Maasai Mara - Day 5

From where I sit, I can see a herd of Impalas and a few waterbuck grazing on the banks of the Mara River, the main river here in the Maasai Mara. I am sitting outside my tent at Entim camp, and now I REALLY feel like I'm in Africa!

 

I feel like I’m a character in one of those old adventure books. Native porters clad in traditional colored robes carried our bags while the ‘head boy’ in his crisp camp uniform led the way to our sprawling tent with its huge bed, massive redwood trunk, and a tile-floored bathroom with shower and toilet.

The whole camp runs on solar energy so power only exists between 5am-6:30am and 6:30pm – 10:30.

All during lunch we could hear hippos down by the river grunting. As I walked back to my tent, at a bend in the river, I could just make out some shapes on the water. Focusing my field glasses, I could see the heads of 3 hippos. Returning about 5 minutes later, one of them had hoisted himself half out of the water onto a rock or something, his enormous butt rising into the air.

The grazing herds were in view throughout lunch, with a pair of large warthogs joining the mix. A baboon wandered by about 30 yards from my table.

We got here on a tiny plane holding about 12 passengers. It made 3 stops, like a bus, landing in tiny airfields that were little more than dirt roads. 

Hey, a loud shot just went off! There are armed guards around the camp to offer protection from the prowling predators.

 Anyway, from the air we could see countless kraals, the circular farmsteads or villages of the local population surrounded by thorn-bush barricades just as you read about in those 19^thcentury African safari accounts. On our second take off, I spotted a lone elephant trekking along a vast empty expanse of veldt. I turned my head and spotted six more frolicking in the water. Mind you, this was from 2000 feet, but I could still tell they were elephants.

There’s a weird noise coming from behind my tent somewhere, and one of the guards is staring intently in that direction. The camp has armed guards and you’re not allowed to leave the enclosure without one. Enclosure? There is NO enclosure; the camp is open to the wild – what I meant was the area with gravel footpaths and moderately low grass.

We were met at the airport by our guide, Dominic, and another driver who transported us to a very swanky lodge with a pool and a spa, etc. But we merely passed through here to arrive at a rope bridge swaying over a low gorge. And it really was swaying; enough that is was difficult to cross carrying a duffle bag and a backpack. The sign at the far side read: Do not pass this point without armed escort.

We saw a troop of baboons within 5 minutes of leaving the airport.

Before long we encountered our first elephant! Huge, with sweeping tusks and a large chunk torn form one of his ears, he was truly magnificent! Dominic told us males live alone between 45-60 when they are tired of long marches with the herd.

We got settled in camp and had lunch in the dining tent. It was a vegetable tortilla. Yuck. So I had them cook me bacon and eggs! They were extremely accommodating. There are only two other guests besides us, so they are doting on us and eager to please.

We had our first game drive at 3:30 with the other guests, two Japanese ladies, a mother and daughter I think. Within two minutes, we had encountered a troop of giraffe, perhaps 15 in number with a similar sized host further off down a defile. These are Maasai giraffes, with a more star-shaped pattern on their skins, plus it extends all the way down to their hooves, unlike the Rothschilds with their ‘white socks.’

This area is a HUGE expanse of land (580 square miles) and game is plentiful. One becomes almost accustomed to the vast herds of various antelopes. We saw a Zebra which Dominic said was sort of rare at this time of year, since the migration had already passed through. At Somali, we had seen several herds.

Within 10 minutes of setting out, we found a pride of 7 lions lazing about, 3 on sentinel duty, meaning they were at least sitting up, and four young adults totally sacked out, rolled over on their backs, etc.

We marveled at their cuteness for a while, and then drove on while our guides scouted for the larger lions, reasoning that the rest of the pride would be nearby.

Having known the pride since they were born, our guides had some prescience of where they might be. They drove up to a thick bush, and there, barely visible inside, was a sleeping male.

He would not stir, despite the fact that they drove the jeep right up to the edge of the bush. Apparently, He was accustomed to their habits as well. We pulled a little way off to scan the fields with our field glasses when suddenly he stirred himself and strode majestically from his hiding spot.

