Masai Mara Memories

We spent the next three weeks in Kenya in the same fashion as the first. As such, we spent our days working at the Children´s Garden, helping out in the school as well as in the home. We also helped the children prepare for their exams, and we marked the exams when they were finished writing them. During our second week, we said goodbye to Diane and Alicia, who headed back to Canada after spending almost four weeks in Kenya at Children´s Garden. We were sad to see them go, but we were happy that we still had a longer time to enjoy with the children. At the end of our third week, it was time to party. Amanda was celebrating her 24th birthday, so Jono decided to treat her to something special. The two of us, along with our friend Thomas, another volunteer, and 4 older students from the home, headed out on another wildlife safari. This time we were heading 4 hours south, towards the Tanzanian border, to the Masai Mara. The Masai Mara, which is home to the Serengeti plains, is one of Kenya´s biggest game parks and is often heralded as the best place to spot wildlife in their natural habitat. The seven of us left early on Friday morning to see what adventures lay ahead. After the long and tiring safari car ride (which broke down several times along the way) we arrived at the Masai Mara game park. We stopped for a brief lunch at the side of the road (another breakdown) and we were soon joined by a troop of 3 Masai Warriors (spears in hand) who were amused and bewildered as they saw us eat packaged foods and other picnic-type snacks. After failing to get the car going again, a “Good Samaritan” towed us to the place where we would be camping for the next few days. Then after a quick rest we were able to get the engine up and running and we were off for an adventure in the park and looking for animals. It wasn’t long before we found what we were looking for. Out of van windows, we could see; zebras, buffalos, gazelles and impalas and before we knew it, we found ourselves eye to eye with the ultimate king of the jungle. A beautiful male lion was right next to our safari car. It was amazing to see and we couldn’t believe how incredibly close it was. As the windows were quite open, it could have easily climbed its way into the vehicle. It was excitement and anxiety all twirled together at once. After seeing a few more exciting animals, we called it quits for the evening. We headed back to our campsite (yes, we were camping in the game park!! But don´t worry, we were “protected” by a 7 foot fence on 3 sides of the campground. The next morning we were up early and back in the game park hunting for animals. We were lucky to see a whole pride of lions, wildebeests, zebras, ostriches, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, a few herds of elephants, and we were even lucky enough to catch a rare glimpse of lions mating! The day was successful, and Amanda had one of her best birthdays yet! Our fourth and final week at Children´s Garden was spent with the children and enjoying our last moments together. Since the children were finished their exams and had free time, we, along with Thomas, helped them practice for their Christmas Nativity play (which was even written by Thomas himself). We had a great time doing it, and only wished that we could stay longer to see it all at the final production. The day that we were set to leave was a sad one, as we had come to know and love so many of these children. Before we headed out we had a goodbye party, where the children sang and danced for us, and made us promise to come back and see them (and we really hope to do so again soon!). We even had a goat for dinner, and we all ate it together as a farewell dinner as we gave out our final hugs and goodbyes. At nine pm, the director, Moses, drove us back to the same airport that he had picked us up from one month earlier. We said our goodbyes and we were once again back on the road, headed for new places and new experiences.