Masai Mara, Day 1

---

I opened my computer this morning and to my surprise found out that at least one person has been reading the blog. One out of 36. I guess that's not too bad. Remember I asked if anyone could explain the difference between cute and beautiful? Well someone did. The prize for the best answer - and the only one goes to my cousin in law, Ms. Erica Hartman Horvitz! Here's her answer. I think it's pretty brilliant.

Cute is what makes you smile and is of interest.
Beauty lasts the test of time.
You are both and so is Frammie.

Aw shucks!!!!!!

I'll try again. Does anyone know the difference between Jam and Jellie? I'll await your answers.

Our next stop and final stop, not counting an overnight in Nairobi, would be the Masi Mara National Park in Kenya. As Ngorogoro is in Tanzania, the travel that day would require the usual checking out of Tanzania and checking back in to Kenya. Masai Mara is only about 50 miles from Ngorogoro but getting from one place to another in that region, even in a chartered plane, is an adventure in and of itself. We left the hotel at 6 AM to drive to Lake Manyara airport, about an hour and a half away (and only about five minutes away from Gibbs Farm), meeting the chartered Cessna Caravan for our 45 minute flight to Nairobi, where we would hook up with our commercial flight back to Masai Mara. This would be a one-stopper as we had to clear out of Tanzania before entering Kenya. We took off and headed southwest. We landed 30 minutes later at Kilimanjaro International Airport where we deplaned, walked through domestic arrivals, turned right, walked fifty feet, then entered International departures, went through Tanzania immigration, had our passports stamped and then reboarded our flight to Nairobi, which took us northeast. We had zigged and now we were sagging. We were running late as the immigration people in Tanzania were not yet at the airport and we had to wait a little while. But the A & K representative in Kilimanjaro said to us, “hakuna matata,” or don’t worry, they’ll hold the flight for us in Kenya. We landed in Nairobi ten minutes after the commercial flight’s scheduled departure time but, A & K had done their magic and the plane was still there, waiting for us. The other eight passengers weren’t pleased. We still had to go through Kenya immigration and no government worker is in a hurry in Kenya. Hakuna matata. Thirty minutes later we climbed on the commercial Safari Air Caravan for our departure. We were told only then that we would be the third stop. Throughout Mara there are a number of safari camps and the plane drops off and picks up at every one. Flying low over the Mara we could see herds of Zebra and Wildebeest, some Giraffe and an occasional group of hippos in the lakes and rivers. There were forests and there were grassy plains. From the air it was beautiful. The plane was comfortable, the weather perfect and the stops were only 5 minutes apart. It was our first real adventure flying in and out of dirt strips. Two flights with five stops before lunch seemed quite easy and normal. Landing was an adventure as each time the pilot would make one low pass to move the Zebra or Tommies off the runway. There were cars at the airport waiting to pick up passengers but their other job was to drive back and forth on the runway to make sure the Zebras stayed away so the planes could land and take off without having to dodge animals. When we landed at the strip at the Intrepids camp we were met by our driver in a Land Rover Discovery which we soon found out was a far superior vehicle than the Toyota Land Cruisers. I’ll spare you the details, but its benefits included more comfortable seats, open roof, no windows a quieter engine and a better ride.

Our home for the next three days would be Mara Intrepids tented camp, two minutes away. We weren’t exactly roughing it. There is an electric fence all around it to keep out the animals, at least most of them, and it needs it. Baboons though have learned to jump the fence. They tended to hang out at the pool and we were advised that if one wanted our chaise we should let him or her have it. They have a special affinity to Bombay Sapphire and Tonic with a slice of orange and the bartender makes a mean one. There was also a hippo at the pool; not really. But there was this woman that bore a remarkable resemblance to a hippo and was about the same size. We met her at the hotel in Ngorogoro. We suspected she was following us but we never confirmed it. But it was good that she was there, floating around in the pool because Baboons are afraid of Hippos.

Tented safari camps can mean many things. There are mobile camps where tents are set up each night in different locations and some of these are supposedly very comfortable. A truck travels with the group with tents, food, water and porters. There are other outfitters that have more luxurious tents that are moveable but they come with floors, plumbing and luxury throughout, but these require a military style operation so that the night before a move the guests have to stay in a hotel so that the tent crew can move the tents and it and set them up. Tortillis and Intrepids were permanent tented safari camps. The tents at Intrepid were, if anything, nicer than Tortillis but both were great. After meeting our waiter, Josephat, and our tent steward, Duncan, we sat down for a great lunch in the shade near the pool. The staff had all introduced themselves and quickly remembered our first names. We were expected to remember theirs too. It was part of Kenya good manners. That and saying Jambo each time you passed someone walking. Walking past someone without saying Jambo is bad manners. Another couple of weeks there and we’d get the hang of it. At 3:30, we left for our first game drive in the Mara.

