It was tough but I've edited my photos and here's a sampling.
https://picasaweb.google.com/112770182031192371849/Kenya?authkey=Gv1sRgCOf_982Whqi66QE
I'm loving sleeping in my own bed although to actually sleep would be great. It seems I am still on Kenyan time--waking up way before the sun is up, ready to nap at 3 PM and wide awake at my normal bedtime.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Hello Again
For the past two weeks, I've been in Kenya having one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I had extremely limited access to email in the bush so no blogging but I did keep a journal and here it is.
Day 1
We get off the small plane at Lewa where Susannah lives and are immediately in another world. Grazing near the air strip are giraffe, gazelles, zebra. Before getting to the house we stop at a dam because Susannah has heard there are elephants in the water there. We arrive just in time to see a family wading ponderously but with a certain grace up from their mud bath. Susannah is a trip--full of energy, passionate about the elephants and Africa and filled with all sorts of random information about everything we are seeing. Her house is amazing, overwhelming. Huge thatched roofs, heavy timbers and a museum's worth of African tribal art. After lunch on the veranda she takes us on a game drive. She wrestles with the steering wheel while Dixon, the spotter, stands in the back of the car looking over the landscape. They communicate in both English and Swahili. It is so beautiful here--rolling hills covered with tall grasses, and occasional groups of yellow fever trees, and in the far distance blue tinted mountains. Every once in a while we get a glimpse of Mt. Kenya's snow covered peak. We are at 6000 feet and the climate up here is close to ideal--warm and clear during the day and delightfully cool at night--perfect sleeping weather.
Day 2
After breakfast on the veranda we pile into the car for another game drive through the wildlife reserve. We stop the car alongside a herd of elephants--lots of mothers and children and a few old bulls. Susanna puts on a tape of Yo Yo Ma claiming that the elephants like to listen to the cello. Who knows but we are able to sit in the car with the elephants close by without any problem. Later on the drive we sight two black rhinos, an endangered species. These we give a wide berth to since they are notoriously aggressive. We don't get back to the house until 2:30 and eat lunch very late at 3:30. Close to six we head out in the car again to have drinks on a hill with a view of the sunset. The ride is beyond bumpy and we never make it to the hill in time. Instead we pull up to a dam but quickly backtrack when two ornery black rhinos come by. We wind up drinking wine and eating soup in front of the fire at the house.
Day 3
Susannah is hard core. We are out of the house by 6AM for our ten minute flight to Samburu. We've packed breakfast which we eat after our arrival on the river bank surrounded by what seems like hundreds of elephants. Lots of babies still learning to use their trunks, young males wrestling and dueling with their tusks. We spend at least an hour watching the interplay among the elephants. We get to Elephant Watch camp in time for a delicious al fresco lunch. Then with Susanna at the wheel we head for another game drive. We track a leopard for awhile but the real thrill occurs on the way back to camp in the later afternoon when we see three lions laying in the dry river bed looking very regal and supremely self confident. We turn off the truck and patiently wait for them to get up. As the sky darkens, we follow them slowly as they proceed down to the river for a drink. Then they disappear into the bush and we head for camp. Dinner is served under a tree along the banks of the river. The moon is nearly full and there are a zillion stars. It's truly a magical scene made even more so by our hosts, Ian and Oria Douglas-Hamilton. He is the head of Save the Elephants, an organization which does research on elephants and is heavily involved in anti poaching activities. Oria runs the camp and has an organic farm which supplies the camp with all its produce. They are both incredibly charming with lots of interesting stories about their work and their life in Kenya. I feel very lucky to be staying here.
Day 4
Today was a marathon, exhausting but really rewarding. Once again, Susanna has us on the road at 6AM before the sun is up. After an hour's drive to Buffalo Springs, an adjacent game park, we stop at the springs to eat breakfast. Later in the morning we start tracking a cheetah. She is walking slowly but purposefully and obviously looking for something to eat. Suddenly she sprints raising a huge plume of dust in her wake. She has spotted a hare which is now zigging and zagging trying to get away but the cheetah is much too fast. In what seems like just a few seconds she pounces on her prey and then walks into the bush with the hare hanging from her mouth, presumably to find a shady spot to eat her lunch in peace. Watching this drama is totally exhilarating--the explosiveness of the cheetah going after the hare gives us all an adrenaline rush. We calm down by parking next to a tree full of noisy baboons. They seem to be constantly fighting and shrieking at each other, running up and down the tree branches, leaping from one tree to another or chasing each other on the ground. Further down the river we pull up to a shady spot, sit on the roof of the car and eat lunch. Later that afternoon, our spotter Bernard finds two lions with cubs resting in the tall grass. They are obviously hungry. We watch them begin to stalk a zebra and a gazelle but suddenly they are noticed and run off. Bernard, our spotter, anticipates where they are going and we maneuver ourselves to a spot where we can see them again. There are waterbuck in the distance, a likely meal but again they botch their approach. Oh well, we head back to camp and dinner again under the moon and stars.
