THE GREAT SAFARI

At 7:15 am on Saturday morning the security at the gate at ILRI rang to confirm that Antony had arrived to collect us for our safari. We locked some gear away in my office and then climbed into our 7 seat mini van. It seemed like an overkill, but you never know when you need a large load to get across a flooded river.

 

We headed out of town and directly down the steep road from the top of the escarpment to the floor of the Rift Valley. The road was pretty good which I commented on to Antony. He said there were some roadworks ahead and then some rough road towards the Masai Mara game reserve where we were headed.

 

We were very quickly out in the country side which was very dry compared with the lush growth around Nairobi and on the descent into the Valley. Occasional Zebra and Thomson’s Gazelle were to be spotted. The small rural villages along the way looked as poor as any we had seen, but perhaps the hard dry environment did not help the image.

 

The roadworks were really just a 20km rough section of potholed bitumen road with dirt tracks off to the side to avoid the road. This slowed progress for an hour or so. We then found a new section of road being built by the Italians which took us in to town for our toilet stop and to give the locals a chance to flog their merchandise. 

 

We soon started to spot the Masai herdsman roaming the countryside with their cattle. This was easy due to the brightly coloured Shukas (blanket/rugs) that they wear. Apparently, they adopted these after seeing the Scottish tartan in the early days and replaced their animal skins with these garments. Here are a couple of lopsided photos taken on the run out the window.

 

 

Some of the Masai must have had herds of 400-500 which would make them very wealthy by African standards but they were living as they have done for ages. They had small settlements of mud huts with thatched or iron rooves, fortified with fences made of branches and an even more fortified lock up for the animals at night. At dawn they take the stock (cattle and goats) out to graze and bring them back home each night.

 

 

The road gradually got worse until it rated extra terrible. Notice that when in Africa you discuss the condition of roads rather than the weather, which is always nice it seems. No tar now, just hard rocks that had had the fines pounded out from between them. It was a bone shaker for an hour or so. Eventually, the side of the road was dry enough to support vehicles and a dirt track had been firmed by the traffic dodging the main road. This was much softer and allowed quicker progress until we reached the edge of the game reserve.

 

Once into the game reserve, we popped up the top of the bus, and we were able to stand up and watch for game as we headed for our camp. It was great to stretch the legs, and it was great fun. Just like riding on the back of a ute across a rough track at 50km’s. No OH&S worries here and we had plenty of wildlife to spot. We basically drove across the reserve as the “Mara Leisure Camp” was on the other side. After 5 hours on the road, we had arrived in “The middle of nowhere”.

 

The Leisure camp was relatively new and really nice with only a handful of tourists around. We were met by Masai warriors who are employed by the camp. We had a very large tent (we were in a Jumbo tent) which housed a permanent 5* bathroom about the same size as the average motel room, and a second large room with a four poster bed. These are quite common over here as they are great to hang mossie nets off. After a beautiful three course lunch a short snooze was called for before we set off in the late afternoon in search of game.

Just out the front gate of the camp we had a number of Masai settlements.

 

 

A large herd would make this owner a very wealthy man.

 

 

 

A good rain had fallen and everything was green, but anywhere within walking distance was grazed very heavily.

 

 

Nakuru park introduced us to most of the livestock but it was special for the Flamingos. The Mara surprised me. It was so lush and the grasslands were just beautiful. Imagine the best grazing land in Australia with no fences and no cattle and you have what it is like. Grazed beautifully with no human intervention – a marked improvement compared with the over grazing happening in the settled areas.

 

 

 

The Mara was also the home of the cats! It has cooled off now and you can see a couple heading out for dinner across the grasslands with Wildebeest the target.

When the sun is out, they are more relaxed.

 

 

Some were playful:

 

And when your battery goes flat (not uncommon where cars have to run lean and mean), you don’t get out to put on jumper leads. You just get someone to back up and give you a push!

 

 

The wildlife was prolific and close together. It was amazing how close you could get to the animals. Most took no notice of the vehicles except perhaps a sideways glance. How would you like to milk this one? The udder is between the front legs!

 

 

It was getting dark, and it was time to head back to “camp” ha ha.

