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- I'm in Nairobi Wilson airport.
The name above says at all, Safarilink.
So I always wanted to have a genuine safari experience.
And what's better to fly into one of the strip.
What does chui mean in Swahili?
- Ahh, leopard
- Leopard, I'm a big five. I'm going to see big five today
in Masai Mara.
- Enjoy.
- Yeah, love it.
- Welcome,
- on board our flight today to the Masai Mara.
Going to fly today the Cessna Caravan.
My name is Teddy, I'm the captain, my co-pilot today
will be Saif.
- Good morning.
- Yeah. So this is physical aircraft.
It's the new one, the Grand Caravan EX.
With the 867 shaft horsepower, four blades.
- The suitcases go inside.
- All the suitcases, yes.
It's divided, and it has weight limits, as you can see.
- Oh, I see.
- 230 pounds.
- So we have a couple of them.
The usable ones are there 1, 2, 3.
- Ah ha.
- Yeah. You see that called the tail stand
It's cause the aircraft tends to be a bit tail heavy.
So we put that in case people are loading.
It doesn't fall on its backyard here.
- Upbeat music
- Good morning.
And welcome on board this Fly Safarilink
flight to the Masai Mara.
This morning we have two stops for you.
We'll be starting off with the Kichwa Tembo.
Approximately about 40, 45 minutes.
And for you, some will be with us on the second stop
at about 10 minutes from Kichwa Tembo to Mara Serena.
Okay, we'll be flying far today.
We'll be flying at level 120
and it be speeds will be looking at about, ah
if you have a tail wind, 170 to 280 knots ground speed.
You can put your phones in flight mode.
You don't have to put them off
just so you can take nice photos and videos for yourself.
Aircraft beeping
Engine whirring
- Pilots talking amongst themselves.
Engine whirring
Pilots talking amongst themselves
Engine whirring
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- Pilot speaking Swahili
Good Morning
- Thank you, sir.
Lima, Lima,
Good morning.
With a contact position
7.7.6 miles West of (inaudible) .00
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- Positions good and ah, climb for the 120.
0 Lima, Lima.
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- Ahhh.
So already in the Mara, positional at 100.
Traffic in the Mara 5-8 position Lima, Lima
is ah headed one from ah Kichwa Tembo
coming up will be Mara Serena. To the North we will
be joining right down in 4 around 08 for Kichwa Tembo.
Ah 25 miles traffic.
5820 Lima, Lima, final
On to the right, Kichwa Tembo.
Engine whirring
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Ahh, Welcome to Kichwa Tembo in the Masai Mara.
Ahh, elevation is about 4,900 feet.
- We just arrived at our first stop and en route
from Nairobi, you can see the earth colour from brown to red
and then it became green and greener.
- Wind
How's the weather usually like? Is it always sunny
like this, or there are sometimes you get rain here?
Mud here?
- It keeps raining in the evening and at night.
So it's usually clear in the morning. Ahh, It's seasonal,eh
right now it's so green.
It's cause we've been raining, eh.
- Right?
- Raining, raining, raining.
- And what happened to the Dashay a behind you?
It's been cannibalised
- It ah, hit some wilderness when it was landing here.
Oh
- Two years ago. Yeah.
Okay. It's abandoned now?
- Yeah. It's abandoned.
I've taken all the nice stuff out.
- Ah, welcome on board flight Safarilink to Nairobi Wilson.
Okay. Before we had to Nairobi, we have one more stop
which is Mara Serena, less than 10 minutes from here.
- Okay. Before take off,
Check for instructions is
on board trans by three profits, mark condition.
Higher three days off air conditioning is on point.
Runway is clear.
- Engine whirring
- Upbeat music
- And traffic outside Lima, Lima about Mara Serena,
Correction -Kichwa Tembo. Destination is Mara Serena.
traffic climbing to 6,000.
And ah, zero, Lima, Lima, trying to find the runway, 0 9
Serena.
Engine whirring
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Yeah, I love it.
So the giraffe and it's just like television.
How many sector are you doing every day like this?
- Every day.
Sometimes I not busy 10 sectors, but not so bad today.
I might have three and half.
Five. Maybe, maybe I'll have seven today.
- Well, nice flying with you, yeah.
Take care Siaf, okay, bye.
Engine whirring
Upbeat music
Let's go.
Okay. I mean this open roof, safari vehicle.
Now they take you from the strip to the hotel.
I love these rooms.
