Wrapping up the safari

Part III

So from the moment I spotted the lion, things really picked up and changed for the better. Day was breaking and as the sun came out, we entered the Masai Mara National Reserve. The Mara is the classic African savanah, the northern extension of the plains of the Serengetti, on the border with Tanzania. It is the backdrop to the Discovery Channel type nature videos, the ones with thousands of wildebeests and zebras and antelopes migrating across the plains, stalked by lions and leopards and cheetahs etc.

I had hoped we would get to see the famous wildebeest migration on our visit, but we were a bit late and climate change appears to be having an effect on the animal behavior as well. Ordinarily the herbivores migrate north to Masai Mara during August and September as they dry season comes to the southern plains, then turn around when the rainy season comes in September and October and the land is greener. However, this year the dry season never really came, and thus the animals had no need to migrate.

Even so, there are thousands of non-migratory animals in the Mara year round. Mara is a word in the Masai language meaning spotted, and the grassy expanses with occasional tress and bushes make the derivation understandable. The Masai live around the area, and they still have limited grazing rights for their herds in the reserve. Evidently neither the Kenyan Wildlife Service nor the Masai are too thrilled about the arrangement, and the tenuous relationship was evident from the way the Masai regarded visitors- clearly not too excited about our presence, but willing to make some money off of us.

The landscape is beautiful and largely unspoiled, except for the tour buses and Masai women gathered by the gates to the reserve and aggressively trying to sell to the tour buses waiting to enter. Their hard bargaining business tactics are understandable given that they have been displaced from their land and forbidden by law from defending their herds from most of the predators that will occasionally attack, but still mildly off-putting.

However, once we entered the park, any annoyance was forgotten. Just on our way that morning, heading to our campsite, we saw zebras, giraffes, elephants, and buffaloes. Almost everyone has seen these animals on television, and many have even seen them in zoos, but there is something about spotting them in their natural habitat, interacting with other animals and their young, that is simply not comparable to any other way of experiencing them. It even inspired me to want to take pictures, and I usually don’t have much interest in pulling out my camera.

The journey to the campsite was relatively brief, and it was done on no sleep in the previous 24 hours, so as excited as I was, I was also not disappointed to arrive at the site, which was actually just outside another gate, on Masai land. Because there were relatively few tourists at this point, we were able to stay in permanent cabins, and I actually got my own cabin with a bed. After a quick breakfast I retired to that cabin and managed a nice 2 hour nap, waking up in time to get lunch and join the rest of the part for an afternoon game drive.

That afternoon we set out into the park around 1 pm with Kanyua once again behind the wheel, Eldard riding with us, and a Masai tribesman along to help spot game. The canvas roof was removed, allowing us to stand up to get better pictures. Laura let me borrow sunblock, so I was ok with the open top.

As we drove, we managed to spot many more animals, including hyenas, jackals, topis, hartebeests, gazelles, buzzards, and guinea fowl. We also found a small group of lionesses resting in the shade near a herd of wildebeest, seemingly uninterested in hunting, perhaps because they were not hungry given the nearby presence of a wildebeest carcass. We managed to see more cheetahs as we drove down to the border with Tanzania, where we got out and took pictures, and were able to cross into the neighboring country. The grass did actually look greener in the Serengetti.

From there we drove to the Mara River where we got out again and were met by armed park rangers, toting rifles used to protect tourists. A ranger took us on a walk around the banks, showing us many hippos as well as seeing dead wildebeests in the river. Apparently the wildebeest cross the river quite often, and they always do so as a herd, inevitably leading to tramplings and multiple deaths every time. We saw the wildebeests milling around on the opposite bank and stayed for quite some time hoping to see them attempt a crossing, but it did not happen during our visit. We also saw one enormous and apparently well fed croc on the opposite bank, basking in the sun.

It was while watching the wildebeests that my camera batteries gave out. That was disapointing, as I had charged the batteries prior to leaving for safari, but I believe that much battery power was wasted during the time when the camera was stolen and the pictures on it erased. So the only safari pictures I have are from those first few hours. I am hoping to see pictures from my traveling companions to supplement my own.

Our afternoon game drive was quite long, staying out until close to 5:30. On our way back to camp we came across what must have been 10 tour vehicles stopped and looking at something. The official guidelines say no more than 4 vehicles should be near any group of animals, but no one really seems to follow those rules. Any time you see a huge group of vehicles stopped, you can be pretty sure there is something interesting to see, and in this case there were two female lions walking along the road, seemingly posing for the cameras.

