Out&About: A Maasai Mara picnic that left me hungry
Wildebeest cross the sand river from Serengeti National reserve in Tanzania to Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya on July 22, 2020.
What you need to know:
- At lunchtime, we sat under a tree to have our lunch and a picnic.
- The weather was so hot that one needed a refreshing drink.
- I started by eating my packed fruits first.
There have been a lot of talks lately about Maasai Mara, especially after 300 wildebeest drowned. Poor souls.
It reminded me of my July 2019 trip to Maasai Mara. Travelling to Maasai Mara is a yearly ritual for me, so I suggested it to my girlfriends one Sunday night and off we went on a Monday.
The catch
The catch this time was that it would be a game drive cum picnic. Sounds good, right? Wait until you hear what transpired.
On Monday morning, as you were probably struggling with traffic jam at 7am, we left Nairobi. At the viewpoint, my phone alarm alerted me that I was scheduled for an interview at 11 am in Karen. I was chasing a contract with a client, and he wanted to interview me. How could I have forgotten about my interview that was booked eight days prior? I briefly debated going back, but my wanderlust spirit overpowered that thought. My poor client found this out at 11.30 am when he called to find out if our meeting was still on.
The beginning
The adventure had just started.
We checked in on time for our lunch. The evening game drive went smoothly, and the following day, we requested for a packed lunch.
Fantastic guide
Our tour guide was fantastic. One of my friends wanted to see a leopard, and we hunted for three of them. She was elated. We went to Mara River to watch the wildebeest migration and later took a guided walk along the Mara River to hunt for hippos and crocodiles.
The writer on her trip to Maasai Mara.
At lunchtime, we sat under a tree to have our lunch and a picnic. The weather was so hot that one needed a refreshing drink. I started by eating my packed fruits first. Then I waited for 20 to 30 minutes to have my lunch. Any nutritionist would have been proud of me. My girls were so hungry that they devoured their lunch, and so did our tour guide.
They laughed at me
After my 30 or so minutes were done, I opened my lunch box, and from nowhere, a crow snatched my chicken and burger. I let out an ear-deafening cry as I watched my piece of chicken going up the sky. These birds can mess you up. My friends laughed and sympathised with me at the same time.
The writer on her trip to Maasai Mara.
I cried like a little girl and cursed the bird. In that moment of self-pity, I reminded myself that I had also lost an interview. That’s my story of a picnic that left me hungry.