Day 5
The highlight of this day is the night--our first real sundowner. We drive to the top of a hill in time to watch the sun plummet behind the mountains as a nearly full moon rises over the plains below. The warriors build a fire by rubbing two sticks together over dried elephant dung. The stars come out as we drink wine. We drive back to the lodge accompanied by Masai warriors singing songs of triumph. A great night.
Day 6
Like obedient children, we wake up at 5:30 and get on the road at 6, looking for leopards or lions. No such luck this morning but there is something special about watching the landscape change as the sun rises over the hills. By this time I am inured to the bumps and have pretty much gone into a zen state. We take a 15 minute flight north to our next stop, Sarara Lodge. The lodge feels like a private home, which it was once. The setting is magnificent. You look out to the mountains of the Matthew Range. There's a watering hole below the lodge and you can sit on the rocks and watch the elephants drink and bathe. There are other guests here--3 older British couples who are straight out of central casting. I say older but they are probably my age. I love listening to them talk in their very plummy accents. I am about to get a massage on the veranda of the tent I am sharing with Midge. Our tent is set above the main lodge and I can stare out at the plains and the mountains. I just know that Steve would park himself on a chair outside and only come down for meals. "Why would anyone want to leave here?," he'd say. By the way, the massage costs $15 for an hour. I don't even care if it's good. Tonight the moon will be full. I can just imagine what it will be like to sit on the rocks below the lodge, a glass of wine in hand as we watch the elephants come up to the watering hole.
Day 8 and 9
We leave the calm and serenity and the late wake up call at Sarara and fly back to Lewa where we are on a MISSION! Our goal is to find Drachma, a female in the Currency Family so she can be fitted with a collar with GPS that will allow researchers to study her migration patterns. Susannah is back in her element, driving like a madwoman, bushwhacking off the roads to locate Drachma so the team can do the collar. Finally after a bruising roller coaster ride up and down the plains we find her but it is too late in the afternoon for the research team to drive down from Samburu and the vet is no where to be found. We make a plan to reassemble in the morning. Next day we are on the road by 6:30 in search of Drachma once again. Amazingly, since she already wears an old collar the researchers in Samburu can locate her on Google Earth. We find her, have a quick breakfast in the bush alongside her family and then head back to the office of the Lewa Conservancy to meet the rest of the team and get organized. That's where the fun begins. The vet who is the only who can legally shoot the tranquilizing dart is late and we are still needing a guy with gun as a safety precaution. Finally after about hour, the caravan gets rolling. Midge, Rosemary and I are in the rear with Dixon, Susannah's Masai spotter; Susannah, naturally, is in the lead car with David, one of the researchers; a second car holds two more researchers and the actual collar, a long, thick leather strap with a square metal box holding the device bolted at the top. In front of us is the vet who brandishes a wicked looking dart gun out the window. Sitting in the rear of his car is our guard, his gun at the ready. We head out to where we saw Drachma earlier in the morning but she has gone. There is much gnashing of the teeth since the vet needs to be somewhere at 10 and it is now past 9. The caravan splits up and starts searching the area. David and Susannah find her along with the vet but the car with the actual collar is elsewhere. We are lurking in the rear waiting for the go ahead that it is safe to come close. The vet shoots a large orange dart into Drachma's butt, a huge mistake since the car with the collar is still not on site. Dixon is sent to locate the missing car. We hightail it out of there but shortly return once they have been found; the elephant is laying unconscious on its side and the team is busy fastening the collar around her neck. This all takes about 15 minutes during which the elephant is bathed constantly with water to keep her from being dehydrated. Let me tell you, it is an awesome sight to see this huge animal with long, thick ivory tusks laying totally out of it on the ground before us. Intrepid traveler that I am, I get out of the car for an eyewitness view. When the collar is securely fastened and the GPS device tested, we get back into the cars. The vet injects her behind the ear with an antidote. In just a few minutes, Drachma's ears begin to flap and she slowly lumbers to her feet looking a little disoriented. Then she wanders off to find the rest of her family. Mission accomplished! The whole team--minus the vet and the gun-- head back to Susannah's house for lunch.
