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Jambo !
As our plane made its descent into Jomo Kenyatta airport, the orange hue of the rising sun
lit up the horizon beyond Nairobi. I squirmed with anticipation in my seat, as I’ve dreamed all my life of being
in East Africa... of seeing the extraordinary wildlife, the Serengeti Plain, mighty Kilimanjaro, the beautiful
people of Africa, exotic Zanzibar! I had read so many books, seen so many movies and occasionally met and talked
with others who’d been there. And now I was here... almost!
I would have a month here, joined by my companion Heide, who was equally excited. We touched down at 6:30 am, and
after getting our visa ($50 each) and changing a traveler’s check, we recruited a pair of Norwegian lads from our
plane to share a taxi into town. We gave the driver the name of a budget hotel in city center we’d heard about,
and along the way our driver informed us that it was quite close to Tourist Information. “You need to get information
right away so that you know what to do here. I’ll stop so you can go in, and then take you on to your hotel afterwards...
no extra charge,” he eagerly offered.
In Asia, Turkey and Morocco, I had met more than my share of “helpful” taxi drivers who supplimented their income
with commissions from businesses they take people to, so I was justifiably suspicious. But after a quick powwow,
we all agreed to go along with his idea. So what if it turns out to be a safari company (our guess)? All of us
wanted to check into that anyway... for sure Heide and I preferred to spend as little time in “Nairobbery” as possible!
Besides, what else is there to do here at 7:30 on a Saturday morning?
About 20 minutes later we stopped, and sure enough, “Tourist Information” was, in fact, Come to Africa Safaris
Ltd. No problem. We sat down and talked with Charity Mbocha. I had done a little research on Kenya, and there were
four parks/reserves that kept coming up as recommended: Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Samburu and Amboseli. Heide and
I were clear about our budget. Due to the drop-off in tourism from 9/11 and to stiff competition, safari companies
are in the mood to deal... and deal they did. After some negotiation, we settled on a custom designed nine-day
safari in all four parks for $500 each – all inclusive, except for tips, cold drinks and toilet paper! It was a
no-brainer! Kris and T.J. also signed up for a shorter trip. We forked over our money, and accompanied by a staff
member we headed out for breakfast and provisions (bottled water and TP). As we walked along the streets we couldn’t
help but notice that almost every store of any size had a guard at the door, some brandishing automatic weapons,
and we were glad to know that we would be leaving Nairobi soon. Three hours after we had arrived, we were off to
Masai Mara, joined by a British woman and her two young daughters, as well as an extremely shy young Japanese man.
A couple of hours after leaving, we entered the Rift Valley, a 6000km series of troughs, swells and escarpments,
that runs from the Dead Sea in the Middle East to Mozambique, featuring shallow lakes, rolling savannah, and evidence
of past volcanic activity. Now it was starting to look like “Out of Africa”. Eventually we spotted some zebras
and giraffes far from the road... we got all excited and started yelling “Look, look!”, and I am sure our driver
chuckled to himself. Another couple of hours and we were about to enter Masai Mara Game Reserve, the extension
in Kenya of Tanzania’s much larger Serengeti National Park... all part of the Serengeti ecosystem, which is between
the Rift Valley and massive Lake Victoria. As a game reserve, rather than a park, local people are allowed to graze
their animals and kill wildlife if attacked. And these people are the Maasai.
Just prior to entering the reserve we had an opportunity to enter a Maasai village (for a rather stiff $10/person).
We jumped at the chance. I am sure you have all seen pictures of these remarkable people... tall and handsome,
wearing striking costumes (mainly red), draped in jewelry.... and the men have such an unusually braided hairstyle,
and ears that have been, shall we say, modified growing up. I really cannot describe their ears, nor do I know
how they do what they do to them... you just have to see them. The Maasai have maintained their traditional customs
and practices as nomadic cattle herders, and resisted change more than any other tribe. But they also know how
to make a buck or two from the rubber-necking tourists.
