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Published: February 1st 2018
We left Nakuru on the morning of the 21st and continued our southeasterly trek towards Nairobi. It was less than a hundred miles to Lake Naivasha, however the highway suddenly vanished and we spent most of the journey bumping along on a rough, dirt road. Chris informed us that the roads were all under construction from here to just outside of Nairobi and to prepare ourselves. We.arrived at Marina Camp on the banks of Lake Naivasha and immediately concluded that 'tenting it' was again our only option - the upgrade price was way too high. This is the weekend holiday spot for most of Nairobi's residents. With its shores fringed in papyrus and yellow barked acacias, snorting hippos rolling in the shallow waters, a symphony of twittering and screeching birds and a favourable climate, it is no wonder that it has appeal over the dusty urban mayhem of Nairobi.
Upon arrival, half of our group decided to partake on a hike through the Green Crater Lake Sanctuary. Monica and I declined, deciding to spend our first day at Lake Naivasha basking in the sun and sipping Tusker beers. Hours later, when the hiking group returned, we discovered we had made
the right choice. The hike itself was nothing inspiring, however the drive to and from the crater was over 90 minutes each way. It was a terrible ride as the heat demanded that the windows be down, yet the blowing dust demanded just the opposite. Our second day proved to be much more active and entertaining. We started with a bike ride through Hell's Gate National Park. Hell's Gate is unique among the parks as one is encouraged to either walk or cycle through a wild life sanctuary filled with giraffes, zebras, buffalos, and all the big cats. It is a much more vulnerable feeling one has facing these beasts without the protection of a vehicle. The ride into the gorge area is about 8km both ways - not long even if the road is merely a combination of jutting rocks and deep, unforgiving sand - both to be avoided. The ride in was pleasant enough, however we were aware that we were mainly moving downhill towards the gorge. We passed all kinds of zebra, gazelle, giraffe and warthog - all critters that want nothing to do with people. The one unique aspect of the journey was when we passed
a small herd of buffalo only metres off the road. They slowly stood and turned towards us, as our guide started screaming at all of us in a panicky voice, "Don't stop, don't stop!" I assume that if one stops and faces these creatures, it is taken as a direct challenge and leads to them charging. They are large and much faster than one suspects. Their horns are long and deadly. A guide had already explained to us that it usually takes a number of lions to bring one of these creatures down. None of us had to be told twice to keep moving. The hike through the gorge was 2.5km basking in the coolness of the shade and shadow deep within the gorge. At times we had to ascend up the sheer side of the rock, using ropes to pull our way. Descending on these ropes was even scarier. Assuming that we knew our way back, our guide let the younger part of our group bolt ahead on the ride back. A combination of the heat, a wind in our face, the sandy, rocky road and, most importantly, a steady uphill terrain, and soon Monica and I were lagging
far behind. Our butts, not used to the bike seats, were feeling some discomfort if not pain. Eventually, we dismounted and walked our bikes the last few kilometres. A cluster of men from Spain were doing the same, so we formed a convoy and sauntered back. Cold pops and icy popsicles awaited us at the front gate, helping us to quickly recover from our dusty, desert like ride/walk.
Just before dusk, seven of us jumped into a small boat and took a cruise around the lake. There were hippos frolicking in the shallow water off shore and thousands of cormorants sitting in the trees that dotted the banks. Across the lake, we pulled up on a small island - a piece of dirt no more than ten metres long and half of that in width. We disembarked and our guide and driver pointed out a number of eagles, each sitting atop their own tree. He pulled a small fish out of his cooler, whistled towards the trees, and tossed the fish into the air. As soon as it had landed in the water, one of the eagles took off and swooped the tasty treat up. He repeated
this a couple more times, until all the eagles within our sight had a meal. We then had to hustle back into our small boat and hurriedly escape this tiny oasis, as a solitary hippo was parading towards us, ready to climb up and claim the land for his own. (at least the mud anyway)
The next day really tried my patience. We started with a terrible drive from Lake Naivasha to the Masai Mara National Reserve. The drive lasted at least six hours, slow, extremely bumpy and dusty. The heat forced us to roll up the window flaps, however the dust blowing in was literally like a sandstorm. Everyone had scarves over their faces - a combination of sweat and sandy dust resulted in all us sporting a thick brown coat. We all just wanted to shower and put on a change of clothes, however, upon arrival we stopped at a Maasai village. This village consisted of about a dozen mud huts encircled with a fence of thorn branches. The purpose of the fence is to keep predators out, mainly lions, who would go after the defenceless cattle. We participated in the traditional male jump dance
