Masai Mara Game Reserve Transportation

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We had a few minutes of breather here at a Narok Gas station. Had a bite or two from the local cafeteria, smoked a cigarettee and stocked up on Alcool and some Beer.

There are quite a few curio / gift Items on the road from Nairobi to Narok. Please remember, you can BARGAIN heavily. I bought a Wall-hanging for 1400 KSH when the guy asked 3000 KSH.
Please remember that :
1 USD is roughly equivalent to 100 KSH ( 96 is more precise on Nov 2011).

The first change that you would now find is that you would be bouncing and buping a lot , meaning every few seconds, while you are in this part of the trip.
The next difference would be that there would be far more animals now grazing the fields around. You would be unlucky if you do not find score of Thomsons Gazelles, a few zebras, and an odd Topee.

Enjoy the journey , which is about a 100 Kms and takes around 2 hours to reach the Masai Mara forest Reserve gate.
One word of CAUTION : Do not PHOTOGRAPH the ladies near the MARA RESERVE GATE.

A small Incident :
Our car , a Nissan 4X4 suddenly stopped while on our way from Narok to Masai Mara.
What happened is that one by one cars from both sides started to stop by and give our driver a helping hand. A little bit of rain added to the adventure in the open Savannahs.
Travellers from all these cars also hopped off for a 10 minute break, some enjoyed a small smoke on the sideways. Once it got fixed, we were on our way to the Mara Reserve

GUYS,

In case you do not know, the train from Nairobi to Mobassa has been CALLED OFF / DECOMMISSIONED for HUMAN TRAVEL and now only shuttles as a GOODS TRAIN.( since end March 2010)

So kindly booook your tickets for air-travel.

:)

Safarilink and others fly to and from Wilson airport in Nairobi, and Mombasa, as well as to and from other Game reserves.

Modern propeller aircrafts, the flight in the Cessna from Nairobi into Masai Mara was at the least very interesting and adventurous.

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The night before we did this the Mara had a down pour. Already muddy on our previous days game drive, the thought of getting bogged in our overland truck was more than enough to convince me to pay up the big bucks to see the Mara from a hot air balloon.

It was worth it by like 100 times. A once in a life time experience our balloon floated over a herd of about 24 elephants, we saw Lion very vaguely and leopard from the balloon (thus me completing seeing the Big 5) and it was soooo much more comfortable than sitting in a truck going through the mud. The most comfortable mode of transport I've ever been in... aaah floating up with the birds like on a cloud... Soooo Coool.

And of course afterwards being treated to the silver service of a full champagne breakfast in the middle of the Mara was absolutely delish as well. an amazing morning and well worth ever cent.

Not cheap, balloon rides cost about 400 US, but I will never do it again and you only live once right!

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The road between Kenya and Tanzania is quite scenic. Masai Mara has a beautiful nature with hills and savannah, patches of bush and woodland. And it is the continuation to Serengeti in Tanzania. The chance to see wild animals on the bus is almost 100%. The bus cross the border between Masai Mara (Kenya) and Serengeti (Tanzania) right after the Mara Bridge.

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The safari companies are using different cars from big trucks to jeeps, but the most common cars are Toyota Hiace and Nissan with an elevation roof so the passengers can stand up and see the animals. The cars have two a wheel drive, but it's not a big problem in Masai Mara during the dry season. The cars can go up steep hills and drive through high grass. But if you bump into big rocks as our reckless driver did, you break down the undercarriage of the car. (See the next tip...)

All cars have "PSV" written on the front/back, a kind of registration sign for driving with tourists on safari.

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Our driver from Planet Safari Adventures managed to bump the Nissan safari car into some big rocks and break down the undercarriage of the car. We had to go back to an auto repair garage to fix it, and lost many hours with safari. The car could go up steep hills and drive through high grass, but not drive through big rocks. I wish I told the reckless driver to slow down before it happened...

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Big overland trucks are traveling through the African continent, and pass through Masai Mara on one of many routes around Africa. They are the biggest specialized safari cars and have sometimes more than 20 tourists.