Their village is a compound, surrounded by a tall, heavy brush fence, and within are their huts, constructed of
sticks and cow dung, just as they have always built them. At night they bring their cattle within the compound
for protection from lions, etc. We were greeted at the entrance by the brother of the chief, a congenial man with
quite good English and the improbable name of Kennedy. And then we met the chief, son of the former chief, who
warmly welcomed us.
First we viewed the men chanting and dancing with their spears, with each warrior taking his turn making several
high vertical leaps to demonstrate his strength. It’s quite impressive, though I couldn’t help thinking that their
athletic prowess seemed more suitable to slam dunking a basketball than to killing a lion, which by the way, is
still part of some warrior’s right of passage into adulthood, and is claimed to be a prerequisite for obtaining
a wife... that plus a payment of 10 cattle per wife. That’s right... per wife... in many tribes monogamy hasn’t
quite caught on here yet! The father of the first president of the newly independent Tanzania, Julius Nyerere,
reportedly had 18 wives and 26 children!
We observed a demonstration of young men starting a fire with two sticks. We also met the women and children of
the village and entered a family hut, me barely squeezing through the low, narrow doorway, and we sat inside for
awhile. Photographs were encouraged anywhere in the village, as was stopping by their display of locally-made handcrafts
for sale. It was all a bit contrived, but unforgettable nonetheless.
Moving on, we entered the reserve itself, and proceeded on our very first “game drive”. For this the vans, which
comfortably seat 10 people, are modified with a roof that raises about one meter, allowing its occupants to stand,
enjoying an unblocked windowless view. The reserve is teeming with herbivores (about 2,500,000), including wildebeest
(gnus), zebras, giraffes, cape buffalo, gazelles, elephants, impalas, hartebeasts, warthogs, topis and others.
Plus there are those that hunt them: lions, cheetahs and leopards, plus the scavengers, hyenas, jackals and buzzards.
There is also a prolific assortment of other birds. And the landscape is amazing... sweeping grassland dotted with
the thorn bushes and distinctive flat-topped acacia trees. We drove the dirt roads that wind through the reserve,
occasionally stopping as we encountered big game, in groups or individually... to photograph and just watch in
awe.
In times past, big game hunters created a classification called “The Big Five”, which consists of the elephant,
lion, leopard, cape buffalo and rhino, these apparantly being the most difficult animals in Africa to kill without
being killed yourself. Add the cheetah, hippo, giraffe and zebra, and you now have “The Big Nine”. Most people
who go on a safari desire to “bag” The Big Nine. In short time, we had claimed six out of The Nine (excluding only
the leopard, rhino and hippo), and in most cases we were within just a few meters of them.
Our hearts pounded as we approached a group of elephants, ripping grass from the ground with their trunks, females
moving to block our view of their roly-poly babies. We rubbed our eyes with disbelief as we moved within three
meters of a family of cheetahs, sitting up on a small mound, looking for their next dinner. It all seemed so surreal,
almost like a video being played for us. But this was no video. This was for real! These were wild animals going
about their daily lives, just as they have for thousands upon thousands of years, and it was like we were sitting
in their living rooms.... uninvited guests maybe, but seemingly ignored, at least to a degree. Mara (as it is called)
has been either a park or reserve since 1968, and, except for the older elephants which can live up to about 70
years-of.age, these animals have known this intrusion all their lives. For us, day to day life on the Serengeti
Plains was transparantly revealed. For the carnivores their "eight to five", so to speak, consists of
the basics: eat, shit, sleep, breed, and kill! For the herbivores, it is eat, shit, sleep, breed, and try not to
be killed! That is their "day at the office". And we were there, up close and personal.
After some time, we came upon a female lion stalking a mother buffalo with her calf, about 70-80 meters behind
them. As the two buffalos moved along, they casually grazed while the mother nervously glanced back from time to
time. While the male lions sleep most of the time, the females take on the task of providing food, and this lioness
had selected buffalo from the Mara menu. But nothing much seemed to be happening, and we eventually left to go
look at some elephants, I think it was. What our driver Lawi (who was also our guide) knew, but we didn’t understand
yet, is that a lion has no chance in this situation... it is overmatched.
