Our last morning game drive with Andy and Kenny! Though Grant and I both agree this drive was probably the least eventful of all the drives we had. The sunrise was beautiful driving out of the camp and we came across two lionesses staring down some Buffalo in the distance. We thought this was going to be our opportunity to finally see a hunt, but again both lions just laid back down to rest. We also came across several hippos (maybe 20-30) hanging out in the water. We learned their skin is sensitive to the sun so they spend most of their days in the water. The morning drive ended with a group of giraffes saying hello in the distance while drinking water. 

Lunchtime was spent getting a complimentary massage, a quick dip in their swimming pool, and the Eco Tour. It was really cool to learn more about their operations and understand how they try to reduce the amount of waste. They have such a circular pattern of reusing all the water in the camp. They are trying to make life within the Mara more sustainable and eco-friendly and are hoping to pass these things along to other camps. Sammy told us he has a training coming up with several camp managers across the Mara to teach them how they can transfer over these ideas. (Grant can add more here). 

Our afternoon game drive started earlier today as we were off to try and see some lion cubs. On the way there, we ended up going through a river crossing and managed to get stuck. Thankfully with Edward’s quick thinking we were back in business to continue on with the drive. Grant and I felt bad though as Edward and Debra were trying to figure out how to get unstuck while we just sat in the truck. When we got to the site where the cubs had been spotted, we saw one just getting up and walk right by our truck. It was so cute and reminded me so much of Simba! There were maybe about 8-9 lion cubs lying there sleeping with their moms, but we unfortunately didn’t get to see any others really come out to play (too hot for them…).  After leaving the lion cubs, we headed off to see if we could get lucky and spot some elephants. With their electric vehicles, the cars are so quiet and we can get much closer to the animals. The elephants still weren’t sure about the noise so a couple ran away from the truck but it was truly incredible how close we were to them. They are such massive yet beautiful animals and it was so cute to watch the little babies play around with each other. They were too far off to get any real good pictures of the babies but some of them were as young as 2-3 months. 

On our way back to the sundowner area, Debra asked us if we would rather head to sundowner or try and find the leopard. We of course said leopard! As we headed to the area, we saw several trucks on the move so we knew something good was happening. With some amazing driving by Edward (though we almost got hit trying to pass through), we were able to see a mother leopard with her cub who was only 1.5 months old. This was the first time our guides had seen it since he was born! It was truly an amazing sight and we got lucky to catch it! We were the last ones of our camp to make it to sundowner but it was totally worth it! We found out the next day that people saw the leopards in a tree eating an impala they had dragged up there. 

We headed back to the room for a quick shower and were surprised when we headed out of the tent with our own private table for dinner. After a quick time at the campfire, we headed back to our tent for candlelight dinner, champagne, and a sweet letter from Wander Africa (Jay and Brandi). No better way to end our safari week (though I was definitely tearing up knowing it was ending)! We ended up talking with Layler and another team member as we ate dinner telling random stories and causing a ruckus with our laughter. They had another team member stop by and tell us that campers were trying to sleep so it was time to end the night and head to bed.