Kenya and Tanzania, Part 1

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Jambo! (Greetings in Kenyan)

Africa - I’ve wanted to go on a safari for a long time, and we finally made it (in July; yes, we’re a little behind). We had booked our tour (The Masai Heartlands, https://www.intrepidtravel.com/ch/kenya/masai-heartlands-107731) through Intrepid Travel. The tour was a combination of two one-week tours; the first week we were in Kenya (with the Masai Mara), and the second week was spent mostly in Tanzania (including Serengeti National Park). On its website, Intrepid defines itself as “fearless, adventurous, unafraid.” I would also add challenging, eye-opening, but most of all, awesome. The video on Intrepid’s homepage (intrepidtravel.com) asks “When was the last time you looked up in wonder, looked into the eyes of a complete stranger and didn’t look down … took yourself so far from the world that you know that you gave yourself no choice but to be challenged, to be fearless, to be openly curious, and to be kind.” Quite the sales pitch, and it worked.

I would have preferred a “luxury” tour with lodging set up every night, but didn’t want to spend that much money (and which would have ended our travels a lot sooner), so we opted for a “camping” tour, with the possibility to upgrade to a hotel room some nights. We had showers most nights with hot water, but because of unforeseeable circumstances and bad timing, I went almost two weeks without hot water. We spent one night at a Masai Mara bush camp, with no showers at all (but that was planned). The Masai Mara warriors were to “guard us from the animals.” We spent one night within the Serengeti National Park; there was no fence or border between us and the animals - our guide said that if you have to leave your tent during the night, make sure to wake up your tent partner so they know you’re leaving. Then do a search of the area; if you see any red or orange eyes looking at you, don’t turn your back on the animal, but back up slowly into your tent. We didn't see any dangerous animals at night, but we did hear hyenas nearby.

We had a crew of three - Antonio, our most excellent guide, Godfrey our fantastic chef, and David, our fearless driver. All of our supplies were on the truck - the tents (which were supplied), sleeping bags (which could be rented), food supplies and dishes, and our bags had to fit into luggage lockers. We stopped at grocery stores every few days so Godfrey could pick up some fresh fruits and veggies. It was a “participatory” tour; Antonio split the tour participants into three or four groups, each group having a different duty every day. Every fourth day my group had to help Godfrey chop vegetables, but he was very careful not to give out any of his recipes. His soups were to die for, especially on chilly evenings. He was careful to point those with food allergies away from what they shouldn’t eat, and prepared special food for those with dietary requirements. Another day our group had to wash dishes. We set up an assembly line of water buckets for each dish to go through - more soap, less soap, no soap. Another group was assigned to “flapping” - instead of using towels to dry the dishes, we swung them around (flapped) to air dry. That was quite a social task, with many people joining the flappers, giving their arms a mini-workout. Some people also went to collect water from a spring, as there would be no water at one of the campsites. The last task was to sweep out the truck every night, then we went back to chopping vegetables. While we all could take naps during the day, David spent many long hours driving the truck, and some days driving on dirt tracks. In some parks, we changed into 4x4 jeeps with raised roofs for a closer experience with the animals; other days were spent entirely driving on dirt roads in the truck.

We had to set up and take down our own tents every day, but Antonio and David were always around to give a hand to those who needed help (Godfrey was usually off preparing one of his fabulous meals). Some girls from Australia had never camped before; they started their camping adventures with a two-week camping trip in Africa. Good on ‘ya!

The first week we had 15 people, plus the crew. I was the only American; one Swiss (Pete), several Australians and New Zealanders, one South African now living in Oman, and some Canadians. The second week we lost a few participants, but added a few more, for a total of 22 people. Pete had been using his iPhone since we began our adventure in November; he finally bought a real camera with a super-duper zoom before we went to Africa, so he could get some good, close-up photos of animals. I've been using both of my Nikon Coolpix and my iPhone, but prefer my Nikon to get those close-ups. I took about 1,700 photos, he took about 2,000, all in two weeks.

Our first stop in Kenya was near Lake Nakuru National Park in the Great Rift Valley. We saw some of the “Big Five” here, which include the lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino. Animals on the Big Five list were chosen for their difficulty in being hunted and the degree of danger involved (and the animals’ ability to fight back), rather than the animals’ size. Although the probability of seeing animals is high, there is no guarantee that you will see any animals at all, let alone the Big Five. Before we left on the safari, Antonio had asked us what we wanted to see, or what we expected from the trip. We both answered that if we saw a leopard, that would be great. Leopards are so elusive we didn’t expect to see any, but we saw three (thanks Sam, for that great sighting). Some people even saw a cheetah (much easier to see with that super-duper zoom camera lens). Pete actually got a good shot of it; I never saw it. The rhino is on the endangered species list, but we saw a few. We also saw lots of elephants, giraffes, zebras, hyenas, gazelles and many birds.

The next day we went in small boats on Lake Naivasha. We saw several hippos among the papyrus reeds. Hippos spend up to 16 hours a day in water to keep their bodies cool. They have short, stubby legs, but can run fast. A tourist was killed soon after we left the area by a hippo; he was trying to get too close to take “the perfect photo.”

Intrepid has an agreement with a Masai Mara village to help them with some of their needs; this village, in turn, introduces the Intrepid groups to the Masai Mara culture and way of life. We went to their village to watch the women sing and dance in their traditional costumes. Later, one of the warriors came to our camp to give a talk, with an interesting question and answer period afterwards. The next morning we watched the men perform some of their ritual dances. One of their dances involves jumping, which was fascinating to watch. In the past, they hunted lions. The last warrior to kill a lion wears part of the lion skin as a trophy/hat. Since his kill, though, the Masai Mara have discontinued the practice of killing lions, so that warrior may hang onto that trophy for quite some time. They also showed us how to start a fire without matches, and some in our group practiced using Masai weapons.

We had an opportunity to go for a balloon ride - VERY cool!!! I went in Kenya; Pete went later, in Tanzania. We had to get up at the crack of dawn so that we’d be up in the air while the sun was rising. It was a beautiful sunrise. It’s not just about seeing animals from the air; we each saw a few, but it was also to enjoy the scenery and sunrise. It was a great experience!

Lions were another animal I wanted to see, and we saw quite a few! Female lions do the hunting; males step in and take the spoils of victory. Males have the manes. The main job of the males in the “pride” of lions is to warn off intruders and keep the pride together. The females usually hunt in groups of two or three. The percentage of lions’ kill is very small; lions spend a lot of time finding the prey and observing it, but they don’t always follow through with the kill. We watched several lions after they found prey, spent some time observing it, and sometimes they decided not to attack. However, we did see one group of about three lions, after the kill, and pausing in their feast. They seemed to enjoy their dinner thoroughly. It wasn’t a pleasant sight, but part of nature and survival of the fittest and all that. Another interesting experience was watching a group of lions meandering closer and closer to our jeeps, until one was right below us. At that point, it was very important not to drop anything, and to keep all your limbs inside the jeep.

We’ll have more to say about Africa and animals, and more pictures, in the next blog.

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