Mara Bushtops Archives - The Jacobs Family Website

December 4, 2015

Mara Bushtops Last Day

Here is the last gallery from Mara Bushtops – we had a great stay though Ben got food poisoning on the last day and the 45 minute Land Cruiser ride followed by an hour in a bush plane to get back to Nairobi was not fun.

Nora takes a rosepedal bath in our "tent"

Sundown at Mara Bushtops

A hyena getting a head.

Another shot of a hyena in the morning.

A lion naps on a warm rock.

A hovering kingfisher.

A panoramic view of the sand river.

Another shot of the sand river.

Crystal and the kids on a hill over the Mara.

Looking out over Tanzania

A rainbow lizard. Not sure of thier real name but that is what we called them. Apparently only the male is flashy.

It is unussual to see a hippo far from the water in the day. He doesn't look happy.

The next day we stopped by the two leopard tree and found it had transformed into a one leopard tree.

Leopard luggi.

Looks a little grump.

Definitly not amused.

Crystal relaxes while watching the zebra from the deck.

The rain was a real treat.

Kai and Nora enjoying the rain.

Our last dinner at Mara bushtops. I didn't know it but at the time I was eating a meal that would make me violently ill later that night.

November 15, 2015

Mara Bushtops Day 1 – Game Drive and Sundown

Here is a continuation of the last gallery. We drove around the conservancy for the afternoon and then stopped for sundowners where the Mara Bushtops crew had set up a fire (and bar) to enjoy the sunset. Once again I was amazed at the ability for the lodges to make guest facilities pop up out of nowhere in the bush whether it be omelet stations in the morning or a bar for sundowners at night.

Most of the time the wildlife ignored us. This was a rate moment when we had this lion's attention.

Another shot of the lion. The building in the upper left is our tent.

Nora checks her wildlife guide for anything she hasn't checked off yet.

A small rainstorm passed through and then we were treated to a rainbow.

What is the name for a gathering of giraffes? A tower of giraffes.

An african elephant.

A game of twister goes horribly wrong.

I bet you didn't think elephants could go up on their tip toes.

Sunset on the Mara.

Nora in the Masai Mara

Sundown campfire at Mara Bushtops.

Sundowners on the Mara.

Ben at sunset on the Mara.

The setting sun over the Masai Mara.

The sun gets ready to set.

Setting african sun.

November 13, 2015

Arriving at Mara Bushtops

Our last “safari” lodge was Mara Bushtops which is situated on a private conservancy right off of the Masai Mara park. We arrived after an hour-long flight over the verdant Mt. Kenya highlights to a tiny airstrip without a single building but our safari crew was there to meet us.
We had booked the Leopard Family tent which was absolutely fabulous and really was a case study in how opulent you could make a facility and still call it a “tent”. It was certainly the first (and will probably be the last) tent I’ve stayed in that had its own hot tub and wine wall.
That afternoon we took a game drive staying within a kilometer or so of the lodge but still managed to see plenty of wildlife including a lion checking out game at the water hole – we even got a picture of the lion and our tent in the same frame. This seemed very cool to be situated right in the middle of a heavy wildlife zone but the next night when we heard a pride of lions take down and then noisily eat a zebra only a few meters from our tent it took on a different feel.