4-Days Masai Mara Safari Combined with Hot Air Balloon Ride Experience

Traveler Reviews

• J

  justin

  September 4th, 2021
  5.0
  This was an incredible experience! I arrived in Nairobi about 12 hours before the safari team picked me up for the...
  This was an incredible experience! I arrived in Nairobi about 12 hours before the safari team picked me up for the Maasai Mara trip. Pick up and the drive to the park was seamless even though some of us had different itineraries and lodging accommodations. Within minutes of entering the park our driver took us to a kill site with lions still chomping away on the dead buffalo. That first night I could hardly sleep. The sound of zebras barking in the distance, barely heard under the constant sound of crickets. Another horn in the nearby bush. What was it? No matter, I try to sleep despite the litany of new sounds I hear in the African savannah. At 4am I hear a knock on my door. No doubt my wake up “call,” but I’ve been awake since 11pm, restless and unable to fall back asleep. I open the door and a Maasai man, security for the safari lodge, tells me “wake up.” I tell him I’m ready, to his astonishment, and he escorts me down the lodge path, guiding the way with his flashlight through the densely vegetated walkway. Nothing more seemed like “wild Africa” than this start to the morning. Less than 12 hours earlier lodge staff scheduled the wake up call with me and made a point to let me know that the Maasai security should be aware of when I was awake and when I was up and moving around the lodge. Part of me wondered, how secure was this bush camp and how likely am I to encounter an apex predator from my door to the car in the early morning hours? Did the Maasai guards really need to know I was out and about? Surely I was at least in good hands of the Maasai guard. Together the man and I walk to my driver who is already prepping the Land Rover for the drive. “Jambo! Good morning,” I say. “Yes, good morning. Sorry for the early start,” the driver replies. I hop in the truck and we drive off into the Maasai Mara national reserve not far from the lodge. Only the stars and a sliver of a moon light the nighttime sky and I wonder how the driver can even see the dirt tracks he’s following to get us around. At times it felt that he was cutting his own path or finding shortcuts to get us around. We cross a few downed trees near a dirt path. “Look,” he says. “Elephants. They brought these trees down last night.” “Oh yeah?” I inquisitively replied as I grew interested in his tracking skills. “Yeah,” he tells me. “They we’re not down yesterday.” What a thrill it would be to spot some big game on this short drive to where his coworkers were setting up hot air balloons that I would take for a sunrise flight. The driver goes on. Further down a path, two hyenas respond to our vehicle. Their eyes glisten in the headlights. Suddenly they run across us and away. “Oh!” The driver exclaims. “They are scared. There must be some lions nearby. Nothing scares hyenas but lions.” And here I thought maybe our Land Rover had jolted them from the night. We were the only vehicle in sight. The only hint of human activity for miles. The driver keeps searching, zigzagging through the grasslands and scanning for more animal activity. Then suddenly he stops. “There!” He says as he points to my left. “Two lions.” Just 10 feet to my 10 0’ clock were two massive lions, a grizzled male and female lying together in the darkness. They were not startled nor disrupted by our finding them. A successful game drive in what was supposed to be a mere transport ride from the lodge to the balloons. At the sun began to light the sky, we arrive at the balloon launch site where more people are waiting to ride and employees are hurrying to inflate the dirigibles. The sun rises and paints the sky just as we take off— a dazzling array of red behind a few acacia trees and grass. This was the scenery I came for. From above the park, our pilot spots gazelles, zebras, hippos, and elephants for us all while telling us the biology of each creature. Then he spots a lion kill; another buffalo taken in the previous night and the lions are gorging themselves on its carcass. We also spot Tanzania from the high vantage point, just a few miles away. Once we land, the pilot drives with us to our breakfast and we stop to see the lion kill along the way. On the ground the animals are much larger and it was unique to see the creatures eat from above and on the surface. As the lions feast, we get hungry and we drive off to our breakfast in the bush: a massive buffet with plenty of champagne to toast to the successful flight. After we gorged ourselves, we drive off to meet back with my original safari team who chose not to ride the balloon. Our rendezvous was where a cheetah had been spotted and we sit by the cat for a few minutes to revel in its beauty. Then off we go for more terrain snd to track rhinos and leopards, the elusive duo of the Big Five. The next days were spent on longer game drives and a visit to the Maasai village where we sang, jumped, and danced with the villagers and learned about their culture. The park was unbelievably beautiful and the safari team was exceptional. They took care of us and ensured we had everything we needed around the clock. They made sure all our questions were answered and that each of our individual itineraries were still catered to without any problems or confusion. They always made sure to give us clear instructions on where and when we’d go to different parts of the park or meet certain parts of the itinerary. In this regard, the team’s communication skills were superb. I highly recommend this tour and this company for other itineraries. I will no doubt be back and use them for my next safari!Show more
  Traveled in August 2021