Day 20: Of Orphaned Elephants and Kissing Giraffes

Had a leisurely morning and left the Hotel at 10AM. Arrived at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust at the edge of Nairobi just before 11AM. This organization is committed to the conservation, preservation, and protection of wildlife. They are recognized experts in the rescue and rearing of elephant and rhino orphans until they can be released back into the wild. It is a monumental task requiring amazing dedication and skill. The BBC has filmed its award winning program the Elephant Chronicles here. The program follows the lives of elephants from their initial rescue and rehabilitation to their release and eventual integration back into a wild herd.

The baby elephants have horrific backgrounds that brought them to this place. Many have been hurt, seen their families hunted down and killed, or were injured or ill and finally fell behind their family and had their mothers make the agonizing decision to stay with the safety of the herd and leave the tiny baby behind. The babies then survived a few horrific days alone without their families while hyenas chewed off their tails and they wandered alone and afraid. The Kenyan Wildlife Service often was the first to spot them and the Sheldrick Trust was called into to rescue them.

A baby elephant can only last about 5 days without nursing so many of the babies were often in terrible shape when they were brought in. The baby spends much of its time wandering under the larger members of the herd. It is here, beneath the bellies of its family that the little one finds protection from the elements and an all-important source of shade. Without this protection from the intense equatorial sun, many of the rescued babies had lost parts of their ears to severe sunburn.

Even once rescued and its wounds and physical needs of formula and shelter are attended to, the baby is still at extreme risk for the psychological needs of the babies must also be met. Having undergone extreme emotional stress, the babies often go into a deep depression. To counter this and help give the elephants the sense of family they require, the handles are constantly with them to provide this critical emotional support.

We looked into the stalls where the babies were kept at night. Each stall had a clean hay bed for the baby and a mattress for the handler who spends literally 24 hours a day tending for their charge. Handlers are rotated frequently so the babies don’t become too attached to a single individual. There is only a single one-hour-long public feeding per day, which we witnessed. The rest of the time is spent in sleep, feedings, and walks with their handlers through Nairobi National Park where they will eventually be released to join the wild herds there. There will come a day about two years off, when the little orphan decides it would rather live with its wild family. Each baby in its own time determines when it is finally time to leave its human family. The staff said it was not unusual for adult elephants to return to visit years after their orphanage experience. The elephants really never forget the gentle care and kindness provided by their surrogate family here.

For more information on this amazing program go to: http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/

Day 19: Farewell to the Mara

Up by 5 with coffee and hot milk delivered to our tent with the now familiar “ode” (good morning) We quickly packed, had breakfast at 7:30 and I was out for a quick visit to see the progress on the hammerkop’s nest in Double Gorge. The light was beautiful, softly filtered by a high layer of clouds, perfect for photography.

The industrious pair of hammerkops was still industriously building their nest. Every few minute another twig, stick, or mouthful of dry grass was fetched, and it was all woven carefully woven into a beautifully tight basket-like nest. It was amazing the progress over the last few days, but they still have nearly a month and a half before their nest-building task is done. Then the eggs will be laid, hatch, and the real work of raising the kids begins. We searched for lions in the luggas on the way back to camp and found none. It was an unusually quiet morning that matched my mood. It will be hard to leave this place. The Maasai Mara, the spotted landscape, an unrelentingly real place as magic as dream. It is here that the veneer of life seems to be peeled back and the true nature of this land is exposed. This place transcends words, it exceeds expectations, it amazes and amuses, and above all else it is as raw and real as it is beautiful.

We returned to the Camp for lunch, gathered our bags and loaded into the Land Cruiser one last time for a drive into the National Park to the landing strip. From the strip’ we could look out across the tall golden grass and watch the elephant herd moving slowly down to the lugga to drink. The world was moving in the slow deliberate cadence of life on the Mara at midday. There always seems to be a hush at midday and the long stretched warm afternoons. Predators sleep, prey rests and a tranquil calm settles in over the land. I will miss this place so.

