Wildebeest Migration. Big Five. Live killings. Seeing animals up, close and personal. Masai Mara is intrinsically related to these. What often beats us all amidst such precious sightings is the simple rugged beauty of the Mara. Savanna Grasslands, in shades of green, yellow and rustic gold, perched against a perfect blue African sky. The lone Acacia in its absolute solitude, standing guard to the teeming animals grazing lazily and its golden bark shining bright in the afternoon sun. The favourite food of the Giraffes, it is a sight to see the tall creatures daintily bend their pretty head and feed on their leaves. As your Land Cruisers pass by, the curious eyes of the giraffes look at you with a calm, or you see them gracefully walking away, with the finesse of ballet dancers, heads towering above man and beast alike.
The sudden bushes cradling the lions and lionesses in their deep slumber after a meal, the rich brown of their mane making a peek-a-boo amidst the greens, giving off the communication that a throne is where the King chooses to laze around. And afar in the distance, you see thousands of zebras and wildebeests, in absolute synergy and camaraderie, grazing along silently…often joined by the gazelles and the impalas.
And the lazy hippos never seem to tire of their sleep and slow sauntering across the Mara river, while the river herself meanders gracefully, taking herself across lands. Have you ever seen the warthogs or the Pumba? With their tails fixed in place in a horizontal position, they ooze curiosity while your car moves…and the millisecond your car stops, they’ll smell danger and pick up that tail, making a swift run in packs.
And if your eyes…and subsequently your lens…ever captures the striking beauty of the Masai landscape in its rustic gold-brown beauty, it would seem like a land from childhood fairytales, where no man can ever set foot. Far removed from everyday reality, it is a land of your wildest imaginations, where the endless road pauses only when it meets the sky. And a lone Acacia stands witness to this grand meet.
