The Masai Mara

The original plan did not include a visit to the Mara, but as usual plans
evolve and the Mara we visited. Our hopes had been to stop in the Amboseli
NP on entering Kenya as it is just over the border and you have the
possibility of great views of Mt Kilimanjaro as a backdrop to the game in
the park. However due to the new smart card system that has been introduced
for the Kenyan parks, where you can only pay for entry and the camping via
this card that you pre-load with USD, we were unable to visit as they only
issue the cards at certain places, Amboseli NP not being one of them,
ridiculous!
It was however good timing to pay the Mara a visit as the migration of the
Wildebeest from the Serengeti was well under way and also the weather in
Nairobi had taken a turn for the worst. The day before we set off we
ventured down the road (a 1.5km walk) from the campsite to the shopping
centre, 'The Junction', to check out the supermarket and also sort out
photocopies of documents that we would need for our Ethiopian visas. Wow! A
sight for sore eyes after 2 months on the road! Sue was positively
drooling!! It was a bit like being back in Johannesburg, with coffee shops,
fast food restaurants, a bookshop, a cinema, and the very well stocked
supermarket. We were window-shopping only as we had enough food for the
weekend at the Mara and we would fill up before leaving Nairobi and heading
north. Our other main objective was to try and source a bird book that
covered East Africa as our Newmans only went as far as northern Mozambique.
We found one, how much? 'Birds of Africa - south of the Sahara', the one we
were after. Boy should we have bought it in SA where it would have not been
cheap but one hell of a lot cheaper than in Nairobi. So in usual fashion
after checking the price and converting it to GBP, Rand, USD, Tanzanian
Shilling, and whatever other currency we could to make the price look better
we decided to think on it and come back later after making a decision. This
we did in the afternoon. Thankfully we had made it to the shopping centre
just before the heavens burst and a thunderstorm of note hit town. After
spending 2 days budget on the bird book that we decided we could not do
without we had to watch and wait to see if the rain and hail would ease to
allow a return to the campsite. After almost an hour of wandering the shops
and reading books the rain eased slightly but the roads looked very wet and
the 1.5km walk back on wet muddy 'pavements' was not very appealing so we
negotiated a rate for a taxi and returned to find a very wet campsite.
Thankfully we had packed the tent up in the morning as we had originally
planed to drive to the Ethiopian Embassy to sort visas. Everyone was in the
house and a nice roaring fire had been lit, bliss!
The next day arrived and we only managed to get away by 10h00 to head for
the Mara. We had a rough idea of where we wanted to head for the night and
knew it would be a long drive and obviously very dependent on the roads.
After a brief stop on the outskirts of the city at a police road block where
the man with his stick and his chum had questioned our Kenyan road tax as
the idiot at the border had not filled out the date we were off and running.
After you leave the main road and head towards Narok you descend down to the
Rift Valley quite a way below. The views were stunning and we stopped for a
coffee to have a good look and take pictures. There are plenty of viewpoints
but most of the early higher ones are full of tourist shops and very dodgy
looking rickety wooden viewing platforms that you would need to be either
insane or just plain stupid to venture out on. We chose a nice quiet spot
where our view had a few trees in the way but it was peaceful, well apart
from all the trucks and buses chugging past on the busy road. The main B2
road to Narok in the valley was interesting shall we say. It will be great
when they finish it but at the moment it is under construction and bumpy and
potholed initially and then a dirt track for the last 40km or so. There is
the odd piece that has been tarred but this is already falling apart so by
the time the whole road is done half of it will need doing again!!
After Narok, where the road in the town is horrendous, we turned towards the
Mara and a better road (C12), well for a while at least. This is where I
made a very silly mistake. As usual we pulled of the road to stop for some
lunch, avocado/cheese/crisp rolls, yum! After we had finished and packed up
we got in the truck, I started the engine, I checked for traffic, and then
pulled off back up the bank to the tarmac. We only made it about a foot as I
had failed to notice a 2-inch high tree stump that took an instant dislike
to the sidewall of the front right tyre and ripped a hole in it! I wont
repeat my initial comments. For the first time, and hopefully the last, we
had to change a wheel. This was done without problems and we were soon on
the way, with a damaged tyre and a dented ego! The rest of the drive was
fine apart from the last 40km where the tarmac stopped and the road was
lumpy bumpy gravel and rocks.
Finally the park and the Sekenani Gate loomed, not before we had already
seen a large group of Giraffe several km on the road earlier. The park staff
are very helpful and friendly, and we paid fees for 2 nights for us
($40pppn) and Mufasa (Ksh800pd). The Masai women at the gate were a
different story trying their best to flog us all sorts of things and they
are quite insistent about it! They even bang on your windows and they aren't
exactly all smiles and seem quite annoyed with your constant refusals.