The single–engine plane arrived as a white buzzing dot on the horizon flying out of the towering thunderheads set against blue skies to the south - my stomach tightened. I only had a few minutes left to stand on the Mara.

The plane landed, we loaded our gear onto it and climbed aboard. I moved forward in the 12 seater and settled in behind the pilot. Once aboard the pilot turned to me and said, “Would you like to see Wildebeest?” “Yes! You bet! “I answered enthusiastically. Anything to see more of this precious place and to delay the return to Nairobi, I thought.

So the pilot took off headed farther north toward Tanzania and the Serengeti to see the first of the wildebeest migration coming into the Mara. The vast savannah, as far as the eye, could see was spotted with luggas, herds of elephant, zebras, gazelle and impala, bomas, Maasai with their tightly bunched cattle herds, and with the occasional lone thorn tree. After one massive deep gliding turn, we looked down through the aircrafts windows and saw thousands, upon thousands of wildebeest. It looked like an aerial view of black ants sprinkled across the ground. Some wildebeest were gathered in herds while others were making their way along the game trails in long winding single-file lines. The migration had begun in Tanzania’s Serengeti and would soon reach the savannahs of Kenya’s Maasai Mara.

After one long last look, we steeply banked the plane to the right and headed back toward Nairobi, 45 minutes to the south. Landed at Nairobi at about 6PM. We were met by our driver, Anthony, and taken on a wild, death defying ride through traffic of downtown Nairobi at rush hour. It was the first time in two and a half weeks that I felt nervous in a vehicle. Pedestrians streamed across the road, cars darted in and out, vendors walked along the cars stopped during the massive congestion selling everything from sunglasses, and Mickey Mouse plush toys to grapefruit and passport covers. We were, at last, back in “civilization.” How I longed for the Mara and its congestion of zebras and wildebeest and having to patiently wait for “pedestrians” while a family of elephants crossed within a few yards of us or a group of lions wandered along side of the truck.

Made it to the Fairview Hotel and checked in. Tonight the night fell on the Masai Mara without us. I spent the night dreaming of wild places, of predator and prey, of a giraffe illuminated by the golden light of sunset and dramatically set against black storm clouds, of lions hunting, of impalas snorting their warnings, of fish eagles preening in the arms of a candelabra tree, and of young lion cubs learning the rules of the hunt.

Day 18: The Mara Triangle

Our time has gone so fast. It’s just hard to believe that we are down to our last full safari day. We decided to go into the Mara Triangle National Park to look for rhinos.

There are only a few rhinos left in the area so chances are slim for success. No luck today, but it seemed we saw everything else; elephant families feeding in the lugga, cheetahs hunting in the tall golden grass, Topi on the termite mounds, large slow moving herds of giraffe, big muscular waterbuck males locking horns in the marsh, zebras rolling in the dust, crowned cranes drinking at an ephemeral pond, secretary birds stomping on their prey before snapping it up, Hammerkop hunting catfish in a shallow creek, and a black-breasted fish eagle at its nest in an alien-looking candelabra tree.

Everywhere you looked, everywhere you turned, there was something amazing, something memorable, and something beautiful. It will be hard to pack up tomorrow, take that final game drive, and board the plane to leave the Mara. However, we are still in the middle of an immense today. I am consciously trying to soak it all in and record memories that I will draw from later when I return home. I don’t want to forget the awe that I have felt for this place or the overpowering sense of wonder.

We decided it was time for lunch so we headed toward the shade of a lone acacia tree within a few hundred feet of the border with Tanzania. It was one of the few places in the park, for that matter in the region, with a picnic table. We had decided on a rather civilized location for our last bush lunch.

