Maasai Mara Reserve, Tipilikwani Camp, Kenya 2025

 

Safari Day 7

Transfer to Tipilikwani Camp Maasai Mara Reserve

This was a rough travel day. Not sure why exactly. I was expecting to cut the travel time by flying instead of driving but it felt like a full travel day and when we arrived at our new camp at 3:30 we had lunch and RESTED.

Despite the exhaustion and mild air sickness the flight into the Maasai Mara was beautiful! We were the 4th stop which means we landed and took off from 3 other airstrips and got to the enjoy landscape and the animals from the air. Highlights were the incredible lush green grasslands, elephants winding through the land in herds and singles and a zebra that ran in front of the plane across the runway (!).

We skipped the PM game drive in favor of resting and that was totally the right call

We all loved warthogs

Overall our Mara experience was slightly less grand than in Samburu. Perhaps the novelty had worn off, or maybe it was that the vehicle was a bit more challenging with open sides so we had to keep hands on the boys almost at all times which is physically exhausting. We did see a few new to us species- my favorite, the topi, wildebeest, kudu, tortoise. But at this point in the trip we started longing for a bit more comfort and relaxation and opted for 8:30 AM game drives instead of 6 am and only did 1 at night, though it was epic in sorta an unwanted way…more on that later.

We enjoyed the baboons running in the river under our deck, rested and had yet another impossibly late dinner

Topi in his blue jeans

Hippos behind us

Safari days 8 and 9 Maasai Mara reserve,

Tipilikwani camp

We had three lovely game drives over these two days, opting to play in the pool and relax on our final night in the bush.

We spent some very nice time with elephants up close, got to see hippos!! A cool feature of this and other camps, is they’ve built suspension bridges across the river that borders the reserve. By walking across this bridge, we are spared the 40 minute drive to the park gate. Really a neat experience. (Our other lodges were fully in the parks, vs this was just outside).

Hippos

We saw so many lions. They are everywhere! Adam again did the spotting one time- maybe he has a second career as a nature guide!

Bridge b/t our camp
and the Mara

Then we were witness to a kill. Didn’t love it. Was hard to watch. A pride of 6 lions bringing down a mother and baby water buffalo. It was awful. I know it’s nature but that didn’t make it easy to watch. For some reason (I think our guide was trying to make extra cash) this was the only drive we had others in the car so we opted not to ask the guide to move along as they seemed really into it. Not us. Z was sad, Fynnie was interested but afraid the lions might get him, and Ollie was very matter of fact about it saying “well this was NOT on my bucket list”. There were an absurd number of cars there which made it even more uncomfortable. And some people were so into it. Ugh. Others were crying. I was wondering if I traumatized my kids- now with months behind us I can confidently say no, they are fine, but it wasn't pleasant. It was just an unfortunate situation all around. We tried to focus on the fact that this food would help the baby lion cubs we had literally just seen. But, idk, maybe we didn’t need to see that

Baby lions

The Mara had a much more touristed feel. Not touristy- it’s still remote, it’s still all nature, but there were significantly more safari cars throughout- at one point 50 (!) in the same place. More than we saw the entire time we were in Samburu. Sorta nuts and felt weirdly exploitative of the animals- we got so close to animals while they were interacting in a way I worried we were affecting their behaviors. Our guide is a Maasai- and he was clear from the get go that many of the guides, including him, don’t follow the rules and go off road all the time- fun and exciting at times but sometimes also felt a bit…predatory?

Rub my belly

In Ol Pejeta and Samburu we got amazingly close to animals but there were on the road (by their own choice) and or resting. At no point did I feel we were impacting them (unless there were herd animals that just needed to take a couple steps off the road). Maybe it’s because our guide at those parks was a bit more professional, experienced, mature…..I think that’s true but it was a whole different feel in the Mara- Mara felt like a playground for the wealthy tourists. It felt a little ick. I probably would

not come back to the Mara, though hesitate to tell a first timer not to go as it is beautiful.

Our last morning drive was calm and quiet. Saw cheetahs, zebras, topi, giraffe, nothing too exciting which actually worked out well for me because then I felt ready to leave. This trip may have been one day too long but I’m glad we ended on a peaceful high note with beautiful herd animals