Day 2 at Mara River Safari Lodge, we began our morning by again greeting and feeding the animals outside our balcony. Our “morning meditation” for the few days we were there helped all of us better connect with nature and the animals. If you choose to visit this place, we chose a second floor Twiga Deluxe room to be able to have this opportunity.
After feeding the animals, we got dressed and headed to the Tsavo Lion Restaurant again for the delicious buffet breakfast. In between bites, we watched the lions and the meerkats again. 🙂
Each morning on our way to the restaurant, we passed by a giant banyan tree. Banyan trees are all over Bali and I fell in love with them; the Balinese believe these trees are sacred and I can totally see and feel why. Not only are they beautiful, but they give off a TON of super positive energy that you can feel as you walk by them (or at least I could before I even knew what they were all about.) The belief that banyan trees are sacred is not exclusive to Balinese Hindus. We saw these beautiful trees all over Thailand too and they pretty much span most countries and religions across Asia-Pacific. Because this tree is so culturally important, the tree is depicted on the national coat of arms and is a symbol for the unity and power of Indonesia.
After our lovely breakfast, we met a binturong. Binturongs are also known as bear cats and are related to the weasel. He was so cute; J and I wanted to adopt one and take one home, but we’re pretty sure they’d be illegal here. Little K was a bit more skeptical of the cuddly creature (hence no photos of her with him); she warmed up when we said he might be related to Bucky Badger (a little white lie never hurt anyone…)
Next, we embarked on our day safari through the park (also included as part of our package). 
After the daytime safari, we headed to the map to check out our options. Little K as our tour guide suggested we get some lunch, then meet the orangutan and finally head to the little waterpark inside the resort afterward.
Little K was brave and went down two of the bigger slides with J and I after getting comfortable on all the little slides and playing with the water features.
On our way back to our room from the waterpark, we walked past the Hindu temple at the resort which had a pretty cool stone carved statue of Ganesha, one of the Hindu deities.
By then we were all exhausted so we called it a day. We headed back to our room for dinner and an early bedtime.
andyoumaysayimadreamer 