We pulled up to the tables and realized lunch at the table was not to be - there seemed to be an insurmountable problem. There in the cool shade of the acacia were two beautiful tables constructed from stone and concrete all right but the difficulty came from the fact that there were also two very large lions sleeping on them. The lions each had claimed their own personal table. They exceeded the length of the table so their tails hung off at one end and their head and front legs drooped over the other. The cats slept soundly in a deep contented, full-bellied, sleep and were totally mindless of the land cruiser, and its astonished passengers, which were parked only a few feet from them. I took the opportunity to take reference photos of footpads, tail, fur, and face details and then we searched elsewhere for a place to have lunch.

On our way back through the park we stopped for two mating lions at the side of the road. The lion’s idea of courtship is a bit more radical than that of most humans. The first male that gets to a female in heat becomes her consort, which handily eliminates the wear and tear of fighting among the strong males. The happy couple then leaves the pride for 4-7 days during which time they mate, on average, 2.2 times per hour and in the case of the lions we watched it can occur 4-5 times per hour. The actual act of mating lasts less than a minute after which they promptly lie down and sleep only to wake up from their nap in a few minutes and do it all again. Only one estrus in 5 results in a pregnancy; cubs are born 14-15 weeks later.

A female with cubs will not be ready to breed again for 20-30 months after the birth. Because of this if the pride is taken over by a new male the newcomer will often kill all the pride’s cubs. As soon as the cubs are gone the female will come into heat again. This infanticide is a brutal but very effective means of ensuring that the dominant male’s genes are passed on and the previous male’s are not.

Throughout the afternoon as we drove we watched towering columns of white cumulous clouds building on the horizon. Finally by late afternoon the clouds coalesced into threatening grey sky then collapsed into the thick black of a very healthy, very intense, storm. Splashing through flood waters, crawling the truck over rocky roads and slipping and sliding through the Mara mud, Dixon expertly returned us to camp by 6 pm in time for a hot shower, warm dinner, and our last night at the camp.

Day 17: Breakfast with the Pride

Out onto the savannah of the conservancy to watch the sunrise. In the cool dawn twilight, the shadows of the scrub forests of thorny Acacia trees soon gave way to the infinite views and wide-open spaces of the heavily grazed grasslands. The short grass and absence of shrubs provided no cover for the vast numbers of grazing gazelles, zebras, and wildebeest, but it instead proves to be a great advantage to the prey by failing to provide much cover for a stalking predator.

As the dawn light grew stronger on the horizon, we were lucky enough to see one of the more elusive predators on the savannah, the bat-eared fox. This little nocturnal fox is a bit smaller than our North American gray fox but with huge oversized bat-like ears which give the species its name. With those big ears, it can hear the stirrings of its favorite prey, termites and other invertebrates, deep underground. Once prey is located, it uses its well-developed claws and stout forefeet to dig them out.

We entered Masai Mara National Park by 8AM and found the Marsh Pride lions again, this time in the tall grass near the road. Most were sleeping, barely twitching, with fat, full bellies that told of their recent successful hunt. The big male with a dark full mane stirred in his sleep and rolled over just along side the remnants of their kill, a baby Cape buffalo. Just yesterday we had seen Cape buffalos successfully defending a calf. The lions apparently had returned and this time they were successful. The dance of predator and prey, of life and death continues with each day.

The big male lion slowly rose to his feet, reached out his two front paws, lowered his shoulders and slowly, in a posture known to any domestic cat lover, he stretched hard, long, and ever so luxuriously. He turned toward us, considered us for a moment with sleepy eyes, and easily dragged the 200 pound carcass of the baby buffalo farther into the grass.

We later watched a pair of silver - backed jackals cautiously work their way into a group of Thompson’s Gazelles. Twice before on this trip we had seen jackals take newborn Tommys so we waited and watched, and wondered about the outcome. The Tommys spotted the hunting jackals and two adults female gazelles, put their heads down, aimed their little 6-inch horns towards the intruders and charged at full speed. The jackals knew it was a good time to retreat and came running at full blast out of the grass at the side of the road with the gazelles racing close behind and closing. The jackals nearly ran under our truck to escape and the gazelles having safely defended their babies stopped short of the truck by a few yards and watched intently, stomping and pawing at the ground as the jackals trotted off into the grass at the other side of the road and disappeared.