Later in the afternoon, Susannah, Rosemary, Midge and I take on another mission--distributing small clay cook stoves--jikos--to the women in the village within Lewa. These cook stoves will use significantly less wood than an open fire, cutting down on the time the women must spend foraging wood and, even more importantly, hopefully reducing the depletion of the surrounding forests. The women line up to receive the cook stoves. There are speeches to explain the importance of the stoves and many thank yous to Susannah who has bought the stoves. Lots of singing and dancing conclude the event. Before driving home we stop off at the local school where the headmaster walks us through a few classrooms. The kids are adorable and incredibly polite but the classrooms are really shabby and the kids' uniforms threadbare. Tomorrow early we head for the Mara and more marathon game drives.
Day 10 and 11 and 12
A hour long flight and we are in the Mara. For most people the Mara is all about the animals and it is truly amazing to see the diversity and beauty of African wildlife. There are herds and herds of op art zebras galloping or standing at attention as if in some weird tableau; wildebeest, a most bizarre looking creature with spindly legs, buffalo like horns and long solemn faces with grey beards that make them long like frisky old men, running in chaotic circles; all kinds of antelopes from delicate Thomson gazelles to elegant impala and sturdy topis, all coexisting quite nicely it seems; giraffe quietly munching on the tops of trees; ugly warthogs with mean looking tusks, long snouts and thin tails that fly straight up like a flag when they run; all kinds of birds, large and small in every combination of color and size; elephants of course and sinister looking hyena looking for a carcass to scavenge; huge pods of hippos submerged in the water with only their eyes and ears above the water line. I couldn't begin to remember all the species we have seen on our Susannah mandated 13 hour(!) game drives. And then there are the cats. We've seen lions hunting, lions mating, lions sleeping, lion cubs playing. We've seen a cheetah with her cub, cheetahs on the prowl for a meal and seen a cheetah and her cub gnawing on the hindquarters of their kill. We've seen at total of five leopards, supposedly a rare achievement, one resting at the bottom of a tree after hauling her kill some 25 feet up for safe keeping. Our success is due to the incredible sighting skills of our Masai spotters none of whom wear glasses but who can spot the flick of an ear or tail of animal in the tall grass or up in a tree far, far away and lead us right to it. All this has been fantastic, of course. But for me the real attraction is the landscape--sweeping plains of tall grass punctuated here and there by flat top acacia trees and covered by a sky that goes on forever. Everyone is snapping away and yes I take pictures as well but I am also perfectly happy standing in the truck watching the wind and sun play over the red oak grass which stretches forever in every direction. I love watching the sun come up over the hills at dawn and slowly bring color to the landscape. In the afternoon, the sun burns everything with a harsh, white light. Billowing clouds in constantly changing patterns are stretched against the blue, making the sky seem like a whole other continent to explore. Then there's early evening when a red hot sun falls like a rock behind the hills and you can watch the light show out in the open.
Day 13 and 14
I get to sleep in today since I am leaving the group and going on to another camp in the Mara where Nelson, the guide we met six years ago on our family trip to Africa, now works. He picks me up in late morning and we drive for about two hours past grazing cattle and goats and occasional villages to the the Nashaibo Conservancy where the camp is located. There is much less game here but the vistas are astounding and, best of all there are no other cars around. The tall red gold grass blowing in the wind reminds me of the wheat fields of Tuscany. Amazingly as soon as we arrive at the conservancy, we see three cheetah, a mother and two cubs all with full bellies, resting in the shade of a thorn bush. We watch as the mother carefully walks around the perimeter of the bush making sure all is safe before she plops down on the ground for a nap next to her already sleeping cubs. The camp is very new and lacks the vibe and style of the other camps I've stayed at but my tent is ultra comfortable and looks directly out at the plains. The resident managers are a sweet young couple--she is Kenyan and all into organic gardening and he is from the Canary Islands and likes nothing more than to brag about his solar panels and batteries. Sound familiar? Nelson takes me on a late afternoon game drive. The pace is much more leisurely here, quite a contrast from the intensity of my experience the last few days with Susannah. We stop for a sundowner in the middle of the savannah and witness the best sunset yet of the trip before heading back for a bucket shower and dinner.
