August 1, 2009
Firstly, thanks to everyone for your birthday messages, phone calls, emails, etc. They were all much appreciated being so far away.
I spent my birthday weekend on Safari to the Masai Mara, a large wildlife reserve in the south west corner of Kenya sharing a border with Tanzania and joining the Serengeti.
Standing on the monument that marks the border of Kenya’s Masai Mara and Tanzania’s Serengeti.
Home to all manifest of African animals including, as they’re know in the tourist literature, the Big 5: Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Black Rhino and African Elephant. All I knew about this trip was it was a camping safari with three days in the Mara and one day at Lake Nakuru, home to millions of Flamingoes.
I met Lynna in Thika, who was on the same safari, and after our early morning start to make it to Nairobi by 8:30 we met our guide, Edward (his friends call him Cobra), outside the Hilton hotel. We climb into the safari vehicle, a mini van with a pop up roof so you can stand and look out from inside, and head off to our first stop, a tire repair shop. After being told in the typical Kenya manner “this will only take a few minutes” around an hour later we’re on the road again only to stop five minutes later to pick up some other who will be joining us. A young Italian man and his Moroccan girlfriend climb on board and we beginning chatting. They’re a nice bohemian type couple who are traveling around east Africa before heading to Rwanda to undertake a project. We continue to our final stop in Nairobi where we gain two others, an older Kenyan couple who don’t say anything to anyone, and also take on some supplies of food.
The trip is relatively pleasant with conversation flowing easily between the four foreigners. The road takes us up the side of the Rift Valley, a huge continental rift that runs for 6000 km from Jordan to Mozambique, where we stop to take in the view and, I suspect in a pre organized manner, get hassled by the men selling curios and souvenirs. I get suckered and pay to much for a few item I intend to send to Sara for her birthday. The road continues down the side of the valley until we actually enter it and follow it along to a hotel/pub were we are to meet another van and swap passengers. A miss calculation on behalf of the safari company and we are one to many for the next part of the journey. It’s decided that me and Lynna, who had booked the additional option of visiting Lake Nakuru, will go there first while the others will continue onto the Masai Mara.
It’s another two hours to Nakuru and as we near the town you can see the vast lake from the road. Along the shore is an easily identifiable pink haze of flamingoes. We unexpectedly arrive at a hotel (I was expecting tents) and the miss calculations of the company continue. After Lynna and I refuse to share a room they finally organize one each and we lug our things upstairs. My room is yet to be cleaned and made but they assure me someone will be there shortly. Three hours and two request later no one has show up and frustration is setting in. We leave for our safari drive around the lake and I’m assured it will be fixed by the time we get back.
Now my impression of safari was a little more rugged than what the reality is. Effectively, safari means driving around the wilderness peering from the open roof of your van with very few opportunities to feel the earth under your feet. Seeing the animals was amazing and all I just hoped for something a little more off the beaten track
Lake Nakuru from a lookout within the park. The lake is saltwater and due to low water level the alkalinity is rising in turn reducing the number of flamingos there. Currently, in the media, there is a massive argument about the Mau forest, being the water catchments for the lake and feeding many other areas of Kenya, and the eviction of the illegal settlers who have settled there.
A family of White Rhinos from the lookout. These guys are easier to find, although we didn’t see any at the Masai Mara, because they feed on the open plains. The Black Rhino, which technically makes up the Big 5 (but I was happy with any Rhino), is much harder to find. Firstly because they feed in bushes so are usually obscured anyway and secondly because they are near extinction. The others in the corner are buffalo
Standing on the shore of Lake Nakuru. One of the few opportunities the entire trip to actually get out of the vehicle. There are around 2.5 million flamingos here. There use to be up to 10 million but drought and deforestation has had a severe effect.
A white rhino
Flamingos from a distance. It's like this along almost the entire shore line.
These baboons are everywhere tourists are. This one jumped in our van while our backs were turned had a sniff around and jumped out again. At another stop I watch a big one jump into a van in which a woman was sitting. She screamed as she sat watching this baboon steal the bread from the seat next to her.