After a fine bush lunch we spent the rest of the day photographing what ever came our way during our travels: baboons, Maasai giraffe, Kori bustard, secretary birds, Cape buffalo, augur eagle, elephant, ring-necked dove, spotted hyena, silver-backed jackal, crowned crane, black-breasted snake eagles, a variety of vultures, elephants, banded mongoose, Vervet monkey, lilac-breasted roller, gray-backed shrike, and the now commonplace, almost ignored, assortment of pipits, longclaws, larks, plovers, gazelles, impala, zebras, topi, and wildebeest.

Day 16: A Lion Chase

We were out at 6 AM and immediately came across two jackals picking over the carcass of a Hartebeest. The silver-backed jackals are a common scavenger of the area, although 80% of their food is actually from predation. Prey includes insects, small birds, hares, and as we had seen on other days, they often successfully prey upon newborn gazelles. Jackals are about the size and shape of our gray fox, slender in form, agile in motion, and quick to dart into a kill and grab a few tidbits from right beneath the nose of a feeding lion or hyena. Today the pickings were easy. The jackals were the only ones feeding this morning, not even the raucous vultures had shown up there yet.

We turned southward toward Masai Mara National Park and entered through the main station gates. We spent several hours watching a lone cheetah. First she was just resting in the tall grass, but as we continued to watch, we saw a lone Thompson’s gazelle grazing hundreds of yards from the rest of the herd gradually moving toward her. Good news for a hungry cheetah - bad news for the Tommy. The cheetah, barely visible crouched down in the dense waist-high grass, began stalking the young gazelle. A cheetah is one of the fastest animals on land, reaching speeds of nearly 70 miles per hour while chasing down prey, but the cheetah has its limitations. It can only sprint that fast for 300 yards before depleting it’s body of oxygen and exhausting itself. We watched as the cheetah worked its way closer and closer to get within range. Suddenly she exploded in an all-out sprint. The gazelle responded in an erratic bounding race for survival and came careening toward our truck. The little gazelle was lucky today. The cheetah was not.

We later watched a large herd of Cape buffalos that were half hidden in the tall grass down near the lugga. The Cape buffalo, with its massive build, can weigh nearly 2,000 pounds and stand over 5 feet at the shoulder. It is one of the fiercest animals the savannah has to offer. Healthy adults are vulnerable only to lions and only if they are separated from the group and taken by surprise. Today part of the Marsh Pride was checking out the availability of calf meat and the young male lions approached the buffalos a little too close.

Amazingly, as we watched, the buffalos charged them and the lions began running at top speed to escape. In the herd, a healthy adult Cape buffalo is generally too dangerous for a lion to bring down, but the babies are a favorite prey. However, the lions risk a mobbing attack by the female buffalos if they threaten a baby. Buffalo attacks can result in not only insult, but injury, or even death of the lion. Even a lion must be careful. Nothing is a sure thing for a predator and the Mara is seldom forgiving. Today, the lions and the Cape buffalo soon went their separate ways but the conflict is sure to be resumed another day.

Day 15: Visiting the Clan

We were up by five and to the Land Cruiser by 6 ready to head out into the morning mists of the savannah. Got up to the wide-open savannah in time to see the sun thundering up into a clear, cloudless sky. Wildebeest and Impala were silhouetted black against the heavy orange globe as it hung for a moment on the horizon. As the sun rose quickly, the hills blushed lilac and the daystar’s heat burned off the morning ground fog and lifted the dew from its quiet night of rest on the grass and leaves. Another day had begun on the Mara.

We saw 6 spotted hyena cubs and 3 adult females at their clan’s communal den. The babies are cute but apparently quite fierce. Born with incisors and canines, they swiftly eliminate their same-sex competition within their litter. Generally 25% of the young cubs are killed in the first month of life due to same-sex sibling rivalry.

