Trip Report Part VI (Ballooning and Safari on the Masai Mara)

So Saturday (6/19) started ass-early. The wake up knock (no phone in the tent) came at 4:40 and we were all in the lobby by 5:10 (by saying that we were there, I mean in a physical sense, not mentally). We got in the Land Rover of the balloon company (I have to say it, definitely more comfortable than Jesus) and drove for about 20-30 minutes out to the balloon site. It was neat to be driving through the Mara at night, we were all on watch for "eyes in the dark" but all we saw were some huge bunnies. When we got there, the driver told us to stay between the car and the balloon "just in case" which we were all quite willing to do! It was a little creepy to be out in the middle of the African grassland with nothing but a car between us and the lions! We watched as the crews blew up the three HUGE balloons, first with fans, and then heated the air with the huge burners. We met our captain - Milton - from New Zealand who told us that we shouldn't smoke and to stay inside the balloon (pretty basic eh?). Then we all climbed in. It held 16 people, plus the pilot... and it was great because the 7 of us were all together on one side. The other guy on our side (Mike) was just along for the ride as his dad was a balloon pilot (not Milton) and so he got to go along whenever there was an open spot. We started by sitting down inside the balloon basket while Milton fired the burners (it took me about 5 minutes not to flinch every time he fired it) and got us up in the air. Then we were up and floating! Having never ridden in a hot air balloon before, I wasn't really sure what to expect, but "floating" is about all I can say. Other than the ground moving below you, you don't feel any movement at all. The air was chilly, so it was actually nice to have the burners fire every once in a while... kind of like being by a campfire! So the VERY first animal we saw once airborne was a lone lion with a kill. She was barely 300 yards from the launch site (yikes!) guarding her breakfast. Gave me chills!! From there we chased a small (relatively speaking) herd of wildebeests and zebras. Oh, I forgot to say that we named every wildebeest Forrest. Then we could say "Run Forrest!! Run!" it was very funny :) And then for a while we just floated over Africa and watched the sun rise. I have to say that I was a lot more interested in just soaking everything in than taking pictures. This was the most amazing experience of my life! I've seen the sun rise in a lot of places, but there was something about the light in Africa that was different... impossible to describe, but unforgettable. As the light grew, we were able to see further, and the most noticeable thing was the SWARMS of wildebeests that covered the Mara. Milton said that there were already more here this year than all of last year, and that more were coming. He pointed out (in the distance) where the wildebeest migrate from Tanzania across the Mara river. We felt very lucky that they had come early just to see us!! :) The other neat thing was to see their trails through the grass. It looked very much like some alien toddler had scribbled all over the ground :) We also saw a herd of elephants, several hyenas, giraffes, gazelles, and other animals. We passed over several small creeks (do they call them creeks in Africa?) and it was really neat to look over the side of the basket and see the reflection of the balloon float across the water. I also loved watching the other balloons (there were two others that took the same flight-path as us, and another one that we saw way in the distance). Milton was great about turning the balloon every couple of minutes so we were all able to see in all different directions. He also took several pictures of us with a camera that was hanging above/outside of the basket. Near the end of the flight we flew over a small forest where Milton said a rhino lived, but we didn't see him. Flying over the forest was very cool though :) The only really scary part of the flight was the landing. We sat back down in the basket and held onto some ropes. We hit the ground HARD, and Milton said "hang on! We're not done yet!" and then there was a couple more rough bounces before we felt like we were dragged and then slowly tipped over. By that time we were all in fits of laughter (Ben's fault... although I'm sure he'd blame it on me) and after an upside-down picture, we climbed out and then on top of the basket for a "we survived!" picture with the balloon crew. All-in-all the flight probably lasted just over an hour. It was one of the best hours of my life so far :)
So then we hopped back in the Land Rover for a quick drive up to the champagne tree. There we found a full service champagne breakfast waiting for us! There was quiche, sausages, croissants, fruit, yogurt, cereal, and of course lots of champagne! Nothing like getting tipsy before 9am ;) We sat across from another English couple on their honeymoon who were a lot of fun. The husband did a great rhino impression :) I also was in stitches over a discussion that included Tim's annual religious holiday (whenever he needs a day off work) called the Feast of Saint Fuckit. (Again, even funnier in an English accent!!) We also saw our first lilac-breasted-roller bird -- we ended up seeing a ton of them, but I never got a good picture.... but they are very cool!! So after a lot of good food, champagne, and laughter, we jumped back in the comfy land rover and headed back to the lodge. Our driver this time was Eric, and he was in no hurry, so we got a fantastic, meandering drive back to the lodge. The first thing we came across was a big bunch (flock?) of vultures picking the bones of an old kill. They are really ugly birds, but in a neat way! Next we saw a secretary bird (I will not repeat the joke about secretarial duties and eating worms... I'm sure you can work it out for yourself!) Soon after we recovered from our laughter, we came across our first lion couple! We named them David and Victoria (as in Beckham... being on a football kick) and enjoyed watching them snooze in the sun. This was the first male lion (like adult-with-a-mane lion) that we had found and he was SO handsome. After we left the sleepy couple, we found another lion not 5 minutes later! Eric (named after our driver) was snoozing in the shade and couldn't have cared less that we were oogling over him. He reminded me a lot of my Fat Kitty :) We left Eric to his cat nap and continued on to the lodge. We saw one sad young wildebeest that had been separated from his herd. :( He ran along the car (run Forrest!) for a long time, but finally veered off into the grass. We all think he definitely went and found his family and did NOT get eaten by a lion. Oh! This was also the start of our battle (which continued on the afternoon drive too) with the worlds biggest grasshoppers. There are probably millions of them in the grass and if they are jumping at the wrong time they get sucked into the car. Of course they aren't dangerous at all, but it is pretty freaky to have a grasshopper that is as big as your hand land somewhere on you!! Thank god for Ben, the grasshopper wrangler, who fearlessly wrestled the buggars, pinned them down, and threw them back outside :) We had the best time on the ride back to the lodge laughing and enjoying the sun and the incredible experience of being in that amazing place. The only bad part was the incredible number of bruises incurred from standing up/out the roof for 99% of the drive.