But after a while, Lawi decided to check back on our little life-and-death drama, and when we returned we found
out why Ms.Lion had been occasionally stopping and looking around. She had been looking for help....and she had
now found it. There were now three lions! (You might say that the “plot had thickened”.) Then all hell broke loose.
Two of the lions suddenly lept on to the back of the mother, digging their claws into it as the buffalo bellowed
out in pain and fright and spun around and around, frantically trying to rid herself of them. But once thrown off,
the lions would leap on again. While this went on, the third lion went for the calf, and with the mother too occupied
to defend it, the calf had no chance and was quickly killed. It was all a carefully orchestrated attack... teamwork
personified. I couldn't believe my eyes, what I had just seen.
Most people who go on safari never see a “kill”, including many who do several of them. We had been in Africa about
10 hours and were within 30 meters of one, and we would witness a second kill less than two days later!
After the calf was killed, the lions backed off. With the mother still there, they could not feed on or remove
their kill. The buffalo stomped around, occasionally lashing out in vain against her assailants, occasionally stopping
to check on her dead calf, also in vain of course. It was getting dark now, and I asked Lawi, “What will happen
now?”
He was quite matter-of.fact about it: “The mother will not leave her dead calf. The lions are resting and eventually
they will kill her too.”
We then went to our camp, which consisted of tents and basic showers/toilets next to the Mara Hippo Safari Lodge,
with its fairly upscale cabins, bar and restaurant and lots of monkeys running around. After stowing our gear in
our tent, which was outfitted with cots, we ate a buffet dinner outside the lodge under the stars and enjoyed another
dance performance by Maasai warriors. After some time, the dancers “invited” Heide and the other visiting women
there to join them in what looked like an African version of the Lindy Hop. I was quite impressed with Heide’s
style.
A Maasai was always on guard near our tents..."just in case", we were told. We always felt quite safe
in camp. That night as we laid in our tents, we struggled to fall asleep, well aware we would be up very early
the next morning. Our minds and hearts raced with all the images and emotions we had experienced that day. It was
so difficult to take it all in. We were on overload.... tilt! It had been barely over 24 hours earlier that our
plane had lifted off from the airport in Berlin! “This was just our first day!”, we thought and shared with each
other, “And we have a whole month!”
The next day we were up at 6:30, and Heide quipped, “I NEVER get up before 8am when I am working, and now I go
on holiday and wake up before dawn!?!” After breakfast, we left in the van at 7:30 for a game drive. This was typical...
game drive at dawn... another in the afternoon leading up to dusk, as this is when the animals are most active.
There were images on this trip so vivid and remarkable to me that they will be forever indelibly imprinted in my
mind. Certainly seeing the lions clutching the back of the spinning buffalo is one... there would be many more.
I will never forget watching a group of giraffes strolling single-file, framed by acacia trees against the backdrop
of the early morning sun! How can an animal that seems so awkward at times, also walk with such elegance and grace?
We watched groups of impalas, a male with his harem of as many as two dozen females, he sometimes chasing off another
impudent, young male that wanders too close. The zebras, so muscular and high-strung, prancing about and snorting
to each other in their little groups. The beautiful and dominutive Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelles, feeding and
resting, with a few sentries keeping watch for cheetahs, their greatest threat. The hyenas, slinking around, opportunistically
waiting to steal another’s prize kill. The ostriches, strutting along at 2.5 meters in height, the largest birds
in the world. And so on.... It was all a mind-blowing spectacle that just wouldn't quit!
Our drivers, who as I’ve mentioned are also our guides, are remarkable. They are extremely knowledgable about all
aspects of the land, the flora and fauna. They will also talk with you about anything and everything concerning
their country and the people who live there... politics, tribal makeup, culture, economic issues, conservation,
etc. And they are unbelievably patient. At one point later on this safari, I asked Elly, a driver at that time,
“What’s the stupidest question anyone ever asked you?”