 

 

We really loved the “tented” accommodation. The weather was so mild you could sleep with everything open, and listen to all sorts of wonderful sounds coming from the game park on the other side of the river – Over the buzzing of crickets and the squeaking of bats you also hear the hyena howling and hippos bellowing and snorting. With everything open, you rise with the sun and head off for an early morning game drive returning for lunch and a rest before heading out again. The day finishes with a G&T and dinner. That seems to be the routine.

 

We were very sad to leave the Leisure camp. The staff outnumbered the occupants, and they were genuine and lovely people. They provided a wonderful service and made you feel very welcome. Not just another bloody tourist which is usually the case. Sue had a great time dealing with this man and buying some of his goodies. He was one of the locals who ran the small shop at the camp and explained much about the local culture.

 

 

It was sad, but we had to do it. We had to head for Tanzania. Unfortunately?? the border crossing was 4 hours away (you could just drive from the Mara in 1 hour but there is no customs and the Tanzanians might get stroppy if they do not get their money at the gate). Fortunately though, the rain had stopped for a couple of days which meant we could take the short cut across country. This was fantastic because it was off the beaten tourist track. It was not long until our road turned from

 

 

 

To this – not even any wheel tracks here!

 

You never knew what was going to pop up along the way.

 

 

And at the other side of the Valley it looked just great.

 

 

Once we got out of the park, the roads immediately deteriorated again and it was a rough long ride to the border. Sue had several litters of kittens as driving practice in Kenya is very different to home. Here it is the responsibility of others to get out of the way of the vehicles – not the other way round! Traffic is light, so few precautions are needed when overtaking etc etc.

 

We eventually arrived at the border and had an interesting discussion with a drunken Kenyan Customs Officer. We then had a bit of argy bargy with the Tanzanian officials. The government web site states that commonwealth countries with the exception of three or four are exempt from purchasing a visa – I had printed this off prior to departure. Unfortunately, they had another list on which Australia was listed. It would seem the web site had not been updated and the new list now included any country whose residents could afford to pay. We parted with our $100 after much official checking…..and headed back for another 5 hours to the Serengeti park which borders the Mara. We had done a big loop, but certainly saw some of the wilds of Africa.

 

The Serengeti is a monster – I estimate at this state about the size of Central Gippsland. The park and conservation area is 28000 square kms. Everything is bigger than the Mara. The vistas are huge, the mobs of wildebeest are huge…

 

 

We camped in the Lobo Wildlife Lodge which was a fantastic building – built around the rocky out crop where it was located. Here is the view from the balcony of the pool which was a natural rock pool.

 

 

As I said, lots of Wildebeest and you can see that the Western Serengeti was lovely and green in patches where it had been burned..

 

 

 

 

 

Birds of prey were also everywhere.

 

 

 

We decided we needed a theme for our photos. After thinking of “Zebra Crossings”, we decided to expand to all sorts of crossings

 

Impala Crossing.

 

 

 

Giraffe Crossing.

 

 

Thomson’s or Grant’s (not sure from the photo) Gazelle Crossing.

 

 

From the lush, beautiful wood and grasslands of the Western Serengeti, we headed east. As we travelled towards the Ngorongoro crater, the trees disappeared and it became drier.

 

 

And Drier.

 

 

 

This is the view from the Serengeti Park boundary. It was from here that we discovered the worst road of our travels. The road from the Park boundary to Ngorongoro was horrendous. A rocky, rough dustbowl – As a result, we were a bit worse for wear when we arrived at the lodge.

 

 

All the bumps were worth it. Ngorongoro Crater was spectacular. Here is the view from our bedroom window.

 

 

The next day we descended into the crater to check out the locals. Here are some of the locals at the watering hole.

 

This gives you an idea of the scale.

 

 

Prof Blood has a collection of photos of Cattle Egrets. There were plenty here also. If you look at the stones in the pond, you will see they have ears.

 

 

Sue found a bone to chew on.

 

 

An we left Ngorongoro to return to Kenya. As I write this, I am back at ILRI, but we are being collected in 20mins to head home, so will write the last instalment in Maurtitius. We had plenty of excitement on the way back which you should find amusing.

 

Until the next internet connection….

 

PS. Driving up out of the crater.