So once we got back to the lodge, we all headed straight for some nap-time. We had the chance to visit a local Masai village, but honestly we were just to exhausted from the late night before and the early morning. Jessica and I met up for a late lunch (Jordan wasn't feeling great, so he kept sleeping) and enjoyed some REALLY yummy sesame-covered ribs and a little sun-by-the-pool-time. Then it was time to meet up with Benjamin for the afternoon cheetah-hunt! As a cheetah was the only animal that we hadn't seen yet, we were all willing to do whatever it took to find one. We started off crossing a small creek/gully and drove along side it for a good 45-55 minutes. Other than some roller-birds, we didn't see any other animals, so Benjamin started looking for a place to re-cross the creek/gully. Every crossing we came upon was in REALLY bad shape, and after a while we ran into another van that was back-tracking as all the other crossings were worse. So we found the least-worse one, held our breath and crossed our fingers and toes, and....... we got stuck. Now I have to say that Benjamin drove over some pretty incredible roads for the whole time that we were in Jesus (which, by the way, was only front-wheel drive). He had an amazing handle of the vehicle, and as unsafe as the roads and other drivers were, he was very safety-conscious and really made the ride as smooth as possible. But... none the less... we were VERY stuck. So... we all got out (kind of nervously) and tried pushing the van, but we were REALLY stuck. So the other van that had crossed ahead of us went to get help, and we all were posted on lion-watch. It probably wasn't more than 15 minutes before a Land Rover came along and hooked up a wench to Jesus. Our safari boys were actually in testosterone heaven as they got to help rock and push Jesus back onto the road :) The official story is, of course, that Ben lifted the van with one hand while Jordan and Tim fought of 49 lions. Ahhh, those manly men :) Anyway! We were unstuck and (thankfully) uneaten and off to look for a cheetah. We never did see one (guess I'll just have to go back again!) but we were treated to some amazing sunlight-through-the-clouds breathtaking moments. We did find one group of vans that said they had seen a cheetah way off in the distance, but by the time we got there we didn't see anything. So we headed towards another group of vans and found three wonderful lions. On one side of our car (literally like 2 feet away) was a really lovely female, and on the other side of the car (about 10 feet away) was Fabio and Loleta... a couple in love :) According to Benjamin, if they are at the beginning of their courtship, they mate every 5 minutes or so and don't stop to eat! Well apparently these two were at the beginning of their courtship because we saw them go through the mating routine three times in about 20 minutes. We also had to hold in our laughter when Ben, forgetting for a moment that he wasn't watching this all happen on TV, yelled "YEAH!!" after Fabio finished "the deed." Fabio gave us quite a stare (which was intimidating to say the least). I was going back and forth between watching them and watching the really lovely kitty on the other side. I got a great shot of her yawning, and Jess got a great shot of her calling. I can't describe how incredible it is to hear and see a lion call.... it was so beautiful! Since it was getting late, we had to leave the happy couple to their baby-lion-making. (FYI - the game wardens in each park make sure that all the safari vehicles are out of the park by like 6 or 7pm... unless you have special permission I suppose) On our way back to the lodge, we saw several herds (wildebeests, zebra, buffalo, elephants, etc.) and some sleepy hyenas (it was neat to see them up-close as we had only seen them from the balloon).
I have to admit when we got back to the lodge, I was pooped! So I was a little annoyed when we went to the restaurant and were re-directed again. This time it was apparently a Masai holiday, so we were going to join in the festivities. We had quite a hike (ok... it was a ways, but not that far) to a big outdoor area. I am guessing that this is somewhat close to the Masai village that we didn't visit that afternoon. Anyway, they had a huge bbq pit, rows of clay pots that were being heated over a strip of hot coals, and a big bonfire. There were also Masai dancers dancing and singing around the guests. It took a little while for me to get un-grumpified, but eventually (after eating some incredibly good beef and naam - my new favorite kind of bread) I enjoyed the native dancing and of course the good conversation with our safari crew :) As tired as we all were, we went to the bar and had one last toast to Africa as we were headed back to Nairobi and our separate lives the next day :( It was heavenly to go back to my "tent" and crawl into my huge cozy bed (I forgot to mention that the turn-down service here included a hot-water-bottle in your bed!) and fall asleep. It is hard to have a favorite, since every day in Africa was such a unique experience... but if I had to pick... this was my favorite day. Click this link to see pictures!