The lions are totally unconcerned with our vehicle and allowed us to be within mere feet of them. In fact, this one nearly brushed the bumper as he strolled past. Some of the herd animals are quite skittish, but I guess if these lions grew up around these safari vehicles they know they have nothing to fear from them. Dominic says it’s a totally different story should one get out of the vehicle.

The lion coughed a few times, then out of the high grass, a black-maned head pops up. His brother, Dominic tells us. We watched them yawn and stretch for a while and were about to depart when some excitement strolled in.

A beautiful female walked boldly up to the males; when the black-maned one rose to meet her, the other one got in a huff and the two met in a thunderous, roaring clash.

The battle lasted but a few seconds before the victor strutted off with the female. It was the lighter colored male, and even victorious he now carried a bloody wound under his eye.

He and the female repaired down the road a bit, where she sat in the middle of the track preening herself while he sat on his haunches, licking and yawning, exposing massive jaws.

Shortly after this, our vehicle got a flat tire, and we stood out on the swampy expanse about 100 yards or so from the lions while our two guides worked to change the tire. It was rough going because of the mud, and I had to lend a hand at one point. The slimmer of the two could not turn the jack anymore, and he cast a curious glance at my arms when I stepped in and began rapidly twisting it.

The girls kept a watch on the three visible lions while we got the tire changed.

When we arrived back at camp, a fire was crackling overlooking the river and a spectacular sunset. The shades had been let down in our tent and we were served gin and tonics while we recline on canvas camp chairs.

After drinks by the fire, we went up to the dining tent and had a luxurious dinner of chicken soup followed by tilapia fillets and potatoes with a fruit salad for desert.

When we got back to the tent, our covers had been turned down and a chocolate was waiting on the pillow. Two hot water bottles warmed the sheets.

Luxury camping, indeed!

Solio Game Reserve

Day 4 - Dec. 20, 2011

Watching the sun come up with the jagged peak of Mt. Kenya lined against the African sky. Been awake since 3am, averaging 4-5 hours of sleep per night. This sucks! But the view is great.

Back from our first safari! Words can’t really describe it. Seeing these magnificent creatures in their natural habitat, free to run, charge, or observe as the mood strikes them was beyond compare.

At one point we sat in a field that had about 12 different animals in it, not just one or two of each but entire herds.

There were 23 giraffes, two families of warthogs, several herds of Impalas, Zebras, waterbuck, some Elands, two jackals, half a dozen rhinos, cape buffalo, even a lone monkey perched high above observing the proceedings.

The drive was on the Solio Game Reserve, a privately owned, 17,500 acre wildlife conservancy located in Kenya's Rift Valley Province. It is one of the largest rhino sanctuaries in the country and home to whole herds of black and white rhinos. (We did not know how rare the rhino is when we here, but we only saw 4 others the entire trip. Here we saw literally dozens gathered together in the same spot.)

Upon entering the park, we saw a cat with tufted ears like a lynx. Justus told us this is a caracal, and it is extremely rare to see one during the day because they are nocturnal. He said he had a guest come for 2 weeks just to study this cat and they never even saw one. For us, it paraded up and down the road, totally unconcerned with our vehicle. It wasn’t much bigger than a house cat, but Justus said it could leap 4 meters (12 feet!) into the air and snag a flying bird!

Next, we saw some black-faced monkeys scampering about and a pack of baboons climbing over the fence. They were taking their time till they saw us coming, then they all leaped over as fast as possible.

Kathryn was amazing at spotting animals. She saw a crowd of rhinos from about a mile away, no joke. The binoculars were invaluable. The new camera with its 32x optical zoom rocks as well. I think she took about 300 photos. Seriously. It was hard not too with all the amazing creatures.

We saw black and white rhinos together and a couple of baby rhinos as well. The color has nothing to do with its name, but supposedly comes from the Dutch word for “wide” – referencing its jaw – that got misinterpreted by English speakers as “white.” The white rhino is a grazer, feeding on grass and thus needs a wide jaw as he presses his face into the ground. The black rhino eats leaves and such, and has rather pointed lips for snagging leaves off of trees.