On returning to the hotel and finding my room clean, we eat dinner and retire to sleep.
The next day after another 8 am start we drive back to the hotel/pub meeting place to rendezvous with another van and take on board some other fellow travelers. We sit around reading the paper and drinking soft drink for an hour or so when finally the other van arrives and disembarking are the five other who are to make up our tour group for the rest of the weekend. There are two older women, Maryann and Stella, half sisters from Canada and Britain respectively, a mid twenty’s couple from Italy and Dan a 22 year old British guy. We climb back on board our van and start the final three and a half hour drive to the Masai Mara.
The Masai Mara is home of the Masai tribe. They still dress in their bright red traditional blankets accessorized with colorful beads. They are well known for their cattle herding and the wealth of each individual tribe is judged on the size of their herd. The houses that make up their villages are constructed out of cross hatched logs packed with cow dung and have to be rebuilt every five years due to termites. They have adapted well to the tourist marker charging for photos and tours of their villages.
A Masai house.
People of the Masai tribe. The bright red of their blankets is to scare the wild animals that inhabit the Mara.
After leaving the paved road and traveling for an hour over rough corrugations we reach our camp site. With large tents housing two double beds each, lights and electrical outlets, a concrete floor and erected under a thatched roof, it was a long way from the dome tents in the wilderness I had been anticipating, but still, I wasn’t complaining.
We dumped our stuff, I was to share a tent with the British guy Dan, and headed out for our first taste of the Masai Mara: A four hour safari drive.
That evening I retired at lights out (ten pm, when they shut off the generator).
The camp
One of the major disappointments, next to being trapped in a van all day, was the sheer number of tourists. Up in this tree is a Leopard, the hardest of the Big 5 to spot, hence the many vans surrounding it. There was only one or two occasions where I looked around and truly felt in the wild.
The next day, the 26th, I awoke to leave again on a safari drive and received many birthday wishes. The weather was beautiful clear blue skies and a pleasant temperature.
During the days drive Dan mentioned he had spoken to some of the local Masai tribesmen about the possibility of a night safari and was garnering support for the cause. Sounded like an awesome idea to me so I was in for sure depending on cost, that was yet to be negotiated.
A lion couple
This guy stopped right next to out van, put his face towards the wind and the sun and just stood there for a full minute totally relaxed and at peace with the world.
Moments later the lioness did the same.
A leopard: He seemed mildly annoyed at the 20 or so vans following him
He tried but was too short. Who would've thunk it?
Back at camp we stared drinking thanks to Maryann who had brought along a stash of gin and tonic and red wine. There was a small bar at the camp and I’d asked them to get me some brandy and vodka which we included with our stash. After dinner the lights went out and a line of African men carrying a cake danced and sung their way to my table. I honestly had no idea it had been organized and was embarrassed but totally flattered as everyone started singing happy birthday. I must thank Maryann for making this happen. I’ve never felt so special.
After cake Dan, Bepe (the Italian guy in my group) and I spoke to the tribesmen about the night safari. They wanted $US 50 per person. We left to decide and find more members who were keen. During the next hour Bepe managed to bargin them down to $US 22 per person as Dan found the rest of the crew to make nine on board. This included Dan, Bepe and his girlfriend, an Irish guy who was in Kenya for work, a young Dutch girl and a young Canadian girl (both volunteers in Kenya), me and two Masai tribesmen (one to drive and one to spotlight). We all piled in to an open top land cruiser with two rows of seats in the back on which we stared by standing on only to ignore later on as we made our way to sitting on the roof. For three hours we cruised around the Masai in the middle of the night spotting many of the animals we’d seen during the day and, the highlight, a small pride of lions lazing about. All this accompanied by the bottle of brandy that was being past around made for an awesome conclusion to an unforgettable birthday.
For the complete version of this blog entry and more photos, see Jamie’s blog at http://africaandbeyond.wordpress.com/
In the dark