This is how I remember Africa from my experience in the Serengeti in 1970. The Mara and the Serengeti are separated only by the border of Kenya - Tanzania. They are both part of the same Rift Valley ecosystem. The Serengeti, in Tanzania, is 15,000 square kilometers and the Mara is 1,500 square kilometers. If you’ve seen “Out of Africa,” or “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” or if you’ve watched any of the National Geographic series’ on Africa, you know the landscape. Vast savannahs of wheat colored grass, slightly rolling hills, acacia trees, rivers, herds of antelope; Thompsons, Grants, Topi, Hartbeest, and Elan, the largest and shyest of the antelope were all grazing in the tall grass. Impala were grazing near the tree line.

Everywhere there were zebra, wildebeest, warthogs and we knew the cats were there too. It was so beautiful (not cute) and the scenes so serene that I could feel my shoulders relax, and I settled into the Land Rover with Fran, Greg, and Lizzie, thinking all was right in the world. It was a great feeling and it stuck with me until I got the abridged International Herald Tribune the next morning and found out that, no, everything is not alright in the world.
Our game drive begins though with our having to cross a pond full of Hippos. The pond smelled strongly of sulfur mixed with Hippo poop and we could smell it 50 yards away. Our driver drove slowly as the bottom sloped sharply toward the deeper end where the hippos waited 10 feet away. The Rover tilted pretty sharply to the right. We leaned left. We wouldn’t have wanted to tip as the water smelled deadly and the hippos apparently don’t take kindly to swimmers. Coming out on the other side we started our species specific search. The only one of the big five that we hadn’t yet seen yet was the reclusive leopard. As we headed toward the high ground we detoured along the grass near rivers and streams bordering wooded areas, favored by the leopard. We sought out herds of Impala, and there were many, that graze near the woods as their favorite food is the leaves of certain of these trees. The leopard’s favorite food is Impala since they tend to feed near the leopard’s lair. All the while we saw hundreds, maybe thousands of other animals all healthy looking and reasonably relaxed. We came across lions, a handsome young male and a beautiful mature female but no leopard. Life’s for lions is very good on the Mara and this male lion was quite relaxed.


After a while it was time to check the tire pressure but with lions around nobody wanted to pull out the pressure gauge, if you know what I mean. We drove into somewhat of a clearing and then carefully went about our tasks. What the heck am I talking about you ask? Early on we were told that we were not allowed to get out of the truck in the park. It’s dangerous and against the law. But what if we had a vehicle problem? Well, that’s different. We do what we need to do to make sure our vehicle can get us back to camp. No point in getting stranded and having to have a search party come after us after sundown. So, diligently, every few hours, we would ask the driver to stop so we could check the tire pressure. First we would find an open area where we were confident that there were no lions lurking, then one or more of us would get out of the truck, go to the back and check the pressures. The guys could check the tire pressure standing up but the girls all had to squat down. After we determined that the pressures were just fine, we’d get back into the truck, being careful not to step into any puddles that had mysteriously appeared next to the road. The more Tusker we drank the more often we had to check the pressure. Now isn’t that a pisser?

We kept searching for the reclusive leopard. The sun was getting low by the time we found her and it was amazing that we did. Look closely. See how she blends in with her environment, her camouflage is near perfect. The photos don’t do justice. We watched her until sundown and then returned to camp.

It was another perfect cool evening and we were very happy that Duncan had put hot water bottles in our beds earlier in the evening. We slept but were awakened frequently by lions roaring, zebras barking warnings and hyenas whooping. The lions had killed something, probably a zebra, and were celebrating as were the hyenas, who in good time, would be fed from what the lions didn’t finish. Sleeping on the Mara would require some getting used to.

---

Comments

[linda roth]

jam vs jelly
jelly is strained, jam has fruit in it.

[Judi Corr]

faithfull blog follower
I have been following your every word, even thinking of doing some copying and passing it off as my African journal -just changing the names of the places we stayed. (What's a little plagiarizing between family) Our trips seem to have been very similar. In awe of your ability to remember all the details, though those Japanese ladies did stand out. Looking forward to getting together and swapping stories. The main difference between jam and jelly is the consistency - jelly wobbles like my upper arms! Love Judi

[Tom Drum]

Great Writing
Hi David, Your writing class sure paid off. Your delivery is very lucid, and when intended, quite comical. I was not aware that Greg and Lizzie accompanied you; a family safari! See you on Tuesday. Tom

[hank]

Hank
David Loved your blog We are thinking of Africa trip with A and K so this will be very helpful Hank