The journey to the elephants - Part 2

When we were finally allowed to park the car, we had to wait an entire hour for our pickup service. In the meantime, we had called the Mara Elephant Project and told us that we could not continue with our car.

It was wet, cold and we all three longed for a warm shower and fresh clothes. As we waited, we only realized how finished we were and also disappointed that this trip went as it just went. But together we managed to keep looking at each other again and again and see the positive in the whole thing. Also, the mood between me and my friend was somewhat tense, after we had been pretty close to each other at our last Matsch disaster and I had unintentionally driven over his toes. Don't worry, the toes are fine and we could look in the eyes again afterwards. Finally, we got another call and they told us they were there. 

Then we got into the pickup with our things and prepared for a ride in the dark, we would drive another hour to finally reach our destination. What happened then was good for me all day. We were given a night's ride and it was totally free. On our way to the reserve and our accommodation for the night we drove in the outskirts of the Maasia Mara. We saw one animal after another, which was quite difficult in the dark, but we were really lucky. Suddenly my friend said, "Look, a hyena!" Wasn't there actually next to our car a hyena with a piece of meat in her mouth! What lucky mushrooms we are again! Unfortunately, this trip was meant to get us to our destination as quickly as possible and so we stumbled past all the animals, nevertheless we could see a Gepard right next to us on the other side of the car. After this trip I was extremely happy and was looking forward to our evening in the lodge, because the food would be ready when we arrived.

But what did we do first in the camp? Right, we took a warm shower under one of the best shower I've ever had here in Kenya! Fresh and warm we then went to the lodge where we ate. We were of course the only guests and had a private cook.  Having had nothing to eat all day, we were so grateful for everything we could eat and we ate better than ever before. It was cooked vegetarian for all three of us, because we two women are vegetarian, I just hoped that my boyfriend was full too. At the end of the trip he meant to me, you know Alina, we have never eaten so well and that really means what when he says that! 

The next morning, it was a Monday, we had breakfast together and then Carina and I got an introduction to Thorsten's project. My friend lay down again in the meantime. Thorsten showed us a power point he had put together for guests. In short: we started this project because Carina supports this project from Sweden, with an organization. That's why we also got the nights and everything cheaper. After the presentation Thorsten showed us the whole area. Such a mega workplace! In the middle of the green and daily pass between four to five groups of animals. The Rangers and all the others involved at this site sleep on site and really live in paradise! 

So now comes my fat bottle. Thorsten is white and has a British-Australian dialect, but he can also speak Kiswahili fluently. As we walked over the property, Carina asked when he had been here. The answer was, "Since September!" Carina and I realized that he's been here for as long as I was, and then... “You really can Kiswahili well!” I was a little embarrassed. I shot the bird because Thorsten is Kenyan. He was born here and grew up in the bush! Well, dear Alina, how was it with prejudices!

Then we got another game drive around the project. At this my friend then came with which I was very pleased and we saw even more animals than I could ever hope. We saw elephants and giraffes so close, because with the Ranger car we were allowed to get very close to them. The elephants crossed the road in front of the vehicle and we saw countless zebras, gnoses, water buffaloes and all sorts of gazelles. It's always magical to experience something like this!

After lunch we went back to our car at 3:30 p.m. Carina and my boyfriend were pretty nervous about the car, because it crept more often once when we checked the way here, and most of the time it actually happened to me. I was calm and knew everything would be fine. Next time I'll tell you how our story went out!