Anyway we passed the gate and entered the park. It is quite surreal actually
being in the Masai Mara, the park that most people in the world have heard
of and has been the setting for many a wildlife programme and we were in it!
Time was moving on and we made tracks thru the park to the Talek gate and
the campsites that are just outside the gate. The drive was good and we
spotted a large herd of Elephants, some Buffalo, Topi, Zebra, and more which
quite whetted the appetite for the adventure to come. After checking out
camping options we chose on the Aruba Camp that was nice and also had other
people staying there which gives you a better sense of security.
A new day dawned and an early start of 07h00 into the park. We had no real
plans other than to drive and to see what the day would bring. There is
plenty of game in the park and the early morning went well. There was a BBC
crew filming, not sure what for, and we managed to park in their field of
view a couple of times but I doubt if we will feature in their film! The
morning highlight was the lion spot. We were so lucky to have 3 lionesses
wander across the track just in front of us. We followed, no other vehicles
around, and suddenly their cubs popped out of the scrub where they had been
hiding and waiting for their mums. Wow, fantastic! They crossed thru a
thicket and we tracked around to find them again. Then suddenly a
game-viewing vehicle appears, sees we have found sommit, drives off road to
see them, blocks our view, and scares them off. Bloody idiots! As you can
imagine we were quite pissed with them and tried to track around to find the
lions again. The trouble with parks like the Mara and Serengeti is the game
vehicles and their 2-way radios. One spots sommit and they all descend like
vultures and hound the poor creatures. After a while and with the lionesses
scarred off with vehicles following them we were left on our own with two of
the cubs. We made coffee and just sat and enjoyed from a distance. If
another vehicle came past we just pretended to be having coffee so they
would not see the cubs and pass on by. Sounds selfish I know but we do it
for the animals sake not ours, I just hate the way some people hound them
purely to be able to say 'we have seen lions'! Choosing to leave them in
peace and the relative safety of the long grass we moved on. Our sightings
included many a vulture and some great views of them picking over a
Wildebeest carcass, not to mention the huge numbers of Zebra, Grant's
Gazelle, Thomson's Gazelle, Topi, and the odd Wildebeest or two!! We also
had our first real off-road experience in Mufasa crossing a small stream
with a steep bumpy entrance and a very steep rocky climb the other side,
cool!
The park is just so totally different to anything we have seen. It is mostly
very open with waist high yellow grass. It is like driving thru wheat fields
with wildlife. We eventually crossed the Mara River from the east of the
park to the west and were so privileged to be able to view two Cheetahs
stuffing their bellies from their Wildebeest kill. We had seen a group of
vehicles on the west bank of the river all morning from our drive on the
east side. Thankfully a kind game driver stopped and told us what was
happening and where to go. These two Cheetahs were so fat and still eating
much to the annoyance of the waiting vultures. After a circuit of the west
side of the park and the huge numbers of Wildebeest and Zebra there we
crossed back to the east and had a long enjoyable drive ending back at camp.
The bird life was good but quite sparse probably due to the time of year and
also the grassy plain style of the park, but we saw some lovely new spots,
which was nice. A great spot on the way back was a lone Black Rhino, one of
the few in the Mara. We couldn't get very close to him but he was
magnificent none the less! So that was it, the Masai Mara experience,
fantastic. We had a brief drive thru the park the next morning before
leaving on the long drive back to Nairobi and the fun road, thankfully with
no further tyre incidents!
We stayed the night back at Jungle Junction and caught up with the Bushcats
who had arrived the afternoon after we left for the Mara. Their next
destination is Uganda and they are probably well on the way there now. Our
next destination? The lap of luxury thanks to the very kind hospitality of
Stewart and Linda Henderson, old friends of Sue's family, who live in
Nairobi. They have very kindly let us stop over for a few nights to sort
ourselves out before heading off to Ethiopia. We had a productive day on
Tuesday getting Ethiopian visas, filling gas bottles, and getting the tyre
fixed. Yesterday we went to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Orphans'
Project in the Nairobi NP. It is a sanctuary mainly for orphaned baby
Elephants. You can visit between 11 and 12 to see them when they get their
bottles of milk and have a play time. They were amazing and it was great to
get so close to such fantastic animals. They run around and some of the
larger ones charge and barge the spectators. I even got to blow in one of
their trunks, which is apparently how they recognise and remember people.
The Elephants come from various parks where their parents have either been
killed by poachers or have died from natural causes. They eventually return
them to the parks when they are a bit older and independent to live out
hopefully a full and peaceful life.
Today is jobs day. I need to give Mufasa a health check and Sue is sorting
out all our bits and bobs.