The drill here is game drive at the slightly more reasonable hour of 6:30, back at camp for a hearty brunch at 11. Then you are expected to retire to your tent for an afternoon nap until tea time at 3 and then out for a game drive at 4. I'm down with the program except for the nap which seems impossible in the heat. Our sundowner tonight was a truly unique experience. Somehow Nelson spots a dead zebra in a bush. We go to explore and discover a large male lion working on the carcass. A female lion is sleeping outside the bush. Two jackals stand at attention at a safe distance waiting for an opportunity to score some leftovers. We can hear hyena as well. The sun is setting so we break out the wine and nibbles in the car and enjoy the movie until it gets dark and we have to head back to camp.
Day 15
I take it back that there is less game here. This morning we have an amazing game drive. First off we spy the male lion leaving the bush, his stomach notably distended. He has probably spent the night eating his kill and warding off any possible scavengers. Inside two female lions are now working on the carcass. We are close enough to hear the crunch of bones as they tear into the zebra. They pull the carcass deeper into the shadow of the bushes and then flop down beside it. Nelson gets word on the radio of a leopard sighting so we bushwhack up the hills to the leopard's territory. We never see the leopard but we do see his prey, a large male impala, which the leopard has dragged halfway up a tree for safe keeping, probably earlier in the morning. The strength and cunning of this animal is amazing. Later in the morning we see a parade of stately giraffes moving slowly across the plains. There is one baby who looks like an F.A.O Schwartz stuffed animal come to life. We see a huge herd of antelopes, buffaloes, topis, zebras. Right before getting back to camp we see a male and female ostrich walking with 10 newly hatched chicks. The baby ostriches are instantly recognizable but so small they look like windup toys that some one has set out in the grass.
Instead of an afternoon game drive, Nelson and I head out to his village to meet his family and see his project. First stop is the site of the new village he is moving to at the end of the month. A few traditional mud houses, low and dark, are under construction but a large fenced boma or circular pen for the villager's cattle is already completed. Now the amazing part starts. Nelson, already an outstanding wildlife and nature guide who can spot a lion hiding in the tall grass and can identify every bird large and small that flies by, reveals himself to be an ambitious entrepreneur, a dedicated community activist, a real estate developer and a visionary with plans for the future. He has bought ten heifers each of whom in another year will be able to produce 10 liters of milk per day in as opposed to the 2 or 3 liters per day that cattle traditionally raised by the Masai produce. His plan is to sell the excess milk not needed by his family. He has fenced in about 25 acres of grazing land for his cattle, planted trees all along the fencing and has hired someone to live on the property and take care of his cattle. His wife is building a traditional home for the family at the new village but he also has developed a separate compound for them that includes an outdoor toilet and washing area, an outdoor kitchen and storeroom and a regular house with three sleeping rooms, a main room and a sweet little porch off the front door. When finished, the house will have a rain catchment system feeding into two tanks at either end of the house and a solar panel that can power his computer and provide light at night.
By this time, I am completely awestruck but there is more. Within the grounds, he has planted small saplings so eventually there will be trees and shade. Of course, all of this-- the cattle project, the trees, any future decelopment--depend on a regular supply of water, not an easy job in the Mara where there are frequent and severe droughts. But here too Nelson as a plan. There is a depression in the land immediately beyond the far side of his grazing ground and it is there that he wants to build a dam or watering hole. The water would be piped into a drinking trough for the cattle; his trees of which he so proud would be easily watered and the women in the village would not have to trek to the river for water. Last but not least I am sure, he wants to plant an organic vegetable patch next to the dam since fresh vegetables are difficult to obtain, often filled with chemicals and go bad very quickly in the heat.
Finally we leave and go to old village where his wife and four children are waiting along with several other women and a whole pack of kids. The men are out tending the cattle and other livestock. They were planning to slaughter a goat in my honor but fortunately Nelson alerted them that I am a vegetarian. We crowd into the small, dark and not too pleasant smelling mud hut for initial introductions. The baby, nearly a year old, cries when he first sees me. The second youngest, also a boy, sits on Nelson's lap, his arms tightly wrapped around his neck. The oldest is a boy as well, very quiet and observant. The daughter, the second oldest, is a real live wire, full of charm and personality and not the least bit bashful. We walk hand in hand out to the sun and then into a smaller version of the new house Nelson is building. There is a sofa and two chairs and a small table in the main room. Three posters are tacked up on the walls--an English alphabet, a guide to wild animals and something about Jesus. His wife presents me with yet more beaded bracelets and two elaborately beaded belts. I tale a bunch of pictures--the daughter wants to be in every one of course--and then we leave. I am exhausted but exhilarated. I wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of lions roaring and sure enough on the morning game drive we come across a pride of some 13 lions quite close to the camp, a fitting end to my African adventure.