The jackals looked a lot like foxes, perhaps a little taller and leaner, and not quite as cute.

One rhino rolled over on its side and it was so fat his back legs couldn’t touch the ground and just kind of hung there in the air. Comical. We found vast piles of rhino poop – apparently, they all get together and crap in the same spot to mark their territory!

We ate lunch out here, with Justus setting up a table and chairs as we watched giraffes graze in the distance and sipped cool Tusker beer.

We saw so many things, all new and exciting to us, that it’s just overwhelming. I’ll have to come back to this day once my brain sorts everything out.

Heading to Sandai Homestay

Day 3 - Dec. 19, 2011

Heading north with guide Justus. Passed Mount KiliM’bongo. Kili means mountain in Swahili and the other word is buffalo.

There was a young boy on the side of the road holding a dead chicken over his head, obviously for sale, but one has to wonder – did it get hit by a car, or what? Who’s going to buy a dead chicken?

Right now I am sitting outside our bungalow at Sandai Homestay in Laikipia. This place is owned by a sweet German lady named Petra who lives in the main house. There are several bungalows along the property for guests. We had a nice lunch of spaghetti with a Tusker Malt (better than the regular beer) at a communal table with the other guests, followed by coffee out on the veranda. We’re going to do a nature walk in about an hour.

There’s a real turn of the century feel about the whole experience, perhaps because of the solar power, generator, rough road in, who knows.

Our room is huge with two large, mosquito netted beds, though Petra says they don’t have much problem with mosquitoes and there’s no malaria up here.

Mt. Kenya, the highest mountain in Kenya and the second highest in Africa, would be visible from where I sit except for the gathered rain clouds. I can make out the slope of one side but the clouds obscure the rest. The book I am currently reading (In Africa: Hunting Adventures in the Big Game Country) by a gentleman on a hunting safari in 1910 (John T. McCutcheon) has a lot of references to Mt. Kenya.

Our host tells us there are leopards about, and even elephants. Hoping to see some fun stuff tomorrow.

Since everything is unknown to us, it’s hard to write about what we’re seeing. There’s this big tree that has cactus stalks instead of branches. It looks like a candelabrum. There are trees bearing some of the brightest purple flowers I’ve ever seen. There are trees with 3 inch thorns growing along the roads. The Acacia tree is particularly appealing to me in the way it spreads out in spurts like various umbrellas. There’s a crazy medley of birds chirping right now and a 3 inch caterpillar climbs up the wall.

We stopped for a bathroom break at some curio shop crammed with wooden carvings in redwood, ebony, and birch. From tiny to monstrous six foot statues. All very lovely. Course the prices were jacked up and I was in no mood to haggle since I didn’t want anything anyway. Some of the hideous figures reminded us of that African doll horror story (“Amelia” in “Trilogy of Terror”) where the necklace comes off and the doll comes to life and chases people around with a knife – some of these things are even wearing necklaces!

Anyway, this guy, when he saw we weren’t going to buy anything says, “I want one of your pens. I see you have two.” Now, he had one on his shirt and I wish I had said, “If I give you one, then you will have two and I only one.” But I just thought of that now. Anyway, I told him no, these were gifts. The one I’m writing with now was given to me by Marc Morgott, made from the redwood trees in California.

We passed lots of ramshackle road shops with people selling fruits they grew on their own land. We stopped at one place and purchased a bunch of bananas for 50 cents. The car was swarmed with people offering their various fruits. Justus had warned us to roll up our windows. We got sweet bananas which are quite tiny. I didn’t notice much difference between the regular bananas but Kathryn said they were sweeter. Justus told us there’s a banana that is so big you can eat one and you need no lunch or dinner.

We saw many people walking and carrying heavy loads, many on their heads, people driving donkey carts and tending the fields. The little children would wave as you drove by and an expression of utter joy lit their faces when you waved back.

Anyplace that people congregated was inevitably filthy and squalid looking. It’s clearly a poor country, but I don’t know why that makes it more desirable to cast your garbage on the ground.

Tending livestock seems to be the most common trade, which consists of sitting in the sun and watching your animals masticate. There seemed to be a lot of people training for this important career as we saw many sitting about who clearly had no livestock.

