We stopped on the way to take a photo of Campbell and Kelly overlooking the Great Rift Valley. It really is a spectacular site. 
After about a 4 hour drive, we arrived at our safari camp. We dropped our gear in our tents and headed off right away for our first game drive. Our safari camp was less than a 5 minute drive from the entrance of the Masai Mara Game Reserve.
As you may guess from the number of photos of the game reserve, I loved the area. It was really difficult to sort through the photos and decide which ones to put on the blog. We probably have hundreds. Some of the things that we spent more time watching than photographing were the birth of a Thompson gazelle, and then watching it take its first steps within minutes of being born, and watching a pride of 6 lionesses stalking a warthog. Although they didn't make the kill, which was probably a good thing for us, it was still fascinating to watch them close in on the warthog. We saw plenty of animals during our game drives as Nash was absolutely amazing at finding them.
Aside from the animals, we also enjoyed the wide open spaces and the clean air. After being in cities for the past few weeks, the plains and the endless blue skies were a pleasant change.
Our safari van was the perfect vehicle for watching the animals. The roof popped up and gave us plenty of room to look all around us while Nash drove through the park. There were just the 4 of us in the van, which was a real treat.
I don;t think any of us would have picked out this lion had it not been for Nash. This big guy was having a nap behind a fallen branch with one paw up on the branch.
This lioness seemed quite content where she was.
And this one was darn right laid back and relaxed!!
There was a group of 3 lionesses and several cubs just lying beside the road. They certainly weren't worried about us.
After our first day in the game reserve, we were happy to get back to camp, have our dinner and get to bed early. It was a long and busy day, but totally enjoyable.
The next morning, we were up at a reasonable hour and off on our second game drive. The safari camp packed a picnic lunch for us as we were to be out in the reserve for the whole day.
After breakfast, the kids were ready to get going.
As we headed out of camp, one of the local Masai tribesman was just settling in for a bit at our camp. There was a Masai village right next to the safari camp and it was interesting to see the tribesmen in their traditional red dress.
Dean and Campbell kept watch for whatever animals were out there.
It didn't take us long to find more lions. They were certainly the highlight of our game tracking.
Kelly also kept a vigilant watch from the top of the van.
Giraffes seem like the quintessential symbol of the African plains.
Who knows what may have been lurking in the water. Along the water's edge were hundreds of bones. It seems the water is a favourite dining spot.
This was a display of some of the bones found in the area around the river.
This was Nash's first stop for our picnic. As this picnic site was clearly already occupied, we continued on to another spot.
The spot where we did stop to have our picnic really wasn't very far from the first spot where the lions had been, so we all kept our eyes out for any unwanted guests for lunch.
We did stop in a spot where we could see a long way in each direction and we did stay close to the van.
Campbell was clearly more interested in looking for animals than eating lunch.
After lunch, we drove back to the first picnic site to see if the lion was still there. We found several other lions also at the site. They looked pretty settled in.
The only time we left the van for any distance was to see the hippopotamus. For that, we had to have an armed escort, as one never knows what may be lurking in the bushes. Our escort had quite the rifle with him and kept his eyes and ears tuned for any danger.
We saw quite a few hippopotamus (I don't know what the plural is), and several crocadiles. Our escort was never far away.
Campbell is standing beside a creek where the hippos come out of the water. We didn't see any in this area. They were all out in the river. Apparently they only come out of the water in the evening.
This is a border marking between Kenya and Tanzania. To the right of this stone is the Masai Mara Game Rerserve in Kenya. To the left is the Serengeti Game Reserve in Tanzania.
There were plenty of elephants in the park and they were huge. According to Nash, they spend about 18 hours a day eating. 
Nash saw some baboons in the distance and drove over to take a closer look. We didn't stay long as the baboons took little time getting closer to us and climbing on the van. Nash decided to leave them behind before we ended up with them in the van.
After a full day in the park, the kids were happy to have a little down time in their tent.
This was our dining lodge where we were provided some amazing meals. We hated to leave the game reserve. There is something really special about seeing animals where they belong. You just don't get the same feeling at a zoo no matter how big and how well set up it is. This is their territory and you understand very quickly that you need to respect that. Kenya seems to have learned that the game reserves are a very important part of tourism in their conntry and they are doing everything they can to preserve the parks in their natural states and to protect the animals as best they can.
