When we left Borana I was very very nervous. Jared told me that we were staying in a “tent” with no electricity. I’m sure he told me about Saruni Wild while planning our trip, but I may not have listened because I had ZERO recollection of that conversation! Listen, I can do without my cell phone. I can do without my computer. I can do without fixing my hair. I don’t need TV, Netflix, Youtube, etc. But, no lights to guide my way to the bathroom? No fan to fall asleep to? Now, that’ll make me nervous!
My worries quickly disappeared on our way to the lodge. We saw so many amazing animals just on our drive from the airstrip. We even saw a hyena and a topi for the first time! The topis are also called “blue jeans” because it looks like they are wearing a pair of dark blue pants.
Now, when I say “tent” I say it very loosely because we did have a bathroom with a sink, shower, and toilet. We had three really nice beds and two bathrooms. It was as close to camping as we will ever get! Also, the people at Saruni Wild took incredible care of us. We were definitely not “roughing it” since they made sure we were well fed, entertained, and bathed. Sidenote: they come and fill up a bucket with hot water when it is time for you to shower. It functions like a typical shower, but that’s only because they are making sure that there is plenty of warm water for you!
After we got settled into our room, we went out for an evening drive. That’s when we saw our very first hippo! He was in a small pool of water by himself and wasn’t real thrilled that we were looking at him!
He slowly got out of the water and began showing us his teeth…
Our guide kept telling us that the hippo was showing us how he eats grass. I was fairly certain the hippo was telling us to get away, ha!
Don’t let this picture fool you because Israel was scared out of his mind! He just knew that hippo was going to have an Israel sandwich for dinner!
We ended our evening watching the cutest little lion cubs I ever did see. There were four cubs and two mothers. The cubs were rolling around, pouncing, playing with tails, and chasing one another. It was just like The Lion King!
It was hard to get great pictures of them because they moved constantly!
It ended up being a phenomenal day in the Mara! I will say, this was our kids’ favorite spot. They loved how unplugged we all were. The animals were plentiful, the views spectacular, and we had so much fun as a family!