There seem to be two types of structures – crumbling shanties with tin roofs, or large grandiose dwellings ensconced behind high stone walls topped with electric wire. There’s apparently a bit of a security issue here.

That reminds me of our hotel back in Nairobi. Like everything else not a hovel, it had a massive gate with security guards and we had to access 2 other key controlled gates to get to our room.

Now, I’m sitting at an antique writing desk in my bungalow, scribbling away by candle light. The generators provide electric lights only between 7:30 and 10:30pm.

We just had gin and tonics with the trade commissioner of Belgium, Ivan, and he told us the fascinating aspects of the diamond trade. Apparently more than 60% of the world’s diamonds are certified in Belgium. Certification is extremely important part of the diamond industry as this decides the value of each particular diamond.

He shared a story of a diamond trade he witnesses with Russians that had all the aspects of a James Bond movie.

On one side, a small jet zooming onto an airfield, on the other, long black limousines racing up. Two buyers, backs to one another, sort and catalogue the diamonds, then exchange them over their shoulders without looking at each other, and examine the packets the other person just examined. Machine gun wielding guards patrol the area. The plane sits on the tarmac, engines running. Suitcases of cash, millions of dollars, exchange hands and the buyers depart immediately, and the waiting planes zoom into the sky.

On our walk, we spotted a heard of impala’s and a trio of the largest antelope in Kenya, the eland, which are about the size of cows.

Also, we were shown the poison arrow tree, the roots of which are used by the natives to make a poison for their arrows which would kill a man in 3 paces. Another plant has leaves that ooze a juice that produces blindness. It is planted around tribal cemeteries to discourage the disturbing of graves.

We saw wild henna, the leaves of which are crushed up to produce the red dye used by Arabs to paint the hands and feet of their women, and to dye the men’s beards. Another plants’ leaves produce menthol like scent when crushed that clears the sinuses. Having a touch of a cold, I tried it, and it worked! Isaiah, our guide on the walk, said when the natives have a cold, they boil the leaves, drape a blanket over their heads and inhale the fumes. Didn’t I see that on Crocodile Dundee?

We enjoyed tea and cake on the front porch after our hike where Kathryn and I both pulled a number of large ticks off our clothes. Petra said not to worry; the ticks don’t carry diseases like they do in Germany and USA, plus they rarely even bite people. The three I took off of me were merely on my clothes, although we did go back to the room and did a thorough tick search afterwards.

Around Nairobi

Day 2 - Dec. 18, 2011

After about 4 hours sleep, we stumbled into the main lodge for a nice breakfast buffet. We braved the fresh juices and tried ‘Passion Fruit’ and ‘Tree Tomatoes’. Both were good. Books tell you not to drink juice unless you’ve seen it squeezed, since the water here is guaranteed to give you the runs. But we are staying in high end places, so I guess we’re safe.

Caroline, our personal contact person, came by and gave us a briefing of our overall trip, and then Peter whisked us away to a baby elephant sanctuary. When poachers kill elephants for the ivory, they often leave a young calf behind who will die without their parent. This place rescues them, feeds them, and then returns them to the wild when they are old enough. (Seen in the movie: Born to be Wild)

Their caregivers live with them 24 hours a day, sleeping in the same stable on a dirty mattress up on a shelf.

The baby’s are fed from giant bottles of milk. They were all very cute wallowing in the mud. They sure looked like they were smiling. One guy gave a long, detailed talk on the center, their mission, and elephants, but the crowd talked so loud, I couldn’t hear a word.

One of the 2 year old elephants charged through the rope barrier holding back spectators. You should have seen those folk scatter. I was about 15 feet away from him when he was finally turned. He was actually just sort of jogging, not full-on charging.

We also saw a warthog family trotting by, and then the big male ran right past us and into the parking lot, startling several people. I bought a T-shirt here as a way to donate money to a worthy cause. Kathryn laughed because I rarely buy souvenirs, yet the first one of the trip was for me.

