Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya| African Safari Vlog

This isn’t a well-edited vlog, just an assemblage of some of the montages we took from one of the most extraordinary journeys I’ve ever taken. ✨ I consider this a personal digital album🎞️. We travelled independently to Maasai Mara, Kenya, without any tour package or hotel booking. I’d seen far too many stories online about food poisoning and chaotic packages, so I decided to design everything myself (also because I had events where I had to speak and perform music in the forthcoming weeks, I couldn't take any risk), from researching routes, modes/options of transport from each location, food and water, (we carried 10 litres of water from Nairobi), reading travel blogs, and watching hours of vlogs from travellers across the world. I wanted something authentic, something grounded in local life🌿. And that’s exactly what I found.
After reviewing all the Airbnb accommodation options, I chose to book a stunning, cozy Airbnb 🏡 called The Pink Container, owned by Moses and Laura, two wonderful people whose warmth and sustainability ethos touched me deeply. You can find it here (Highly highly recommend🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟: https://www.airbnb.co.in/rooms/548139...

We took an Uber straight from our Nairobi Airbnb space (https://maps.app.goo.gl/b2b3cHqreA81f...) to Maasai Mara (yes, the exact price on the app!), then stopped at Narok to book our return bus tickets/seats (Because online booking required M-PESA, since it was a short visit, we did not use that) with Easy Coach — clean, air-conditioned, and comfortable. (Narok is a bustling junction town in southwest Kenya; it's the last major stop before the roads branch off toward Maasai Mara. It’s where the smooth highway from Nairobi ends and the rough, off-road trail into the Mara begins (It is not that much of a rough road, if you ask me). Easy Coach buses, which connect different towns across Kenya, pass through Narok on their regular intercity routes. Travellers returning from the Mara in probox/matatus/private taxis often stop at Narok to catch one of these buses to Nairobi or other cities, since large buses don’t go into the park’s off-road areas.)

Moses met us at King’s Comfort Restaurant (roadside building) with his jeep, and we travelled 2km to reach the Airbnb space. The neighbourhood was alive with cows, goats, and chickens; we literally lived at the edge of the Savannah. 🐄 One of the cows had even been killed by a lion🦁, and insurance folks were inspecting the cow's body, the day we arrived, a surreal introduction to how close we were to the wild.

The Pink Container was everything we had hoped for: squeaky clean, comfortable, and a wonderful place, filled with thoughtful details. Farm-fresh eggs, milk, and juice, a big couch, a self-sufficient kitchen, a lovely bougainvillea, a hammock, an outdoor fireplace, and beautiful birds that came to peck at their reflections on the glass doors. At sunset☀️, Moses and Laura took us to a private viewpoint where we watched elephants and giraffes 🐘🦒 in the distance, soft light fading into the vast African sky. We had a nightguard, Joephat, and he made me molten Marshmallows!

Moses and Laura arranged our safari guide/driver, Mike. We went for a private safari. He was phenomenal, a local Maasai gentleman who knows every inch of the land. We saw everything we wished for: lions, leopards, buffalo, zebras, warthogs, antelopes, Thompson's gazelles, wilderbeasts, cheetahs, hippos, rhinos, elephants, vultures, superb starlings, topi, cubs🥹, calves🥹, and even an ostrich defending her chicks from hyenas. Mike knew exactly where to position the jeep for the best view!

We left Maasai Mara feeling deeply moved, grateful, and enriched! Moses, Laura, Mike, and Josephat (our night guard) truly made us feel like family. I will definitely visit again!🥹 If you are planning to visit Maasai Mara, I can not recommend The Pink Container more highly, and they are also on https://mara-explorers.com/. We returned to Narok in a Probox (Wouldn't recommend it if you have a lot of luggage other than backpacks. If you have luggage, then you can book a private taxi. Moses knows the place, so he might be able to help you with that. But I would recommend planning these things before arriving at Maasai Mara). It was tightly packed but very safe; everyone inside was a local out for their daily errands. It was part of the cultural experience! From Narok, we boarded our 'Easy Coach' bus —the seat we had booked days prior, which was a very comfortable old Benz.
This trip reminded me that when you trust your intuition and lead with curiosity, always! 🌿Hakuna Matata✨

Ashe Oleng. Ahsante Sane 🙏🏾

Sound: Fluidscape by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...