To Mara, To Mara, I love you the Mara...

We ended our week safari with the Masai Mara...which is also known to be the best game park in Kenya. At the Mara you have the best chance to see all the animals...including the big cats. We actually were very lucky throughout the whole trip, as we saw lions everyday except one. However, upon arriving to the Mara we had yet to see a cheetah. But before the day had even started, our mission was accomplished.  

As soon as we arrived, I joked with our Masai driver and said, "No pressure, but we have yet to see a cheetah!" To which he so amusingly replied, "Well, we actually haven't seen them here for several years now." And then low and behold, within about 5 minutes of our conversation, we drove up to this...

That sure made me happy!! We all sat there in amazement and watched the cheetah eat away. Poor antelope!! Another one of my wishes was to actually witness a kill...and I'm not a gory kind of girl...I just thought it would be so cool to see. Other people in our camp got to see a cheetah kill, and I was soooo jealous! Their pictures were really neat. I seriously would have loved to stay with one cheetah (or whatever) the whole day just to see it happen. But it never did for us. This is as close as we came, and I must admit it was pretty gruesome even watching them eat! 

And here are a few pictures of the camp where we stayed. This was our favorite camp we stayed at throughout the trip. It was run by a British couple with two children, and the hospitality was absolutely amazing...and so was the food!!

A typical safari day...Wake up at 6am and leave at 6:30am for a game drive. Stop at 8:30am for a bush breakfast in the middle of the Mara. Continue the drive until around 11am or so. Rest. Lunch at 1pm. Rest. Game drive at 4pm. Stop for sundowners around 6:30pm. Head back to camp at 7pm. Showers and then dinner at 8pm. And finally bed after a long but delicious two hour dinner :) The days actually were quite exhausting! 

This is a picture of us having our "bush breakfast"

Here are a few pictures of some of the other animals we saw.

I spy....

...a HIPPO!!

Mommy and baby cheetahs. 

They were absolutely adorable.

And good ole vultures eating the remains of a zebra. See the zebra skin?

Gross, huh? And this wasn't even half of the birds. They were flying in from everywhere and sprouting their wings to show who was boss. It was quite a sight!

This is the Masai giraffe. I'm pretty obsessed with the print...it is just so fun and unique.

Take a closer look. Isn't it cool?

Off-roading just a little...

By the end of this trip, I will agree, the Masai Mara is the BEST!  If you only have one chance to go on a safari (and I do hope everyone gets a chance because it is a trip of a life time), then I highly recommend the Masai Mara. The entire trip exceeded my expectations by far!! Thank you Mom and Dad!!!