Several weeks after birth in a secluded den, the female moves the young to a communal den that can be shared by as many as 10 females. The den is a social gathering place for them and their dependent offspring, but the members seldom offer communal care or suckling. In the golden light of dawn, we watched one female continently suckle her young only a few yards away from our vehicle.

It’s hard to believe that these cute little cubs will grow up to be one of Africa’s most formidable predators with the strength and cunning to pull down and kill a healthy 500 pound bull wildebeest, an animal nearly 3x their size.

As the sun rose higher in the sky we continued on to Double Gorge to photograph the Hammerkop nest building in the morning light. The pair was still working hard, tirelessly searching the gorge for sticks ands grass then transporting them back to the nest where they were then carefully and expertly woven into the emerging structure.

We took the rest of the morning to visit the local market at Aiton, a village about an hour away. Every Friday the village serves as the major local Maasai market for the region. It was not a tourist market but rather a combination local market and livestock auction. There were crowds of Maasai there with their traditional brightly colored robes and jewelry selling their cattle, sheep, and goats. The price negotiations and bargaining among the men looked to be loud and intense. Other areas were loosely fenced off and set aside for the sale of food supplies – vegetables, sugar cane, potatoes, onions, yams, spices, bananas and cabbages.

In still other areas there was a visual cacophony of brightly colored displays of clothes and cloth. Still other areas had nearly anything you could think of for sale - car parts, dishes, pots and pans, water bottles, and the ubiquitous sandals made from recycled tires. The recycled tire sandals are the preferred footwear of the Maasai. They swear by the sandals since the stout thorns of the acacia that can often penetrate the soles of boots and tennis shoes will seldom penetrate the sole of these stout sandals.

We returned to Serian Camp for lunch and opted to stay in camp for the rest of the day. It proved to be a wise decision. We were able to enjoy an intense afternoon thunderstorm deluge from the luxury of our warm dry tent.

The hippos and lions were noisy in the night with much energetic snorting, bellowing, roaring, and growling going on - all with a background chorus of crickets and frogs in the moonless night. The land was gently illuminated by fireflies and starlight. I slept well.

Day 14: Hunting at Dawn

Out by 6:00 am and began hunting for lions at dawn. After enjoying another spectacular sunrise, we drove on down toward the dense trees and shrubs of a lugga near camp. There we found a female lion and two cubs that must have been just a few months old. The two little ones were young enough to still be clumsy and have a long time of education and practice needed before they possess the power and grace of an adult lion. The mom was leading them through the tall grass, and we watched as the cubs played, rolled, and pounced. She led them to a tree that had been pushed over by elephants. One end of the fallen tree was about eight feet off the ground and was still being supported by its shattered stump. Agilely she jumped up onto the log and seemed to encourage the little ones to follow. It was hard to contain our laughter as the cubs kept slipping and rolling off the log. Mom seemed to give up on her agility training for the cubs and began to lead them down to water. Suddenly she went into a crouched posture that any cat owner knows is the prelude to an attack. On the far side of the lugga was a lone zebra coming down the sloping bank to drink. Within seconds, she stealthily approached closer to the zebra and then launched a sudden, explosive, brutal attack. She climbed on to the zebra’s back and wrestled down the prey. The cubs raced to join in on the lesson. Once mom had the zebra down the cubs came in and pounced. One cub moved much more aggressively than the other who stayed back a bit. Instead of killing the zebra outright, mom seemed to keep it alive so the young could experience and learn from the kill. It was only after about 30 agonizing brutal minutes that she finally grabbed the zebra’s throat, crushed its neck and choked it to death.

I have never been witness to such power. I have never seen a large animal die. But it is the way of nature - there are predators and prey, winners and losers, life and death. The zebra lost its life and the lion cubs had a meal as well as a careful lesson in skills that they would need to perfect in order to survive.