Next stop was the Giraffe
Center. In Uganda, the Rothschild giraffe, noted for his ‘white socks’, or lack of markings below the knee, was almost exterminated through poaching. Kenya set up this reserve to try and bring the animal back. We got some food and let the critters eat out of our hand with their long, rough tongues. They had a display of bones as well. The giraffe’s thigh bone stretched from the floor to over my waist, and weighed probably 25 pounds.

We ate lunch in a traditional Kenyan restaurant and had chicken two ways, beer, a fried flour tortilla thing, rice, tilapia, and the staple of Kenyan diets, “ugali”, a thick, cornmeal paste like substance, which despite that description wasn’t too bad. Tried the local Tusker beer (boring) and some yummy Mango juice. Basically, I ate myself sick. They brought silverware especially for Kathryn and I, since Kenyan’s eat with their fingers.

We drove back to town and cruised through the slums, while Peter’s commentary provided insight into the political corruption that has 2 million people living in shanty towns. We continued on to an overlook where we viewed the important government structures of Nairobi.

Off next to a flea market, where the merchants were pushy but not as bad as Egypt. Haggling is a must, and one item started at $120, and I got him down to $10! The silly thing that intrigued me the most was little paintings done on banana peels!

Back to the hotel to relax by the pool with a drink. This is the Fairview Inn, built in the ‘30s, if not earlier, and it still retains much of its charm in the colonial pillars, drawing rooms, the heavy leather easy chairs like the one I’m sitting in now, while a guy plays piano by the bar. The front lawn is marvelously landscaped with a rocky waterfall that is populated by huge frogs, judging from the thunderous croaking. Beautiful place.

Setting out on Safari

These posts are actual entries from my travel journal, so sometimes the thoughts may seem disconnected, but I hope you find it entertaining.

Day 1 - Dec. 17, 2011

I am in Istanbul having just finished an "Effe" dark beer. It was alright, but nothing to write home about, though I guess I just did. LOL

 Here we are, heading to Africa. As a huge Tarzan fan, I’ve always wanted to visit Africa, but I confess this is one trip I never thought I’d actually take. The cost is prohibitive, and you could take four cheaper trips to locations almost as exotic. But Kathryn’s grandmother left her some money when she passed away, and this is what we’ve decided to spend some of it on.

There are cheaper ways to go on Safari, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown fonder of comforts, and sleeping in your car or in a common room with bunk beds and a dozen snoring college students doesn’t have the same appeal it once had.

 Preparation started months out with interviews of friends who’d recently been on Safari, reviewing itineraries, etc. Their trip sounded so fantastic, we booked with the same company – Enchanting Africa. Then there were inoculations against Yellow Fever, diphtheria, Hepatitis, and a host of other ailments, all of which had to be timed correctly, so as to be effective. We also began a cycle of Malaria medication which must start two weeks before you go, and continue four weeks after you return. The funny thing about this is the medication won’t actually prevent malaria, it will just make it less severe, and you must still get yourself to the hospital if you should show signs of fever.

The flight to Nairobi is 6 hours from Istanbul. Puts us there around 11pm our time, 2am Nairobi time. We’ll be met at the airport and transferred to our hotel, and tomorrow we have a car and driver assigned to take us around the city.

I’ve been reading "In Africa: Hunting Adventures in the Big Game Country" by John T. McCutcheon, who actually meets up with Teddy Roosevelt while on Safari. It's a true story, more like this guy's diary, and is utterly fascinating and has me terribly excited for our adventure.

One odd item – in the bathroom at the airport there were literally 5 guys all brushing their teeth. I mentioned this to Kathryn and she said it was the same on the ladies side. Weird…

The flight to Nairobi was long but at least there were no screaming children. (I have been plagued on the past half dozen trips to always have one very upset child seated in one of the three rows next to me, so to see if it is really that frequent or my imagination I decided to record it.)

Getting our Visa took approximately 5 minutes per son, so on a plane load of 500 people with only 3 clerks – well you do the math.

Also, as our guide told us later, they delayed the baggage for some unspecified reason so it was after 4am by the time we left the airport.

Evelyn and Peter were on hand to pick us up and take us to the hotel. Peter also served as our driver the next day – well, later that same day actually.