Jambo!


As a child, I grew up watching Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. On Sunday evenings, I would lie in front the TV dreaming I was on safari also. In January, together with my husband Mark, I was able to realize my childhood dream.

We flew from Frankfurt into Nairobi late Wednesday evening January 11th 2006. My luggage, however, did not. This gave me the opportunity to have the total safari experience by washing out one set of clothes each evening to wear the next day. It’s actually amazing what you can live without.

Our tour operator, Dokta and our driver, Sudi both met us at the airport then whisked us off to the Panafric Hotel in Nairobi where we spent our first night. In its day the Panafric was probably a nice hotel but it presently shows many signs of wear. The staff was very friendly and helpful though. Thursday morning we started out driving to our first game reserve, Tsavo West, which is located in-between Nairobi and Mombasa (Kenya’s two largest cities). The highway connecting these two cities is narrow and barely able to accommodate the many vehicles that travel on it each day. Sudi, did an excellent job navigating us through the heavy traffic, potholes, and the occasionally monkey that crossed our path. He also maneuvered us around a water truck that rolled onto its side right in front of us. While en route we were told to keep our eyes open for wandering animals along the highway and sure enough we spotted giraffes just meandering along.

We arrived in Tsavo West in time for lunch. We stayed at the Kilaguni Serena lodge located in the reserve. The lodge has two watering holes in front of the restaurant. The watering holes attracted a variety of animals in the evenings and early mornings. We observed zebra, water buffalo, warthogs, giraffe and monkeys. This was our favorite lodge due the endless free entertainment the animals provided. A large tree right outside our room was home to several monkeys. The younger ones chased each other constantly along the tree’s limbs. I even saw one poor monkey fall out of the tree and land on its side on the ground below. At first, I thought it was dead because it didn’t move right away but after a few minutes, it slowly sat up looked around and seemed just fine. Perhaps young monkeys are made of rubber?

We had two game drives in Tsavo West one that evening and one the next morning. We photographed lions, elephants, zebras, giraffes, antelope, hippos and one crocodile sunning itself at Naku Falls (inside Tsavo West park). Tsavo West is a beautiful park but the trees and bushes that grow tall there make it very hard to spot anything except the giraffes. Sudi, who has over 15 years experience driving on safaris, was a true godsend in finding the animals. Most people come to Africa to spot the “big five”, elephant, water buffalo, rhino, leopard, and lion, so when one is spotted one of the drivers will call on their radio to the others and alert them to the location. It’s pretty funny to see several safari vans swarm a group of animals. The animals don’t seem to mind though, they are so used to vans driving up that many don’t even walk away.

Mt Kilamanjaro

 

On Friday, we drove to Amboseli Park. The name of the park actually comes from the Masai word empusel which means salty dust. We stayed at Amboseli Serena Lodge. The lodge is small but nice. It had a resident group of monkeys that were just as curious about us as we were about them. Our room was hot so we left the door open for a breeze but had to close it because we almost had three monkeys walk right in. At breakfast, Mark put his plate down near the buffet table and a monkey snuck over and took a piece of pineapple from it. I can’t blame them since it is the dry season right now in Kenya and all that fresh fruit is just too tempting.
Before heading out for our afternoon game drive, we stopped at a Masai village. This is one of the displaced tribes in Africa that are struggling to hang on their culture in a modern world. They are however; a shrewd people and the Masai Chief we talked with could give the people on Wall Street a run for their money. Everything is negotiable when it comes to money. The Masai charge a fee to see their village and even that can be bargained. Fortunately Sudi had warned us and told us what was a fair price to pay. They do use the money for things like water pumps and school supplies so it isn’t wasted. Mark and I both learned a lot about these people and really found the talk informative. They graze their cattle along side the other animals in and around the parks. They do not eat game meat and are only allowed to kill a lion during a warrior ceremony for the young men every 10 years or if a lion has killed one of their cattle. Interestingly, this rarely occurs. At the end of the tour we were herded to the temporary market where they sold their wares. The chief split us up and had someone with each of us trying to sell their hand made goods. Of course, all prices were only suggestions.
The barren land of Amboseli park makes it easy to spot animals. There is a swampy area where the elephants hang out but most of the park is flat, dry and very dusty. We photographed lions lying in the shade, elephants walking through the swamp, wildebeests, zebras, giraffes, water buffalo, antelope and ostriches just walking or eating the shrubs. Sudi told us many of the grass-eating animals make their way to the swamp in the morning to eat and drink and then walk into the plains in the evening to sleep. We had a perfect view of Mt. Kilimanjaro that is located on the border of Kenya and Tanzania.