We ended our day with a celebration of new life as we visited a hyena den area where six very young hyenas and their moms were playing in the setting sun. Their fur glowed in the golden light, and we laughed at their antics. Driving away at dark, we reflect on the day knowing now, only too well, that the night will bring another kill so these young ones can grow up and be part of the circle of life on the Masai Mara.

Day 13: Vultures, vultures, vultures

We took the morning off to regroup: catch up on the blog, download photo cards to the computer and back up drives, clean cameras, and just relax around Camp.

We headed out on a game drive at 3:30 pm heading toward Double Gorge. At the top of the ridge where the scrub Acacia trees gave way to the savanna, we saw a Cook Hartebeest that had apparently died that morning. I have never seen before so many vultures so close and working so feverously on a carcass. There easily were 50 - 60 vultures all pushing, shoving and raucously jockeying for the best feeding position. Among the mob we saw Wooly-necked Vultures, Egyptian Vultures, Ruppell’s Vulture, Lappet-faced Vultures and African White-backed Vultures. Hanging at the edge, out of the fray, were a wary lone hyena and a couple of Marabou Storks waiting for a chance to feed. The vultures attacked the softer parts of the carcass first and as they sunk their heads deep inside, it became obvious why vultures have few feathers on their necks.

We continued on to Double Gorge, which is a stunningly beautiful narrow gorge. It has steep rocky sides, a green grassy floor, and an abundance of trees and shrubs. It was here that we had our first glimpse of rock hyraxes. They are small mammals that are about 4 -12 pounds and 16 - 23 inches long. They live in colonies of 2 to 26 members amongst the rocks all over Africa except the rainforest. Having little control over their body temperature, they depend on their rock shelters for controlling heating and cooling. They are grazers, so the Double Gorge is an ideal home.

We also spent time in the gorge watching a Hammerkop pair industriously building their nest. A hyena peered from above into to the gorge before we departed with last light.

Day 12: Paradise Crossing

Coffee delivered to us by 5:00 am and we were headed out by 6:00 am for sunrise. We reached the entrance to the Masai Mara Park by about 9:00 am. The land outside the preserve has grass that is very short – for the most part just a few inches high because it is grazed by herds of Maasi cattle. Although the grass has been hard hit, this reduction in grass high has created prime habitat for gazelle, Impala, zebra and others that need to keep an eye out for predators. Grazing of cattle is not permitted inside the park so the native grasses grow waist high. Giraffe and elephant seem to be happy here in the long grass, but the vast herds of native ungulates, residents of the Mara, are for the most part absent.

We followed a lagga toward Paradise Crossing. High in one of the trees was an extraordinary nest of a Hammerkop: a nest that weighs well over a ton. This fully enclosed bird’s nest is constructed of sticks and grass and has a downward pointing entrance on one side. Inside, the nest is divided into four distinct rooms including a nursery and toilet room. This gigantic complex nest is used only for a single season. Next year the construction will begin again by the pair and will take about two months to complete. Abandon nests from previous years are often used as platforms for a variety of nesting cranes, owls, geese, and raptors.

We reach Paradise Crossing by lunch and dine with the view of thirty hippos and three crocodiles. From the far side of the Mara River, giraffes kept peaking over the tops of trees and eying us with curiosity. The Paradise Crossing is the main crossing of the Mara Rive for the vast migrating herds of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle. The migration begins in late July and continues through October. Over a million wildebeest make the journey from Tanzania’s Serengeti to Kenya’s Masai Mara in their continuous circular migration. The wildebeest is an odd looking animal and some say that it was constructed from left over spare parts. It has cow-like horns, short neck, deep chest, high shoulders, and way-too-skinny front legs that seem way too long for the back legs. It has a short mane that stands straight up and a long pale beard running the length of its neck. During the migration, hundreds of thousands of animals will cross the Mara River at Paradise Crossing.

We were entertained at lunch by a troop of Vervet monkeys playing in the nearby bushes. The Vervet is the common small monkey of the African savanna. It is a slender monkey with a long tail. Males weight up to 20 pounds and females about 9 pounds.