They look like, I don't know how to describe this.
It's cute shape.
- They look like the Masai. You know, the Masai.
- Masi
- Alright, I'm going to go in and check it out.
- Welcome, ha.
- You're going to stay here forever.
- Haha...Beautiful, Yeah.
Very culture.
I can see like Masai
but I think the best thing is the view.
I can sit here all day.
- Oh yeah.
Do my work and watch the view here.
- uhuh
We have baboons around.
Ohhh,
- Don't don't leave the door open.
- They will come inside? The baboon.
- They will come inside and maybe take what you have in the
room.
- oohh
- Bring you in.
Yeah. Yeah. They will come inside and steal my food.
Where are you guys from?
- We're from Masai Mara.
- You're from Masai Mara. So are you Masai or Mara?
We are Masai.
- Masai?
Mara is the land?
- Yes.
- Oh, that's my why Masai Mara.
So after some rested hotel we come out
for the 4:00 PM afternoon drive to see the big five
especially the cats.
- The big five are the elephants, the African Cape buffaloes
the lions, the leopards and rhino.
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- So the game drives two hours
and we're not allowed to get out of the car.
The driver say it's not safe.
The ranger might punish me.
Um, we just haven't seen Simba, the cats.
So Hakuna Matata, hopefully we'll see it soon.
Good morning.
And first thing in the morning came
out for safari just after sunrise.
Guess what we saw?
two lions by the road here.
- Lions would rest for 16 to 18 hours of a day.
- Oh,
- They are quite lazy.
Ethereal music
- This one is very sleepy too.
Wow. This is just like a movie.
My God.
There's no traffic light here
but there's still something blocking the road.
You see what's ahead of us.
There's a giraffe.
So we're waiting the giraffe to cross.
Then we can start driving.
So after a great morning, safari
I'm leaving the hotel to the airport now to fly back.
I only had a one night stay, but I actually
I managed to do two safari one last afternoon
and one this morning, which is good enough for me.
I've seen pretty much all the big five
except little pur.
Alright, after a little bumpy ride, I'm
enjoying a deep tissue massage from the roads here.
I arrived at Kichwa Tembo airport.
And now the Dashay has just landed.
That's my ride to go back today.
Wind
Engine whirring
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The name is Chui.
Chui, Yes.
- From Nairobi.
- Nairobi, Yeah.
- One more,
- Thank you.
- on the Dashay.
Engine whirring
- Ah, Welcome board.
This is my partner, captain Dande Lele.
My name is Jonna Carina
and the captain is flying us for the next sector
to Mara, Olkiombo. It it'll take us about seven minutes.
We'll be flying low level.
We'll be able to see quite a bit
of the wildlife as we go there.
And after that we'll be proceeding to Nairobi.
The sector will be 30 minutes.
6, 5, 9.
- Yes.
- Okay.
Pilots speaking amongst themselves
Engine whirring
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Pilots speaking amongst themselves
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Engine whirring
- Now we are here in Olkiombo, for approximately 10,
15 minutes.
As we drop some passengers, pick up others,
then you'll be headed to Nairobi.
Ah 35 minutes now to Nairobi.
- How many active airfield in Masai Mara?
- Masai Mara,
We have about 11 active air strips.
- So you're flying to all 11?
You know, everyone
- We know everyone.
We are flying the Carvan, but now we on the dash
but on the Dashay, it cannot land in all the 11.
There are selected few that the Dashay can land.
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Pilots speaking amongst themselves
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- We should be proceeding shortly, commencing our descent
with the weather that is given in Nairobi,
We will be proceeding visually for Nairobi Wilson
for landing on runway zero seven.
In case of a go-around then power will go to 18, go
around better, positive rates, lap, and gears up.
We'll do a right circuit to give it another try.
So just behind the Dash is a ...
Okay, landing? Eh?
Checks are complete?
Yes.
Pilots speaking amongst themselves
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- Oh, captain, thank you for inviting me observing your
flight.
I actually applied a lots of knowledge.
I learned as a private pilot as a VFR pilot
to watch you guys flying.
- If you have a PPL and you own a small aircraft
like a Piper, you can fly to the borough, fly around
see the wildlife more clearly for yourself.
Or there are quite a number of air strips in the Mara
which you can visit with a personal aircraft.
- That would be the best.
Like you fly your own plane,
chasing elephants on the safari.
How cool is that?
Yeah, definitely.
Right. Thank you so much today flying me.
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