Safari

I just returned to Nairobi after a seven day safari to Samburu, Lake Baringo, Lake Bogoria, Lake Nakuru, and the Masai Mara. Seven days of bumping over dirt roads in a Land Cruiser (a not-so-comfortable version of a Land Rover), with plastic windows that roll up. I have never been so dirty, even when I worked on the farm! And it was so loud with the wind and the bumping and the engine. You would have thought that the dirt and dust in my ears would have done something to dampen the noise, but not so much.

On the trip there were the Kenya driver and cook (Nicholas and Simon, respectively), and two older women (of course… everything I do seems to have me in the company of people my mother’s age!) from Belgium. One of them said she knew one person from St. Louis, but the name didn’t ring a bell with me. A few days later she mentioned her friend again, and the person started to sound familiar. I changed the pronunciation, and lo, it was the mother of one of my high school classmates! Freaking small world. The Kenyans chatted in various African languages, the Belgians in Flemish (which actually is similar to German, so I could pick up bits), so I just sat quietly and thought my own thoughts a lot of the time. The one common language was English, so I wasn’t mute for seven days (as if I could be!).

The safari was great, but I now know (or have confirmed to myself what I thought to be true) that I really am much more interested in plants than animals. I spent more time asking what various flowers were than various birds. That being said, though, when we first came across a couple of lionesses with their five cubs, I did start to cry. (Not sure why exactly. Probably the same reason I cry whenever the Variety Club parade goes down my street.) I do have to admit that I really couldn’t care less about ungulates (all of those things which are up at the Red Rocks area of the St. Louis Zoo. Sorry Becky!)

I saw lions and tigers and bears, oh my! (Well, not so much of the tigers and bears…) I saw giraffe, elephants, hippos, rhinos, lions, cheetahs, baboons, monkeys—velvet and colobus, warthogs, wildebeest (not migrating), and about a zillion hoofed mammals and loads of birds. (Where’s your personal Bird Nerd when you need him?!)

Samburu was up north, and had loads of acacia trees (those thorny things) and scrub. (Remember, it’s the rainy season, so everything was actually growing.) We stayed at a permanent camp (Camp Dik Dik!) with canvas tents and cots, and were told not to wander off because of lions. Um, okay! That was the first two days. Then we drove to Lake Baringa (kidnapping a Samburu tribesman along the way… he said he needed a lift because he lost his clothes down the road, but something may have been lost in translation there). At Baringa we pitched our tents then went on a boat ride out into the lake so we could see hippos (but not too close!).

The next day we drove to Lake Bogoria, which is where all the flamingos are. That was pretty cool. Plus, the landscape around the lake was just gorgeous. From there we went down to Lake Nakuru, which has loads more flamingoes and pelicans (hey, spell-checker accepts flamingos and flamingoes. Rock out!). We stayed at a lovely campsite outside of Nakuru town (I saw some graffiti with a big picture of Obama in town). The campsite actually had real grass, level ground, and clean(ish) showers. Woo hoo!

The next two nights were spent in the Masai Mara (which you have to get to by driving through hordes of Masai women trying to sell you jewelry that they’ve made. They like to just put it in your lap in the car, and then tell you a price. Sometimes they ask to trade you for a pen. Having packed only and exactly what I need, I was not shopping!). The Mara is the Kenyan extension of the Serengeti in Tanzania, filled with huge plains of grass. It was really breathtaking.

Upon the recommendation of my cousin who just went on honeymoon there (and the guy in front of me in line when I took the bus from Boston to NYC), I splurged and took myself on a sunrise balloon trip over the Mara (with a fancy schmancy champagne breakfast at the end). I didn’t care that we didn’t see many animals, because I was just enjoying the view. When I was talking with the seven other people from my basket at breakfast, it became very clear that we were traveling in different price brackets! Whereas I was contending with beetles in my sleeping bag and carrying my own toilet paper to the seat-less long-drop commode, they were all staying in luxury tents and going on cruises down the Nile and whatnot. Oh well. I lived the high life for a few hours…

My favorite moment of safari was yesterday afternoon’s game drive. I was pretty much done with being in the car (my back had been killing me for two days), and I didn’t really care about seeing any more animals. (I believe this is called “safari fatigue”.) For whatever reason, we had a Masai moran (unmarried man/warrior… the guys in the full red garb with knives and clubs and big holes in their ears) in the car with us. Perhaps he was learning how to be a guide or something. Anyway, we were trolling along a riverbank (I assume looking for a leopard, which we never found) and saw a hippo walking along. So we stopped to look. As we were leaving, I saw a freaking HUGE crocodile (I am NOT a fan) lying on the bank above the river. Someone in the car suggested it was dead. Our driver said that the Masai would go check. (I don’t think I would have liked to have that honor.) He was not two feet from the car (still a ways off from the croc) when it came to life and was back in the river in a flash. That brave warrior just about jumped out of his skin, and was ready to jump in the window of the car. (Can’t say I blame him.)

This afternoon we came back to Nairobi, where I took the most appreciated shower of my life. I have dust everywhere. (And I mean everywhere.) I just wish I could wash all my clothes (twice), but I’m off to monkey chasing tomorrow.

I’ll try to get some pictures up before then, but I have loads to sort through!