A Natural Wonder

Safari. It’s a magical word. Ever since I found out I was coming to Kenya, I have dreamed about going on a safari. I spent the last three days fulfilling that dream in the wonderous Masai Mara. Named for the Maasai tribe that live there and the Mara river that divides it, infamous across the world for its beauty and its offering of animals in the wild it was an awe inspiring experience that no words or pictures can really describe.

Sunday morning, 6:30am I left home for my flight. I was flying a very small airline Mombasa Air Safari to the Mara. It was the smallest plane I’ve ever been on, not more than 20 seats and a bit of a bumpy ride, but cool nonetheless. I was sitting in the departure lounge waiting to board when a staff came in and asked the British couple I was talking with to board the plane. I mentioned that I was also on that flight but was instructed to please wait. Ok – no problem. I waited about 10 minutes, wondering how long it takes 2 people to board when I saw my plane rolling down the tarmac. WHAT?!?! I instantly jumped up and started screaming “That’s my plane! That’s my plane!” A staff rushed over and asked where I was going to – I indicated the Mara (Ngrende airstrip) and he said “no problem” just wait. Uhhh..ok? Turns out the other airline that uses that small terminal Blue Sky Aviation and my airline have an agreement to share passengers and I had been switched over to Blue Sky. Ok…but would have been nice to know that in advance and avoid the minor cardiac. But, boarded the plane and after hearing the pilot inform us that “we need to take off now, bad weather is coming” (not what you want to hear when you’re on a plane that small) we were off.

Arrived safe and sound in the mara Sunday afternoon around 11am with the kind of excitement a school child has before his/her first day of school. I was meeting 5 friends there who had come on a different flight from Nairobi. Our accomodations were deluxe, we were staying at the Fairmont Mara Safari Club in our own luxury tents. Something about a comfy bed, hot shower, evening turndown service where they put hot water bottles in your bed so that its warm when you climb in, and a morning wakeup call in which staff come to your room with your choice of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate (and biscuits) that just makes the whole experience that much more enjoyable. Turns out the Fairmont has been voted as the top Safari lodge in the Mara and number 3 in the world.

So we all arrived and rested for a bit, and at 3:30pm piled into our Land cruiser for our first of 4 game drives with our driver Odgina (or Henry). Right out of the gate, I was wide eyed and just craning my neck everywhere. Through marshes, and open fields, swamps, and bushes we drove spotting game. The list of animals we saw included gazelles, wildebeests, zebra, giraffe, hyena, numerous birds (including 2 osterich’s mating…kinda weird) and all of the big 5 – lion, rhino, elephant, buffalo, and a very rare sighting of a spotted leopard! Something about being in the wild, surrounded by animals in an open expanse that just makes you realize what a small piece you are in a larger puzzle. To see all these animals in cohabitation doing only what nature intended – survive - makes you wonder about the issues that surround our daily lives. In that period, you just live in the moment, sit back and watch, and suddenly the rest just seems oblivious.

I went on this trip hoping to catch a wonder of the world – the wildebeest migration. The annual event where close to one million wildebeest make their way down to the serengeti. Unfortunately, our guide informed us that this year, not as many animals did the migration and in fact the best sightings of it had already passed and that our time was better spent viewing game in the park (it would be a long drive down to the mara river where the best viewing spot is). My dissapointment was very short-lived. As we approached the end of first game drive, very content with what we had seen, we stumbled upon a group of lions. As we watched and snapped pictures, more lions joined. And then all at once, the lions gathered and started walking. Our guide informed us “they’re hunting”. Twende twende! (let’s go!) About a dozen lions moved out from the bush in hunting form for their next meal. It took us a few seconds to see it in the distance. Buffalo. Three buffalo were walking towards the lion pact in the distance – I was not sure if they buffalo saw the lions or not, or whether they just were not afraid of them. The lions began to approach and the buffalo kept walking towards. We held our breath wondering if we would see a kill (a very rare sighting). The buffalo were huge, and the sole fact that there were 3 of them was probably what saved them. For an hour we watched a cross between a football game and a chess match as the lions tried to outsmart the buffalo and the buffalo fought back for their lives. Henry told us that the only way for a lion to kill a buffalo would be a sneak attack from the back and that an attack from the front could be deadly for the lions because of the buffalo’s large horns. So we watched, as each side strategized, the lions tried to circle one buffalo in order to attack. One move, that I thought was particularly sneaky was when 2 lions broke away in separate directions and drew 2 of the buffalo away, the remaining 10 lions circled the buffalo, however this feisty creature continued to fight them off. In the end, the buffalo’s lived to see another day (or at least, they were alive when we left), but it was amazing to see nature like this. At one point, we saw a few lions break away and start walking in the direction of our jeep and we got a little nervous that perhaps the lions had decided to go for an easier prey…not the case Henry assured us, but we still asked him to drive back a bit. We continued watching until dark, well past our scheduled 6:30pm return time, and basically kept watching until the lions broke away and we couldn’t see anything anymore.

We returned to our lodge tired, and a little cold, but nonetheless on a huge adrenaline rush after watching that and very excited for what tommorow would hold. The next morning we woke up, and piled into our land cruiser for our morning drive. We spent the next 6 hours around the mara viewing various animals and admiring a very scenic sunrise while singing songs and even throwing in an Indian guzzle here and there. After about 3-4 hours of game viewing, we had arranged to visit a Masai village and meet members of the tribe. We were welcomed with song and dance and spent time with members of the tribe learning about their history and their way of life. I’m running out of words to describe these kinds of experiences, so I’ll just say it was really cool. As they taught us their way of dancing, we wanted to teach them our way of dancing and decided to teach the masai trip the ancient art of bhangra dancing. We left the village to sight of the children jumping up and down with arms doing the ever so popular ‘screwing of the lightbulb’. We followed up in the afternoon with close encounters with rhino’s and a return trip to the masai village to show our appreciation for hosting us in the morning with shoes for the children, and a large sack of flour. I know that gift-giving needs to be done with the utmost consideration and sensitivity and we were hoping to give something that the village could use and would benefit from and not just something that would seem like charity. I feel that when I saw the looks on the faces of the children, especially the look of one woman when we pulled out the flour, we had hopefully struck the right tune.

So we continued with game drives, and viewing animals, and just soaking in the atmosphere and learning a lot about each animal. The final game drive was bittersweet, I felt as if I had seen what I wanted to see, but was sad to see the experience end. Funny thing on the way home Tuesday, I was told to be in the lobby of the hotel by 1:15pm for my ride back to the airstrip. Around 12:50pm I came to the lobby thinking I was nice and early to check out. I was told that the pilot was waiting for me – thinking that he was in the plane at the airstrip waiting. No – the pilot was there, at the hotel! I’ve never had a pilot come and personally pick me up for a flight. A bit of a mixup in the time I was supposed to be ready by, and a bit of delay in checking out, and as we walked to the jeep, my pilot informed us that we were now running behind schedule (we had 3 more airstrips to stop at in the mara before coming to Mombasa). A quick ride to the airstrip, and as we arrived the propellers started (by the co-pilot), my pilot noted “they were just waiting for us” so basically I single-handedly held up the flight. Sweet,…you should see what I can do to a hospital network.

All in all, I can easily say I have returned from the mara feeling refreshed, renewed, reenergized and relaxed. My mindset feels different, maybe it was 3 straight days of not having to think, or 3 days of fresh air and amazing scenery in a cool climate. Whatever it was, I loved every minute of it, and am so grateful I had the opportunity to do it. I truly saw the Africa of my dreams.