Day 1
We get off the small plane at Lewa where Susannah lives and are immediately in another world. Grazing near the air strip are giraffe, gazelles, zebra. Before getting to the house we stop at a dam because Susannah has heard there are elephants in the water there. We arrive just in time to see a family wading ponderously but with a certain grace up from their mud bath. Susannah is a trip--full of energy, passionate about the elephants and Africa and filled with all sorts of random information about everything we are seeing. Her house is amazing, overwhelming. Huge thatched roofs, heavy timbers and a museum's worth of African tribal art. After lunch on the veranda she takes us on a game drive. She wrestles with the steering wheel while Dixon, the spotter, stands in the back of the car looking over the landscape. They communicate in both English and Swahili. It is so beautiful here--rolling hills covered with tall grasses, and occasional groups of yellow fever trees, and in the far distance blue tinted mountains. Every once in a while we get a glimpse of Mt. Kenya's snow covered peak. We are at 6000 feet and the climate up here is close to ideal--warm and clear during the day and delightfully cool at night--perfect sleeping weather.
Day 2
After breakfast on the veranda we pile into the car for another game drive through the wildlife reserve. We stop the car alongside a herd of elephants--lots of mothers and children and a few old bulls. Susanna puts on a tape of Yo Yo Ma claiming that the elephants like to listen to the cello. Who knows but we are able to sit in the car with the elephants close by without any problem. Later on the drive we sight two black rhinos, an endangered species. These we give a wide berth to since they are notoriously aggressive. We don't get back to the house until 2:30 and eat lunch very late at 3:30. Close to six we head out in the car again to have drinks on a hill with a view of the sunset. The ride is beyond bumpy and we never make it to the hill in time. Instead we pull up to a dam but quickly backtrack when two ornery black rhinos come by. We wind up drinking wine and eating soup in front of the fire at the house.
Day 3
Susannah is hard core. We are out of the house by 6AM for our ten minute flight to Samburu. We've packed breakfast which we eat after our arrival on the river bank surrounded by what seems like hundreds of elephants. Lots of babies still learning to use their trunks, young males wrestling and dueling with their tusks. We spend at least an hour watching the interplay among the elephants. We get to Elephant Watch camp in time for a delicious al fresco lunch. Then with Susanna at the wheel we head for another game drive. We track a leopard for awhile but the real thrill occurs on the way back to camp in the later afternoon when we see three lions laying in the dry river bed looking very regal and supremely self confident. We turn off the truck and patiently wait for them to get up. As the sky darkens, we follow them slowly as they proceed down to the river for a drink. Then they disappear into the bush and we head for camp. Dinner is served under a tree along the banks of the river. The moon is nearly full and there are a zillion stars. It's truly a magical scene made even more so by our hosts, Ian and Oria Douglas-Hamilton. He is the head of Save the Elephants, an organization which does research on elephants and is heavily involved in anti poaching activities. Oria runs the camp and has an organic farm which supplies the camp with all its produce. They are both incredibly charming with lots of interesting stories about their work and their life in Kenya. I feel very lucky to be staying here.
Day 4
Today was a marathon, exhausting but really rewarding. Once again, Susanna has us on the road at 6AM before the sun is up. After an hour's drive to Buffalo Springs, an adjacent game park, we stop at the springs to eat breakfast. Later in the morning we start tracking a cheetah. She is walking slowly but purposefully and obviously looking for something to eat. Suddenly she sprints raising a huge plume of dust in her wake. She has spotted a hare which is now zigging and zagging trying to get away but the cheetah is much too fast. In what seems like just a few seconds she pounces on her prey and then walks into the bush with the hare hanging from her mouth, presumably to find a shady spot to eat her lunch in peace. Watching this drama is totally exhilarating--the explosiveness of the cheetah going after the hare gives us all an adrenaline rush. We calm down by parking next to a tree full of noisy baboons. They seem to be constantly fighting and shrieking at each other, running up and down the tree branches, leaping from one tree to another or chasing each other on the ground. Further down the river we pull up to a shady spot, sit on the roof of the car and eat lunch. Later that afternoon, our spotter Bernard finds two lions with cubs resting in the tall grass. They are obviously hungry. We watch them begin to stalk a zebra and a gazelle but suddenly they are noticed and run off. Bernard, our spotter, anticipates where they are going and we maneuver ourselves to a spot where we can see them again. There are waterbuck in the distance, a likely meal but again they botch their approach. Oh well, we head back to camp and dinner again under the moon and stars.
