Masai Mara to Nairobi

Another pre-breakfast game drive on our last day on the Masai Mara. One of the hyenas came back to the den with a piece of wildebeest, which higher-ranking hyenas took from her. A group of 9 or 10 elephants seemed to be unhappy — Charity said because a large truck coming through had probably disturbed them. So we got out of their way as they headed for the road we were on. We found a male and female lion sleeping in the sun — and then witnessed them in a quick mating act. Charity pointed out several different kinds of eagles as well as vultures. Scavenger birds do very well here.

We had a quick breakfast when we returned, finished packing up our bags, and were driven down to the airstrip to wait for our plane. The wildebeest and zebras had to be shooed off the dirt runway as planes approached. The pilot of a plane that wasn’t ours told us, “There’s been a change, hop on and we’ll take you to the next airstrip where you’ll catch a bigger plane.” That one was a Dash 8 that held 37 passengers, had a normal-width aisle, and wheels that retracted! We got the last 2 seats in the long back row.

We landed at Wilson, the smaller of Nairobi’s airports, and were met by Dixon, our driver for today and tomorrow. He gave us a running commentary on the city as he drove us past the Nairobi National Park to our hotel, located in the Karen district. It has 12 rooms, and only one other seems to be occupied besides ours. We enjoyed a late lunch and then dinner later, where Oh My Yes … another birthday cake was presented to Jack!Read more