Saturday morning we left Amboseli and headed to Lake Nakuru. On the way out of the park we ran into some rush hour traffic jams, which included an elephant eating in the middle of the road. It was not in a hurry to move either. Sudi revved the engine and eventually it strolled to the side. The trip to Lake Nakuru was long and the road was in very poor shape. Sudi once again did a wonderful job navigating the many large potholes and various other obstacles in our path. Since we were driving past Nairobi on our way to Lake Nakuru we were able to stop by the airport and pick up my luggage that had finally arrived only 4 days late. Ah, fresh clothes!

We arrived at Lake Nakuru in the early afternoon and stayed at the Lion Hill Lodge. It is one of two lodges in the park. The lodge is made up of cabins spread out on a hill. Ours had a great view of the lake below. Sudi told us Amboseli would be our best chance of spotting rhino. Both the white and black rhino reside here but we were only able to spot the more common white rhino. The park is also home to thousands of flamingos. We were there during the low season so only the shoreline was covered in pink. During peak season, the entire lake can be filled with flamingos and pelicans. We were rained on during our evening game drive and it was quite the site to see wet pouting baboons hiding under trees. Sudi was ever looking for the elusive leopard but we didn’t spot one.

On Sunday, we headed to Masai Mara reserve. This is the most famous and thus most popular park in Kenya. Sudi took the shortest road to Masai Mara, which saved us a lot of time however it was also quite rough. I think I know how people in covered wagons felt riding through cow paths while heading west in America. We drove through small villages along the way. Many of these people are self-sufficient when it comes to food. They grow their own crops and raise their cattle and goats. Very few appeared to have any of the comforts we have yet they all seemed so friendly. Frequently, children came to the roadside to wave as we drove by.

We arrived at Masai Mara in the early afteroon. Our home for the next two nights was the Mara luxury tented camp. The individual tents all had permanently installed ceramic bathrooms and wooden floors so really it wasn’t like camping out.

During the first evening’s game drive, Sudi spotted three young cheetahs on the move looking for dinner. We were able to see them flush out a smaller wild cat and chase it until it got away. Shortly, afterwards, they chased a gazelle but it too got away. They were going to get very hungry soon if they didn’t get luckier with their hunting.

During our second day in the Mara, we came upon lions relaxing in the bushes. Sudi told us that it was lion mating season during which they mate for seven days and don’t eat. Apparently, we came upon them after the mating session, as they were barely able to stay awake. Lions will remain pregnant for about two months and then give birth just before the rainy season starts in the spring. We also watched a mother spotted hyena and her two offspring finish off a water buffalo killed the night before. We also saw vultures, elephants, and many kinds of antelope, water buffalos, giraffes, zebra and wildebeests. The Mara is located on the Kenya/Tanzania border. Just over the border is the Serengeti reserve. The Mara River runs through both parks and it is through this crocodile-infested river that the wildebeests cross during their migration in May and August. We dedicated our last game drive Money night to finding a leopard but even after much effort we found none. Sudi knows they are there but they are very reclusive and can hide well. It was the only one of the big five that we didn’t photograph. Something to look for during our next safari. Due to the abundance of other wild life we did see in all parks after a while Mark and I found ourselves making comments like “ it’s just another zebra” or “just another giraffe”.

The Rift Valley

On Tuesday morning we bid our farewell to the Mara and began the drive back to Nairobi for another overnight at the Panafric hotel and then on to catch our early morning flight back to Frankfurt. We arrived in Nairobi by lunchtime and spent a rather dull afternoon in the old hotel. Looking back on it, we would have preferred one more morning game drive on Tuesday morning and then arrived back in Nairobi early evening. For our last night dinner we dined at the famous Carnivores Restaurant on the outskirts of Nairobi. The restaurant is famous for its varied game menu. We tried camel, ostrich, and crocodile along with chicken, turkey, beef and pork. Every night something different is offered.

We took well over 4000 pictures during our 6-day safari and we owe much to Sudi for helping us find those animals to photograph. Ansante Sana Sudi! Also, thanks to Dokta at Kenyan Adventures (http://www.kenyanadventures.co.uk/home.htm) for setting up all the lodging along the way and helping us determine the best the itinerary for six days. Both these gentleman helped make this one of our most photographic vacations ever. The memories will last us a lifetime.