Day 5
The highlight of this day is the night--our first real sundowner. We drive to the top of a hill in time to watch the sun plummet behind the mountains as a nearly full moon rises over the plains below. The warriors build a fire by rubbing two sticks together over dried elephant dung. The stars come out as we drink wine. We drive back to the lodge accompanied by Masai warriors singing songs of triumph. A great night.
Day 6
Like obedient children, we wake up at 5:30 and get on the road at 6, looking for leopards or lions. No such luck this morning but there is something special about watching the landscape change as the sun rises over the hills. By this time I am inured to the bumps and have pretty much gone into a zen state. We take a 15 minute flight north to our next stop, Sarara Lodge. The lodge feels like a private home, which it was once. The setting is magnificent. You look out to the mountains of the Matthew Range. There's a watering hole below the lodge and you can sit on the rocks and watch the elephants drink and bathe. There are other guests here--3 older British couples who are straight out of central casting. I say older but they are probably my age. I love listening to them talk in their very plummy accents. I am about to get a massage on the veranda of the tent I am sharing with Midge. Our tent is set above the main lodge and I can stare out at the plains and the mountains. I just know that Steve would park himself on a chair outside and only come down for meals. "Why would anyone want to leave here?," he'd say. By the way, the massage costs $15 for an hour. I don't even care if it's good. Tonight the moon will be full. I can just imagine what it will be like to sit on the rocks below the lodge, a glass of wine in hand as we watch the elephants come up to the watering hole.
Day 8 and 9
We leave the calm and serenity and the late wake up call at Sarara and fly back to Lewa where we are on a MISSION! Our goal is to find Drachma, a female in the Currency Family so she can be fitted with a collar with GPS that will allow researchers to study her migration patterns. Susannah is back in her element, driving like a madwoman, bushwhacking off the roads to locate Drachma so the team can do the collar. Finally after a bruising roller coaster ride up and down the plains we find her but it is too late in the afternoon for the research team to drive down from Samburu and the vet is no where to be found. We make a plan to reassemble in the morning. Next day we are on the road by 6:30 in search of Drachma once again. Amazingly, since she already wears an old collar the researchers in Samburu can locate her on Google Earth. We find her, have a quick breakfast in the bush alongside her family and then head back to the office of the Lewa Conservancy to meet the rest of the team and get organized. That's where the fun begins. The vet who is the only who can legally shoot the tranquilizing dart is late and we are still needing a guy with gun as a safety precaution. Finally after about hour, the caravan gets rolling. Midge, Rosemary and I are in the rear with Dixon, Susannah's Masai spotter; Susannah, naturally, is in the lead car with David, one of the researchers; a second car holds two more researchers and the actual collar, a long, thick leather strap with a square metal box holding the device bolted at the top. In front of us is the vet who brandishes a wicked looking dart gun out the window. Sitting in the rear of his car is our guard, his gun at the ready. We head out to where we saw Drachma earlier in the morning but she has gone. There is much gnashing of the teeth since the vet needs to be somewhere at 10 and it is now past 9. The caravan splits up and starts searching the area. David and Susannah find her along with the vet but the car with the actual collar is elsewhere. We are lurking in the rear waiting for the go ahead that it is safe to come close. The vet shoots a large orange dart into Drachma's butt, a huge mistake since the car with the collar is still not on site. Dixon is sent to locate the missing car. We hightail it out of there but shortly return once they have been found; the elephant is laying unconscious on its side and the team is busy fastening the collar around her neck. This all takes about 15 minutes during which the elephant is bathed constantly with water to keep her from being dehydrated. Let me tell you, it is an awesome sight to see this huge animal with long, thick ivory tusks laying totally out of it on the ground before us. Intrepid traveler that I am, I get out of the car for an eyewitness view. When the collar is securely fastened and the GPS device tested, we get back into the cars. The vet injects her behind the ear with an antidote. In just a few minutes, Drachma's ears begin to flap and she slowly lumbers to her feet looking a little disoriented. Then she wanders off to find the rest of her family. Mission accomplished! The whole team--minus the vet and the gun-- head back to Susannah's house for lunch.