After we left the reserve and before we got to camp, I asked Eldard to stop in the local village, where I was able to buy some semi-cold tuskers to enjoy with our dinner. Gechaga cooked something tasty, we had a few beers, and everyone was more than ready for a good night’s sleep after the previous 36 hours or so, especially with plans to head out on another game drive around dawn the next morning.

We did manage to wake up almost on time and were in the reserve again by 6:30 or so. We saw close to a dozen balloons aloft overhead, and I imagine Dan and Mel were at least mildly jealous, but I am not sure the balloon trip would have been worth the expense to me- maybe it is more interesting when the huge migratory herds cover the groud. We once again saw many animals that morning, but the higlights were our first male lion and a leopard.

The leopard was particularly special- they are shy animals and well camouflaged, and Eldard claimed it was the first he had seen in Masai Mara this year. We spent probably 30 minutes observing the leopard, first in the bushes near the river, then up into a tree where it was nibbling on some type of antelope it had dragged up there. I really hope someone got a good picture of this one.

We returned to the campsite for a late breakfast, then went to the nearby Masai village for a tour. I was very reluctanct to subject myself to the usual high pressure sales tactics and the inevitable faux cultural experience, but I also did not have anything else to do with my time, so I made the trip. We each paid a fee to the tribe and were treated to a few traditional dances, a tour of a hut (made of caked cow dung), and a few other demonstrations before we were given a chance to do some shopping. As usual, the bargaining was intense, and deals were had to come by, though I did pick up a few items.

Our afternoon game drive was also exciting, this time with some our best chances to see lions out in the open. We did not see any rhinos, which is hardly surprising given how reclusive they are known to be, and we did not get to see a hunt in progress, which was what I was hoping for, but we did see almost everything else you can imagine. We returned to the campsite for our last dinner and picked up a few more Tuskers to wash it down.

In the morning we ate breakfast, packed up, and prepared for the journey back to Nairobi, hoping to get back in time to talk about our experience with the management at Gametrackers. The road back was long, dusty, and full of pot-holes, but we still made pretty good time and were able to arrive in Nairobi around 2, plenty of time to meet with the staff.

Back in Nairobi the staff was appropriately responsive to our concerns, taking the time to hear our complete version of the story (somehow I ended up the spokesman), offering their apologies and making clear their concern, and eventually refunding us the difference in price between the safari we had originally paid for and a trip only to Masai Mara. They also gave us each a t-shirt, which was particularly useful for me given my lack of other clean clothes.

So it was that I said goodbye to Eldard, Kanyua, Gechaga (he actually left the truck outside of Nairobi), Mel, Dan, Marlene and Germana, all of whom I will remember fondly and hope to see again sometime.

Ben and Laura took pity on me on my last night in town and proposed that we meet up for dinner at Carnivore, the world famous meat extravaganza in suburban Nairobi. It shows up in all the tour books and I had been told to be sure to get there by one friend with Nairobi experience and “Please don’t go to Carnivore” by another, with the obvious implication that it was a tourist trap.

Well I was feeling entitled to a good meal after the safari and I figured it was worth seeing even if just to roll my eyes, so I joined my new best friends and served as a third wheel for not the first time in my life. Ben and Laura never made me feel unwelcome, and I remain grateful to them for putting up with me throughout the week.

The meal itself was good, but not spectacular. The gimic is that they bring all the meat you can eat and carve it off swords onto your plate. At one point there were some fairly exotic choices, but laws have restricted their ability to serve most plains game, so the only real excitement was the opportunity to eat ostrich, which was very tasty and reminded me a bit of lamb, actually. But even if the food was nothing special, the company was great and I was happy to be getting on my way the next day.

After dinner I took in one last rugby match with Ben and Laura at their hotel bar, watching Ben’s beloved Wales roll to an easy victory over Japan- unfortunately Wales was later upset by Fiji and much like my Irish lads did not qualify for the knock out stages, then I bid them goodnight, slept a few hours, and spent the next 24 hours in transit back to Boston where I was happy to find my parents waiting for me at the airport and Santarpio’s pizza ordered for the ride home. It was a long end to a long trip, and it felt good to be home.