Breathing in the wild

The tarmac ended just before the Masai Mara gateway town called Narok, which is the provincial town of Masai Mara.

Apparently the tarmac hadn't reached Narok due to politics, more likely to mean the bribe wasn't paid. Oh yes, Kenya is indeed one of the most corrupted countries in the world and it has reached endemic proportions here. I remember a while ago when there was an outcry in Swedish papers claiming that Ericsson had used bribes to get an Indian contract, well hello, how else would they get it? Unfortunately bribery is the way to do business here despite laws such as the Anti Corruption law and Economics Crimes Act. The legal and institutional framework simply doesn't work to stop corruption mainly because most public officials earns a small fortune (in Kenyan terms) by acquiring and accepting bribes hence delaying different projects.

Narok seemed to be a busy little town, what I find amazing is how men and women manage to look so clean and tidy despite living in tonnes of dust. Their clothes are always immaculate, white shirts with no stains and no wrinkles. What's their secret?

We continued the bumpy journey and finally reached the park entrance and thought we didn't have long to go. We were quite wrong, even if it was just another 12km it took forever. If you have seen the movie Shrek, I'd like to quote: Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? No. However it didn't really matter because the plains were beautiful,speckled with thorn and acacia trees, shared by herds of zebra, giraffe, elephant and buffalo.

We arrived at Mara Serena Safari Lodge around 2.30 p.m, just before the buffet lunch closed :).





























The lunch was delicious and the surroundings were absolutely stunning! The hotel is set on a high ridge and the actual rooms are freestanding mud huts, a modern version of the traditional African domes. Each hut has a small balcony overlooking the valley and the water hole. In the night, you lie there tucked in your bed hearing the lions roar over their last prey. I woke up in the middle of the night hearing the sound and at first I thought it was Mats snoring, then I heard it again and it definitely was not him! The roar and groaning of a lion is a deep, guttural sound and it is very hard to estimate the distance between yourself and the lion. My immediate thought was: Have I closed the balcony door properly...as if a lion would climb in. Then I realized it wasn't that close but still I wasn't watching a documentary with David Attenborough either somewhere out there was a real lion.