Blogs from Rift Valley Province, Kenya, Africa - page 7

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller The palpable effects of the rising sea-levels, air pollution, deforestation and poaching of the wild can be eclipsed, however temporarily, by the cacophony and commitments of the big city life. Before this happens, my overwhelming sentiments and affinity for the African Bush compel me to tell a story of recent encounters in the wild, and share the awareness gained from the ethnic homeland of the Maasai. After all, it’s not everyday that one wakes up on the real-life sets of “The Lion King”. Tuning into Zazu and many of the 570 species of endemic birds orchestrating a morning symphony, in the original garden of Eden. Masai Mara, Kenya is indeed that mystical a place. This land awakened my mind ... read more

Preface I’ve wanted to go to Africa ever since I was a little girl. My parents (smartly) refused to get cable TV for most of my childhood, so I was usually glued to documentaries on PBS. My favorites were nature programs, particularly images of life and death on the Serengeti and all the drama of the great migration. Instead of dolls, I played with animal figurines, creating epic sagas with plastic lions and zebras on the front lawn. When I reached adulthood and began traveling, I figured I’d get there eventually. Other than a foray to Morocco with a friend many years ago, it didn’t happen. Then I started working at a university, which, among many other benefits, has generous vacation time. Throw in a great deal on airfare and my mind was made up. Life ... read more

To make the most of our last bit of time in the Maasai Mara, we had an early morning drive. During the night however, it had rained, and rained, and rained. Pretty much constantly throughout the night, and it was still raining while we ate our breakfast (the breakfast area is under cover with open walls on the sides). By the time we got into the park with everything packed, it was just after sunrise, and surprisingly cold in the wind, but luckily the rain had reduced to just a drizzle and soon stopped completely, so it was nice to see the Mara in the early morning. One of the first things we came across was a large group of Spotted Hyaenas. There were a few along the road just in front of the car, a ... read more

The next morning, I got up slightly earlier than I needed to to have a look around the hotel to see if there were any birds that could be spotted. Having arrived after dark, I didn’t know how large the grounds were, but they turned out to be quite small with little more than a car park with gardens on either side. I did see a few birds however, and these were some Superb Starlings, Common Bulbuls, and one year bird which was a White-fronted Bee-eater perched on a cable. After breakfast, we went the short distance to Lake Naivasha to have a morning boat ride on the lake. Along the sides of the road heading down to the lake there were quite a few Defassa Waterbuck, including some with some quite young babies. Upon reaching ... read more

So we dropped off a few peeps and picked up 16 more early this am. We got on the road apprehensively as our first impression of the new people was slightly askew (oldies and no one cool looking lol). About 30 minutes down the road we got a call and stopped the truck to wait for two people we forgot to pick up. HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Our tour leader didn’t even count everyone when we all left! So then two more Aussies came in a taxi and we proceeded down the road. We stopped at a view point of the Great Rift Valley and snapped a few candids on the way to the Masai Mara. After a super long and bumpy ride with this new truck (it had no power going up hills) we arrived at a campground ... read more