We began our final day in Maasai Mara even earlier than yesterday - We woke up at 5 am so we could enter the park at 6 am! We really wanted to get a head start to see as much as possible.
And it was a good decision - within entering the park, we saw giraffes! And with the early morning light in the background, it made for a beautiful view.
And then we drove further, and we saw it - an elephant! Right by the road! It was so impressive getting to see one up close. It was just eating a bush on its own. We kept our distance so we would not agitate it, but we still saw it closer than we ever expected.
And then, just as we were about to drive away, I looked backwards, and then I saw them. A whole family of elephants! Coming towards us! This one must be one of the parents! They marched along the road and regrouped right in front of us, and then walked into the surrounding trees. There were babies and elephants of all sizes. We even heard them make their iconic trumpet sound.
I could not believe what I had just seen. I think that out of all our animal encounters in Maasai Mara, this one was my favorite. It was so unexpected, we saw the animals really well, and it was just perfect in every way.
From there, we drove further into the park, we were going towards the grasslands and forested areas to see the leopards, because they are arboreal, and the rhinos, because they love to hide in those areas. On the way, we saw two buffalo very close. This was the first time we saw buffalo since the first day, and we got much closer this time. Buffalo are apparently very territorial, and more dangerous than even hippos, so we made sure to keep our distance.
Also managed to see another hyena on the road, this one had a very red face, I can only assume it had just eaten a lot as well.
I was surprised by how cold it was in Maasai Mara in the mornings, I was cold even with a sweater. But some of us found a way to stay warm while it was still cold.
We saw the most wildebeests today, we saw their migration lines very well, they all move in straight, sometimes single-file lines. Sometimes the lines don't go anywhere, they just walk like that, which I found very interesting. This was a large pack of them, and they were on their way back to Serengetti National Park in Tanzania. We heard that it is estimated that 2 million wildebeests participate in this migration, and judging from the numbers we observed, that almost seems like an underestimate!
As we headed to the grasslands, we saw more kinds of antelopes as well, much bigger than the impalas from two days ago, such as these two elands, a normal one (back), and a grey one (front). A fun fact is that lions actually tend to avoid eating these kinds, because apparently they don't taste very good to them.
We also came across two more buffalo in the tall grass. I pointed out that I thought their horns looked like the shape of a fake moustache, especially from this angle.
There were also plenty more zebras and wildebeests in the grass. I was a bit skeptical of how zebras could camouflage given their very distinct stripe pattern, but they actually can blend in from a far distance fairly well in this grass.
Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to see any rhinos or leopards. Alas, even though we could not complete the big 5, we still saw an impressive amount of wildlife up close, which I cannot undervalue.
After we were finished in the park, we had one last stop before returning to Nairobi - the Maasai village. The Maasai often welcome people who visit the park into their village. They performed a welcome dance for us, even asking me and Ignacio to participate! They then showed us their animals, cows, sheep, chickens, and goats, and their homes. They also demonstrated how they make fire by twisting sticks to generate heat from friction. It was very nice and they were very welcoming.
We also stopped by their shop as we left and purchased several souvenirs. Once we were done in their village, we started our drive back to Nairobi. These past three days have been absolutely incredible, and I am still in disbelief at how much we were able to see. Thousands of wildebeests and gazelles, tens of giraffes, hippos, and impalas, 10 cheetahs, 5 lions, 5 buffalo, snakes, monkeys, hyenas, crocodiles, and a whole family of elephants! And there were still numerous animals that we never saw! The Maasai Mara is truly one of the most beautiful and impressive places I have ever been to, and I will never forget my weekend here.
With that being said, we still had work to do while we were here! After this weekend, I was feeling refreshed and ready to continue our research into MIS the next day.