On our return trip to Camp, six elephants playing in a watering hole as they threw mud and water on themselves also entertained us.

So much to see each day, but we arrived at Camp still excited after being out 13 hours.

Day 11: Changing a Tire with Lions

We woke up early enough in the tree house to see the earliest hint of dawn spread across the Mara. We drank hot coffee and watched another African day begin. We slowly hiked back toward Serian Camp. We were really able to look at and touch the thorny Acacia trees with their ridged stout spines nearly three inches long. The yellow and white Acacia, we found in a moister area have equally long spines, but they are softer so elephants and giraffes like to browse on them. We also found another type of thorn tree that looks very similar called the whistling thorn tree. It had a hollow ball at the base of each spine. If you rattled the branch small insects came streaming out of holes in these structures. The tree gets it name from the fact that wind blowing through the holes will cause whistling.

We were back to Serian Camp for a late breakfast and then off for the evening game drive. At the end of the day while watching a pride of lines in the fading light, another Land Cruiser joined us from our camp. As we prepared to leave, we noticed that one of their tires had gone flat. Dixon pulled the Land Cruiser between the lions and the truck with a flat leaving just barely enough room for the men to work. The speed with which the four Masai guides could change a tire when parked only a few hundred feet of a pride of 13 lions rivals that of a highly trained NASCAR team during a racing pit stop. Tire replaced, we were all now on our way back to camp when we were surprised by a large camp fire and an elegant bush dinner under the stars just outside of Serian Camp – It was a perfect day.

Day 10: Solstice at the Tree House

For days we have been bounding along the rutted roads that cross the bumpy savanna, slowing crawling up mounds of volcanic rock, and crossing swampy laggas. All the travel in the Land Cruiser has shown us some of the truly beautiful sights of the Masai Mara. We longed to not be just observers but to be on the ground hiking through the grass under the Acacias and touching the shattered trees pushed over by elephants.

We scheduled a night at the tree house that is about three miles from our main camp and about two thirds of the way up the Serian Escarpment. The tree house is a basic sleeping deck with a small thatched roof and bedrolls on the deck. Certainly it is not roughing it, but it is much more basic than our home at Serian. The typical hour and a half guided walk, took us nearly 5 hours as we stopped and asked question, took photos, poked around and explored. First stop was another session of quality time with the hippos. The hippos greeted us again with wheeze honking, snorting, and huffing as they soaked in mid-river. Along the hippos’ trail that we were walking, we found some hippo scat (poop) that was evidence of their rather unique behavior known as dug showering. The bulls will back up to a bush and simultaneously urinate and defecate while rotating their short tail resulting into a 2 - 4 diameter circle of poop to mark their dominates. Remarkably I saw such a display.

We carefully watched the trail for animal tracks. Dixon patiently pointed out the tracks of Impala, zebra, and hippos with their four-toed print as big as a large saucer plate. The most impressive was the track of an elephant at 50 cm across it was as big as a dinner plate. Elephants use the area extensively. Just a couple of days ago a group from our camp were headed up to the tree house but were turned away by a group of elephants. There are many small trees in the area that have been pushed down by elephants as a way of preserving food. Once downed, the tree dies but grass and plants grow up through the dead branches being protected from the grazing of other herbivores. When times get tough the elephants return to the tree, they push the tree aside and graze on the lush vegetation that lay beneath it.

Elephants are our largest land animals. Smaller females at almost 8.5 feet can weigh up to 7700 pounds while the big bull elephants weigh over 13,000 pounds and stand 11 feet high.

We arrived at the tree house by noon and had a brief lunch before heading up to the top of the escarpment. From the top of the escarpment, we could see across the Great Rift Valley. The Valley is one of the most dramatic featured of the region. It was formed when the land split apart as tectonic plates diverged and the land between them dropped. Africa’s Great Rift Valley extends from the Dead Sea of Israel and Jordan south to Mozambique and will one day reach the Indian Ocean.