followed by the women doing a kind of shuffle dance. We entered one of the huts and were amazed at how cool it was inside considering the sweltering heat all around. It was very dark and consisted of two or three rooms with sleeping cots, a fire pit, and a fenced off section for small livestock. The homes are all owned by the women of the tribe - each adult woman builds and has her own house. The men have many wives - we were told one had 75 wives - and eat and sleep with whichever wife they choose. It is their custom as well to invite brothers, cousins, friends, etc. to sleep with their wives. It is a symbol of courtesy and friendship. At my age, I had the wisdom to keep my mouth shut, however some of the younger guys started agreeing that maybe these customs were not such a bad idea. The looks on the female faces in our group told a very different story. A couple of the Maasai men even wondered how we survived or could be happy having only one wife? Didn't it get boring always sleeping with the same partner? Looking a
Maasai dance
receiving instructionslittle deeper into their life style, it became apparent that the women did the bulk of the work. They prepared the meals, brought up the kids, walked to the river to fetch the water, milked the cows and goats, and did all the other domestic chores. The men looked after the cattle. After a couple of days, we had spotted many of the men at work - usually sitting or standing in a group under a shady tree gossiping continuously. The cattle pretty well took care of themselves. So, in essence, the women owned the homes, but the men owned the women. Interesting note is their diet which consists of little besides meat and milk - they do not eat any fruits, veggies or grains.
We drove to our campsite - the Aruba camp - in desperate need of an upgrade with HOT showers. However, they based their pricing on number of people per room instead of the room itself. They expected Monica and I to pay double for the same room and bed that a single person was getting. So we passed and concentrated on finding a dry spot for our tent. The previous Absolute Africa
group, moving in the opposite direction had stayed here a few days before and the site was flooded. It was hot and dry now but the ground was still wet. Fortunately, most of the group chose to upgrade so we only had to compete with three other tents for high, dry ground.
This was all done in a hurried fashion as a game drive was scheduled to take place from about four in the afternoon til dusk. There were two jeeps and ours had the inexperienced driver. My mood darkened even more when after only a few minutes we drove into a sink hole caused by the recent rains. We had to get out and rock the jeep out only to discover the tire had blown. Oh well - time to change my tune. The Masai Mara Reserve is really a continuation of the Serengeti in Tanzania - they have simply given the park a different name north of the border in Kenya. It is about 1500 sq. km., much smaller than the Serengeti, but with the rains it appeared greener, thicker, more lush. The main difference was with our guide/drivers. The law of the park states that all
vehicles must stay on the roads and not pursue animals into the bush. In Tanzania they obeyed this rule - here in Kenya they did not. The result included getting much closer to the wildlife and their habitat as well as a fair number of jeeps that needed assistance getting out of deep swampy pools of mud.
The highlights included finding five cheetah brothers all lounging together, resting up for the nightly hunt, and a male lion sleeping alone beside a roadside bush. The lion was only a step or two away from our vehicle and could have jumped inside in a flash. However, they appear much too lazy - he just gave us a look that said 'you are beginning to bother me', and that was our cue to drive on. The next day we did a ten hour game drive starting at seven in the morning. We found a leopard lounging high up on a tree branch, and came across our cheetah brothers again. We visited the Mara River that separates Kenya and Tanzania, spotting dozens of hippos in the water and a number of crocodiles slithering along the banks. The climax of the day
was when we found three female lions slinking through the brush on a hunt. They moved in a line, about a hundred feet apart, and were sneaking up on a baby elephant and its mother. No one wanted the poor baby to become dinner for the lions but no one interfered. Suddenly, as the lions got closer, a herd of male elephants came charging across the savannah, forming a circle around the mother and baby. The lions paused and then slunk by, spotting a family of warthogs further away. They encircled the hogs and then began to move in, however, the hogs sensed danger and a couple of them sprinted away before the lions could get close enough. The one remaining hog waited another minute before bolting in the opposite direction. Unlike other cats, lions will only chase prey for a few strides and then give up - their energy supply is too important to waste. Most in our jeep wanted to witness an actual kill - and the warthogs appear plentiful if not cute. But they are much faster than one might imagine. The lions sauntered out of sight still in search of a meal.
The
pics do better justice than words to the rest of what we saw. It was by far the best game drive of the safari and we were pleased that it came at the end. The next day we head to Nairobi for the final day of our adventure together. It has been a wonderful 23 days.
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Heather and Norm
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Double wows!!
Love the elephant story about protecting the babies! Your bike ride sounds like a challenge! You two will never be the same...what an enriching experience!