Heading to the Lewa airport to depart, we were greeted by a couple giraffes walking across the runway and two white rhinos. We took in our last look of rhinos knowing we were likely not to see any in Masai Mara. But we were looking forward to possibly seeing more big cats on safari, especially the elusive leopard! We said a quick goodbye to Mike and hopped on the plane to take us south!

Landing in Masai we were disappointed we didn’t see any animals from the air nor near the runway. We could tell right away the Mara was way bigger than Lewa as there were over 20 safari trucks waiting to pick passengers up. There were also two planes that landed after us to drop off passengers. We met our new guide for the week, Edward, who was later joined by Debra for our evening game drive. Emboo Camp is an eco-friendly camp and they converted all their Land Rover vehicles to solar powered electric vehicles. The safari truck was so quiet compared to what we were used to in Lewa. Since our camp was less than 20 minutes away, Edward took us on a short game drive to see a group of lionesses they had spotted earlier. There were four of them lying in the bushes for a shady nap. 

Driving into the Emboo Camp, we were welcomed by the team with a song. We got a quick briefing of the camp and activities possible for us to choose from and then it was time for some lunch. The Emboo Camp is known for being eco-friendly and most of the food is vegan. (Grant was a little unsure how he would do with a mostly vegan diet but ended up enjoying every meal!) Our server, Layler (pronounced like Layla) was great and ended up being one of the team members we got close with during our time there besides our two guides! We ended up talking to her for an hour and half after lunch about various topics on differences between Kenya and the US. Before we knew it, it was time for our game drive! 

We were joined by another couple for most of our game drives during our stay at Emboo. We got so used to having the game drives by ourselves at Lewa, we weren’t sure how it was going to be. But we ended up loving our time with Kenny and Andy! They lived in Prague and he is originally from Kenya. It was great getting to know them over our two days with them.

Our first (full) game drive was amazing! We of course saw plenty of zebras, antelope, and Buffalo but we also saw two guys near the airstrip playing futbol just in an open field. Everyone thought it was crazy as there were lions that could come at any moment. Further along our drive, we ended up getting to see lions mating which is supposedly rare to see and the act is super quick (and I got one of my favorite shots of the trip!). The couple break off the group for 5 days and don’t eat during that time. We followed them for a little bit before we headed off to where the elephants would be. We saw a massive family across the river, but to get across would have taken us too far out of the way so we just enjoyed from afar. Our game drive ended with a sundowner filled with drinks and popcorn (my favorite snack). I of course finished the bowl on our way back to camp before dinner. 

One of the things we enjoyed about the Emboo Camp was that they wanted everyone staying there to enjoy some time by the campfire to share stories of the day before dinner is served. That’s where we got to talk to more of the guests staying there since everyone eats separately. Dinner of course was a lovely three course meal with a delicious serving of Masai curry! Then it was off to bed for an early morning game drive.