. The lights were out when we got back to HEART, so we all crashed early.