His immediate response, “There are no stupid questions in this trade.”
They absolutely have eagle eyes. While negotiating park roads that bear little resemblance to actual roads, simultaneously
answering stupid questions, he might suddenly bark out, “See the lions?” We peer out, and barely see a tiny brown
spot, amidst a sea of brown vegetation about 500 meters away. “Looks like a female with two cubs.” he’ll confidently
add. Off we race, and sure enough: a female with two cubs! And so we park, turn off the engine and watch them yawn,
stretch, scratch, lick each other and then maybe slowly get up and wander off to see what’s on the Mara menu today.
(For lions it’s usually wildebeast or buffalo, or occasionally a young zebra or giraffe.)
Each van is normally equipped with a CB radio, which allows the drivers to check in with each other on what’s happening
game-wise, or to help each other out of a jam. In Samburu we went to help pull out a van that was stuck up to its
axles in sand. One day in Mara, Lawi told us we needed to go help another driver who had “a lion problem”.
“Hmmmm”, we pondered, “just what might this lion problem be?” When we got there a few minutes later, we discovered
that this van had a flat tire. Normally not such a problem, quite common in fact, and if you saw the driving conditions
you would easily see why. But in this case, the van was within about 30 meters of some lions....not the kind of
place any sane person would want to jump out to grab a jack and the spare tire! But as we drove up, Lawi positioned
our van in a way to block the view of the lions, and while one driver watched the lions very carefully for signs
of agitation (they can cover 30 meters really fast!), the other changed the tire.
These guys are virtually fearless, but then again, most have been doing this for a long time, and they’ve experienced
just about everything. Lawi told us about getting stuck once while crossing a river, and a nearby elephant got
really pissed off about them blocking its path (more on that subject at another time), so it started smashing the
van’s windows with its trunk. Fortunately about the time it started pushing the van over, help arrived and the
elephant decided it had proved its point and moved on. He also shared with us that, against his advice and firm
insistence, a man once got out of the van (which is just not done anywhere near the animals) in order to get “a
better photo” of an elephant. That was the last photo that guy ever took. An elephant can run up to 40mph and the
man was quickly trampelled to death.
From time to time one of us, or all of us, would beg for a “pee break”. Our driver would then carefully look for
an appropriate spot. One time, we stopped along the road, and then bolted for some bushes. “Don’t go in the bushes!”,
Lawi advised. When asked what might be in there, he laughed and said, “You never know!” So... girls on one side
of the van... boys on the other!
Within Mara Reserve, there are a few rivers, one of which, the Sand River, runs east and west, at one point nearly
touching the Tanzanian border. At this point, there is a hippo pool which we headed for our second day. After very
briefly slipping across the border and back (just to be a bit naughty), we stopped and Lawi handed us over to members
of the para-military unit of the Kenyan Police, who, when not chasing down suspected poachers or helping settle
tribal disputes, act as guides to people like us at the hippo pool. Armed with his AK-47, he led us down to the
river bank, where groups of hippos lounged around, occasionally bickering with each other, but mostly just keeping
cool. Nearby we spotted a crocodile, almost completely submerged, lying in wait for a young hippo to wander too
far from the protection of an adult.
Hippos are extremely dangerous! In fact more people are killed each year by hippos than by any other animal! Almost
all are killed on land, either at night when the hippos come out of the water to graze, or during the day when
hippos injured in their little skirmishes leave the water in order for their wounds to heal. Our guide told us
that he had had to kill one recently when his group encountered one of them in just that situation. “I fired a
warning shot first to try and scare it off, but that didn’t work.” It was obvious that he regretted having to do
it, but then he added, “What is strange is that they don’t eat meat at all... they just kill for the fun of it.”
I really had to pee! I had to go into the bushes! I went really, really fast!!!!
Later that day Heide and I went for a walk on the savannah with a Maasai warrior, armed only with his knife, club
and spear to keep us off the Mara menu. In my next On the Road, I’ll share about that and much more, including
a cheetah kill.
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