Last week, I visited the Masai Mara in Kenya.

It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. Setting aside time to write was hard when you have so much nature to enjoy.

But I captured some thoughts as I bumped around the trail.

We woke before sunrise to the sound of hippos calling across the river, just a stone's throw from the tent.

A ranger told us a lion attacked a mother and baby during the night. The mother was injured. The baby was eaten.

The circle of life is equal parts beautiful and brutal.

Words can’t do justice to how special the sunrise is over the savanna.

The sky shifted from a deep dark blue studded with bright stars to a warm orange glow. The early sunlight bathed the wildlife as they woke to another day in nature’s paradise.

We’re close to the equator, so the thin red line exploded into a glorious circle of gold as the sun climbed the sky.

We drove past elephants, zebras, warthogs and more as we entered the park. A herd of buffalo speckled against a distant hill. Our driver took the vehicle off road. He explained that just over the horizon, we would find lions.

We stumbled across them 10 minutes later.

They strolled toward the unsuspecting herd with the calm confidence that comes from being the ultimate predator of the plains.

Like an artist assessing a canvas before their first stroke, they were in no hurry. Masters don’t rush their craft, and these lions deal in death.

We watched for half an hour as they crept through the grass.

One thing nature teaches you is an appreciation of randomness. We’re so used to things happening on demand, but you can wait all day in the savannah before seeing action.

This isn’t a zoo where animals prance on demand.

But you don’t mind waiting, either—you can explore endlessly without getting bored.

There are vast expanses of land broken by solitudal trees and bunches of bush. Deep canyons cut through the plains, with alligators waiting in the shallow waters.

We saw giraffes stretching their necks to the skies, baboons gathered in their tiny tribes, and dikdiks bouncing across the grass as they played.

We found a cheetah sprawled across a rock, sunbathing gracefully without a care in the world —ignoring the strange humans sitting in their lumps of metal holding strange devices in hand.

You can’t help but feel at peace in a place like this.

No internet, no buildings, no busyness or stress as people buzz through their day trying to get ahead.

Instead, you see what life is like when left to its own devices. Everything exists in a perfect ecosystem. Prey. Predator. Animals. Humans.

It reminded me of Marcus Aurelius’s writing on nature and the interconnectedness of life. I understood what he meant much more when you could observe it in action.

“Nature of the universe is the nature of all things. All things are formed by its purpose, and they are completed by its purpose.” — Marcus Aurelius.

We almost saw the great migration, one of the nature’s wonders. This is where millions of animals cross the Mara River twice a year.

But again, nature is about the luck of the draw.

We waited hours by the riverside. But the wildebeests hesitated by the water. Later, we saw why. Hundreds of carcasses littered the river’s shores—evidence of an earlier crossing.

If the sunrise was beautiful, the sunset was its stunning counterpart—waltzing their daily dance.

And as the sun dipped below the trees, the heavens opened up. I guess Toto was right about it raining down in Africa.

We ended our day with a surprise night drive when our car got stuck in a ditch.

Again, you gain an appreciation for a different way of life. In the Western world, an hour roadside delay feels like the end of the world. It’s easy to feel miserable about your misfortune when you’re constantly ‘on the go’.

But here, the staff laughed as they failed again and again to pull the truck out.

We waited patiently. There were worse places to get stuck in the mud. By the time we were on the road again, the day had given way to night.

The lack of light exposed how terrifying it would be if you were lost in true wilderness.

Especially as predators have night vision and the prey do not. Several times we almost drove into animals as they strolled onto the road. Anything outside our headlights might as well not have existed—lost in the thick fog of dark.

As we returned to camp, thunder boomed and lightning licked the sky.

We really did see nature in its entire range.

This was my second time in the Mara. It didn’t disappoint.

The animals were great. But my favourite part is your mental state. You feel an overwhelming presence, calm, and clarity that you struggle to get elsewhere. Life is full of opposites. And places like this remind you there is another side of existence that doesn’t involve chasing status and success or relentlessly pursuing more.

I can’t think of a better place to think, reflect, and expand your perspective.

Would highly recommend,

Kieran