Later in the afternoon, Susannah, Rosemary, Midge and I take on another mission--distributing small clay cook stoves--jikos--to the women in the village within Lewa. These cook stoves will use significantly less wood than an open fire, cutting down on the time the women must spend foraging wood and, even more importantly, hopefully reducing the depletion of the surrounding forests. The women line up to receive the cook stoves. There are speeches to explain the importance of the stoves and many thank yous to Susannah who has bought the stoves. Lots of singing and dancing conclude the event. Before driving home we stop off at the local school where the headmaster walks us through a few classrooms. The kids are adorable and incredibly polite but the classrooms are really shabby and the kids' uniforms threadbare. Tomorrow early we head for the Mara and more marathon game drives.
Day 10 and 11 and 12
A hour long flight and we are in the Mara. For most people the Mara is all about the animals and it is truly amazing to see the diversity and beauty of African wildlife. There are herds and herds of op art zebras galloping or standing at attention as if in some weird tableau; wildebeest, a most bizarre looking creature with spindly legs, buffalo like horns and long solemn faces with grey beards that make them long like frisky old men, running in chaotic circles; all kinds of antelopes from delicate Thomson gazelles to elegant impala and sturdy topis, all coexisting quite nicely it seems; giraffe quietly munching on the tops of trees; ugly warthogs with mean looking tusks, long snouts and thin tails that fly straight up like a flag when they run; all kinds of birds, large and small in every combination of color and size; elephants of course and sinister looking hyena looking for a carcass to scavenge; huge pods of hippos submerged in the water with only their eyes and ears above the water line. I couldn't begin to remember all the species we have seen on our Susannah mandated 13 hour(!) game drives. And then there are the cats. We've seen lions hunting, lions mating, lions sleeping, lion cubs playing. We've seen a cheetah with her cub, cheetahs on the prowl for a meal and seen a cheetah and her cub gnawing on the hindquarters of their kill. We've seen at total of five leopards, supposedly a rare achievement, one resting at the bottom of a tree after hauling her kill some 25 feet up for safe keeping. Our success is due to the incredible sighting skills of our Masai spotters none of whom wear glasses but who can spot the flick of an ear or tail of animal in the tall grass or up in a tree far, far away and lead us right to it. All this has been fantastic, of course. But for me the real attraction is the landscape--sweeping plains of tall grass punctuated here and there by flat top acacia trees and covered by a sky that goes on forever. Everyone is snapping away and yes I take pictures as well but I am also perfectly happy standing in the truck watching the wind and sun play over the red oak grass which stretches forever in every direction. I love watching the sun come up over the hills at dawn and slowly bring color to the landscape. In the afternoon, the sun burns everything with a harsh, white light. Billowing clouds in constantly changing patterns are stretched against the blue, making the sky seem like a whole other continent to explore. Then there's early evening when a red hot sun falls like a rock behind the hills and you can watch the light show out in the open.
Day 13 and 14
I get to sleep in today since I am leaving the group and going on to another camp in the Mara where Nelson, the guide we met six years ago on our family trip to Africa, now works. He picks me up in late morning and we drive for about two hours past grazing cattle and goats and occasional villages to the the Nashaibo Conservancy where the camp is located. There is much less game here but the vistas are astounding and, best of all there are no other cars around. The tall red gold grass blowing in the wind reminds me of the wheat fields of Tuscany. Amazingly as soon as we arrive at the conservancy, we see three cheetah, a mother and two cubs all with full bellies, resting in the shade of a thorn bush. We watch as the mother carefully walks around the perimeter of the bush making sure all is safe before she plops down on the ground for a nap next to her already sleeping cubs. The camp is very new and lacks the vibe and style of the other camps I've stayed at but my tent is ultra comfortable and looks directly out at the plains. The resident managers are a sweet young couple--she is Kenyan and all into organic gardening and he is from the Canary Islands and likes nothing more than to brag about his solar panels and batteries. Sound familiar? Nelson takes me on a late afternoon game drive. The pace is much more leisurely here, quite a contrast from the intensity of my experience the last few days with Susannah. We stop for a sundowner in the middle of the savannah and witness the best sunset yet of the trip before heading back for a bucket shower and dinner.
