Martin & Anita Out of Africa

The adventure started with the small eight seater Cessna tin can of an airplane that bounced around the sky on route to our Safari into the plains of the Masai Mara. We landed on a crude dirt airstrip and were whisked away via Land Cruiser to our destination known as Little Kicheche Camp. Our driver was dressed in the traditional tribal tartan dress of the Masai people and within minutes we were stopped along the Mara River to see a dozen hippos beached for an early afternoon snooze. Quite a beginning to our adventure.
The main characters in this story are the lovely and fetching Anita (pictured below) and the rugged, untidy bear Martin




Along the way to our camp we saw hundreds of wildebeest's grazing and several varieties of antelope. Our collective necks were getting quite a workout, and this was just the beginning. When we arrived at the camp we were greeted by our hosts and escorted to our tent that was situated on a ridge that looked out over a valley, simply beautiful (the view and the tent). This was nowhere near typical camping and I fear that we are both spoiled for life.
Our days were filled with "game drives" across the plains of the Mara and our guide was a wonder of a man whose name was Mika. His knowledge, his passion and his eloquence are difficult to put into words but maybe most impressive was his vision. He could see animals at distances that boggled the mind, we have never witnessed this before and might never again. Over the course of our days we saw many things...groups of giraffe's running the plains, hundreds...no thousands of wildebeest herds grazing, running, fighting...(hide the kids eyes warning!!) mating lions (twice...love was in the air), hyena families, elephant packs, cheetah's and their young...more lions and cubs. enormous croc's and hippo's, incredible birds, buffalo, many varieties of antelope...more lions. We both had lions walk within 3 feet from us at different times but they could care less. Once again words are not enough.
The picture below shows what is considered one of the great natural wonders of the world and that is the crossing of the wildebeest from one side of the Mara river to the other. The scene at the crossing is one of death, excitement, adventure and hope. In the waters of the river croc's and hippos wait for the "beest's" to cross, dead half eaten corpses of the beast lie stagnant in the water...along the banks of the river are maybe 200 vultures waiting to benefit from the work of the croc's and on one side of the river is the gathering of the beast's and zebra's...everyone waiting. Without any reason or logic the beast's decide to cross the river and it is a stampede of epic proportions, the sound of the herd, the rushing water only add to the drama. Watching this is all at once horrific, amazing, exhilarating and moving.



The acacia tree of Africa.



The very adorable but soon to be lethal hyena cubs.


This guy had a nice scar on his left cheek...reminded me of "The Lion King" guy.


Our experience was glorious, there truly are not enough superlatives to describe it from the camp, it's hosts, our guide to the beauty and grandeur of the Mara and it's inhabitants.
Pat and Katie are thriving and look like movie stars...we are humbled by them and what they have been doing and thank them for all they have done for us.

-Anita and Martin