1 Watching shows on Animal Planet, etc are of great interest to me. I felt the shows come to life when I visited Maasai Mara with my parents. Our first sight was of a giraffe at a distance. Twenty minutes on, we saw a herd of Zebras too. It’s great to have a driver as a guide. Ours took us around lesser known trails where we spotted cheetahs and tigers along with their cubs, elephants, lions and groups of monkeys. It was a dream come true, a very lovely sight.
2 The animals move around freely in their natural habitat without any constraints. As a nature lover, I am very concerned about the plight of animals and this safari holiday helped me connect with them.
3 The place we stayed at added to my excitement — The Maasai Mara. We went expecting normal camping tents and were greeted with very luxurious ones with modern appliances.
4 African cuisine is a different experience altogether as the food is bland and low on spice. We ate at Carnivore, which serves different varieties of meat — crocodile, etc, though I am not a fan of such exotic meats.
5 There are different kinds of interesting souvenirs one can pick up here, like tribal feathers, scarves and necklaces. They even sell replicas of dresses the tribals wear. The tribals sell those directly, and they were very welcoming, friendly and sweet.
6 We went on a few lake trips as well and did some bird watching. I got to see a group of Flamingos. One must do a Game Drive, an early morning attraction where the locals take tourists to watch beasts like rhinoceros and lions.
— As told to Jones Biju