The drill here is game drive at the slightly more reasonable hour of 6:30, back at camp for a hearty brunch at 11. Then you are expected to retire to your tent for an afternoon nap until tea time at 3 and then out for a game drive at 4. I'm down with the program except for the nap which seems impossible in the heat. Our sundowner tonight was a truly unique experience. Somehow Nelson spots a dead zebra in a bush. We go to explore and discover a large male lion working on the carcass. A female lion is sleeping outside the bush. Two jackals stand at attention at a safe distance waiting for an opportunity to score some leftovers. We can hear hyena as well. The sun is setting so we break out the wine and nibbles in the car and enjoy the movie until it gets dark and we have to head back to camp.
Day 15
I take it back that there is less game here. This morning we have an amazing game drive. First off we spy the male lion leaving the bush, his stomach notably distended. He has probably spent the night eating his kill and warding off any possible scavengers. Inside two female lions are now working on the carcass. We are close enough to hear the crunch of bones as they tear into the zebra. They pull the carcass deeper into the shadow of the bushes and then flop down beside it. Nelson gets word on the radio of a leopard sighting so we bushwhack up the hills to the leopard's territory. We never see the leopard but we do see his prey, a large male impala, which the leopard has dragged halfway up a tree for safe keeping, probably earlier in the morning. The strength and cunning of this animal is amazing. Later in the morning we see a parade of stately giraffes moving slowly across the plains. There is one baby who looks like an F.A.O Schwartz stuffed animal come to life. We see a huge herd of antelopes, buffaloes, topis, zebras. Right before getting back to camp we see a male and female ostrich walking with 10 newly hatched chicks. The baby ostriches are instantly recognizable but so small they look like windup toys that some one has set out in the grass.
Instead of an afternoon game drive, Nelson and I head out to his village to meet his family and see his project. First stop is the site of the new village he is moving to at the end of the month. A few traditional mud houses, low and dark, are under construction but a large fenced boma or circular pen for the villager's cattle is already completed. Now the amazing part starts. Nelson, already an outstanding wildlife and nature guide who can spot a lion hiding in the tall grass and can identify every bird large and small that flies by, reveals himself to be an ambitious entrepreneur, a dedicated community activist, a real estate developer and a visionary with plans for the future. He has bought ten heifers each of whom in another year will be able to produce 10 liters of milk per day in as opposed to the 2 or 3 liters per day that cattle traditionally raised by the Masai produce. His plan is to sell the excess milk not needed by his family. He has fenced in about 25 acres of grazing land for his cattle, planted trees all along the fencing and has hired someone to live on the property and take care of his cattle. His wife is building a traditional home for the family at the new village but he also has developed a separate compound for them that includes an outdoor toilet and washing area, an outdoor kitchen and storeroom and a regular house with three sleeping rooms, a main room and a sweet little porch off the front door. When finished, the house will have a rain catchment system feeding into two tanks at either end of the house and a solar panel that can power his computer and provide light at night.
By this time, I am completely awestruck but there is more. Within the grounds, he has planted small saplings so eventually there will be trees and shade. Of course, all of this-- the cattle project, the trees, any future decelopment--depend on a regular supply of water, not an easy job in the Mara where there are frequent and severe droughts. But here too Nelson as a plan. There is a depression in the land immediately beyond the far side of his grazing ground and it is there that he wants to build a dam or watering hole. The water would be piped into a drinking trough for the cattle; his trees of which he so proud would be easily watered and the women in the village would not have to trek to the river for water. Last but not least I am sure, he wants to plant an organic vegetable patch next to the dam since fresh vegetables are difficult to obtain, often filled with chemicals and go bad very quickly in the heat.
Finally we leave and go to old village where his wife and four children are waiting along with several other women and a whole pack of kids. The men are out tending the cattle and other livestock. They were planning to slaughter a goat in my honor but fortunately Nelson alerted them that I am a vegetarian. We crowd into the small, dark and not too pleasant smelling mud hut for initial introductions. The baby, nearly a year old, cries when he first sees me. The second youngest, also a boy, sits on Nelson's lap, his arms tightly wrapped around his neck. The oldest is a boy as well, very quiet and observant. The daughter, the second oldest, is a real live wire, full of charm and personality and not the least bit bashful. We walk hand in hand out to the sun and then into a smaller version of the new house Nelson is building. There is a sofa and two chairs and a small table in the main room. Three posters are tacked up on the walls--an English alphabet, a guide to wild animals and something about Jesus. His wife presents me with yet more beaded bracelets and two elaborately beaded belts. I tale a bunch of pictures--the daughter wants to be in every one of course--and then we leave. I am exhausted but exhilarated. I wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of lions roaring and sure enough on the morning game drive we come across a pride of some 13 lions quite close to the camp, a fitting end to my African adventure.
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