What to do and see in Maasai Mara National Reserve, Rift Valley Province: The Best Safaris

Reviewed By ramadeyrao

We chose the 14 days trip (exclusively for us) with Fred (East Africa Adventure Tours and Safaris). Overall an excellent never-to-be-forgotten vacation with 3 boat safaris, 7 national parks, including travel by road, and small aircrafts. 5 countries in all. The exquisitely good, the not so good... but MOSTLY the FABULOUS...... 1) Exclusive safaris planned and unplanned out for the two of us with excellent vehicles and executed with relative ease causing least anxiety to us. Lake Naivasha was unplanned and we are so grateful to Leonard for diverting us for a few hours there . Peaceful yet full of diversity in fauna -boat safari. Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara have to be experienced. Unique. The long drives were safe and fine EXCEPT the middle of the road stop between Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara for lunch. THAT stop needs to be taken off the agenda for all future clients. The food is awful , there are flies and there is really no need. Better a packed lunch. I am not a fan of the hot air balloon ride because it scared the animals when close to the ground but it was a rare experience so I am glad I did it. Expensive. Also due to our own fault we broke our camera right here and so the rest of the trip was with our phone cameras and Bryson's camera that he lent us to use. Oh well.... hakuna matata! The wait for 3-5 hours at the airport in Masai Mara Park to catch the flight to Migori could have been avoided if the front desk could have been queried about whether the plane was going to be on-time. A lunch could have been packed knowing that the plane was late. We did not get to eat till late afternoon when Bryson picked us up at Seronara airport in Tanzania and we bought some biscuits. Leonard made a quick drive into the forest during the delay time to try and get us to see a leopard and I will give him kudos for trying. But it was awkward.Travel glitches do happen and we were ready to weather them. I have to also comment on Leonard's excellent instincts as a naturalist. As we were driving out of Nakuru a full grown male baboon entered our 9 seater jeep through the open top. Quite aggressive. Picked up bag, picked out lens, dropped it... Leonard stopped. Faced the baboon and we stayed silent in our seats. Leonard did not speed away as I might have expected but calmly and forcefully faced the baboons ( the first was followed by 3 : all full grown males) one by one and they climbed out. Only after that did we drive on. I was extremely impressed and wanted him to know how much we appreciated that episode. To know that yes we are always dealing with animals in their habitat and it is not our place to scream and yell but to deal with circumstances the best we can and hope for the best outcome. That was a wild encounter perhaps a bit too close for comfort but we were heartened to see no harm come out of it and the strength of being with an excellent naturalist guide. 2) Knowledgeable naturalist guides with experience in both spotting and tracking. 3) Friendly 5 star tented resorts and lodges. Special thanks to Flamingo Hill Tented Camp in Lake Nakuru, Sopa Lodge outside Masai Mara Nat Park , Sound of Silence (a fabulous 5 star tented camp last minute alternative with exclusive dinner prepared for each guest ) at Serengeti Nat Park, Ngorungoru Farm House (most impressed to know that all food products were produced within the campus), and Ol Tukai Lodge at Amboseli. The best by far (by way of service) was Protea Hotel Livingstone, Zambia. I am biased because it was our wedding anniversary and although I had requested a surprise for my husband they went ALL OUT with champagne, fruits, flower decorations et al. Thank you ALL. I left little personal gifts in most places and I am hoping they were appreciated. The massages at Flamingo and FarmHouse are appreciated much and I hope the gifts were liked. It might be a good idea to inform your guests that there are resorts inside the parks. We would have absolutely chosen that. It cuts down the driving to the park, although we saw a whole lot even in those drives. So no worries about that. 4) The safaris were comprehensive. The best were at Serengeti and Ngorugoru where Bryson made sure of the packed breakfast and lunches and we were in the forest from 6am to 6pm. That is the way to maximize on what we experienced in the forest. (I hope you wife made use of the tiny gifts Bryson) All other guides could take a page from Bryson. Some guests might like the more relaxed lunch at resort, sleep in afternoons but it is a good idea to gauge right away who your guests are and what they want. Forcing them to return to lodges to have lunches is not always the best choice. Our water and land safaris at Chobe National Park, Botswana which we planned ourselves with the help of the Protea Hotel concierge at Livingstone , Zambia were spectacular. Not only did we get our very close encounter with leopard #4 but it was guarding a recently dead elephant which was a scene never to be forgotten. We spotted the rare sable antelopes which were spectacular. But they are so shy that we could not capture them in photos. Neither did we capture the many dik dik we spotted for the same reason or the ant-lion in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park in Livingstone, Zambia. Victoria Falls was very dry, although we could appreciate the immensity of what must be during season: we were happy to be in it's presence at all. Each National Park was better than the one before in diversity of flora and fauna. Each was special. I was interested in the flora since I am a botanist by training. So every tree had to be named. (Sorry!) and the diversity in Mosi-oa-Tunya especially was delightful. Whether watching the caldera through dried LeonOtis in Ngorungoru or spying the Euphorbia candelabra far away or the sausage tree (Kigelia), Adansonia (my favorite) , Coffee Bauhinia , Mopane , Rain tree, monkey-bread (piliostigma) Mungongo nut which our guide picked up delightedly from the elephant dung and cracked one for me to eat (delicious!!) or the Impala midden from which he picked out the perfectly sized poop to demonstrate them and talked of the poop spitting competitions they had when boys. It was just delightful. For biologists it is a dream come true. If you can... you MUST. Rama Dey-Rao, PhD