We turned back down the rocky escarpment to return to the tree house and a dinner that was roasted on the open fire by the Masai guides. We drank red wine at sunset and watched the sky change from azure to gold and fade to black for the shortest night of the year. Our Masai guides called it the New Year. The moon was not out yet so the stars were magnificent. Somewhere in the Great Rift Valley crickets began their hum and the leopards started to hunt while our Masai guides tended the fire and kept us safe through the night.

Day 9: Breakfast with Hippos

We awoke by 5:00 am and with our guides wandered a quarter mile down to the Mara River across a steel cable bridge to the tent camp on the other side of the river. The morning chorus included crickets singing and hippos grunting and snorting after returning from their evening of grazing. One at a time, we walked across a narrow steel footbridge suspended across the river as it swayed under our movements. The dawn has intensely approached – first with a subtle glow on the horizon and then the light quickly overtakes the shadows of the night. We settled in on the riverbank to watch the school of hippos.

Hippos appear to prove nature has a sense of humor. Hippos commonly wander two to three miles during the night foraging and eating about 88 pounds of food per night. As they feed, their huge mouth cuts a 20-inch swath through the grass. They have a big fat inflated body supported on short stumpy legs. They weigh an astounding 3500 – 7000 lbs. They look ungainly and awkward on land but can gallop up to 18 miles when alarmed. One of the greatest dangers here is to get between a hippo on land and its escape route to the water. On average, five people a year are killed in this region by hippos that have been provoked by people’s actions. We watched as an attentive hippo mom waded in the river’s shallows. Her baby took the opportunity to nurse submerged beside her, nursing without having to swim.

We had a leisurely breakfast while observing hippos and their behavior. The hippos snorted and grunted, exhaled wildly sending up sprays of water that caught the morning light and turned into a mist of gold. We returned to camp about 10:00 am and relaxed with a fine lunch on the deck under the trees near the main dinning hut. The food here is fabulous with many of the vegetables from the Serian Camp garden. Fresh peas, beetroot, asparagus, lettuce, and fresh herbs all delicately and carefully prepared with mild favorable seasonings. I have seldom had better food anywhere – every meal, every day. The staff is earnest and helpful within an innate kindness and perpetual smile.

Out to the Land Cruiser by 4:00 pm for a game drive following the rutted road that lead from camp down to the Mara River north of camp. Clouds were building along the Great Rift Escarpment. The huge towers of thunderheads were rising and darkening. No leopards in the gorge today, so we headed out toward the open savanna. Once on the savanna, Dixon stopped abruptly and began carefully backing up. When we halted again, we looked straight down from our truck near the tire and there was a newborn Thompson’s Gazelle. The newborn was only a few pounds at most. It stayed frozen motionless in a tight curl and only its rapid breathing revealed the fear that it must have felt. With the start of the engine, the baby jumped up and bolted sprinting in an erratic dance for survival.

On the way back after watching the Mara sunset, our guides saw two silver backed jackals working on devouring a kill. Each jackal was happily jogging off with the rewards of a successful hunt. Their prey was the new born baby gazelle that only hours before we had watched take its first bounding steps. It was a poignant reminder that there is an order here and that the dance of life continues.

Day 8: Lions Roar

Left well before sun up. It was a cool day with few clouds in the sky and promised to be another stunning day. Coming up the hill, we saw about twenty guineafowl in the brush under the Acacia. They were beginning their morning hunt for seeds, tubers, and insects. Wandering along with them was a lone bachelor Impala. Thrown out of the heard, a rejected Impala will choose to hang out and graze with the guineafowl. The guineas grating staccato “crak-crak-crak” will warn the Impala of danger. It is far safer being part of the guineafowl flock than as a loan Impala.

Up on the Mara highlands for sunrise. A White-breasted Snake Eagle in the tree with morning light, and wildebeest at sunrise near the lone tree. We saw two cheetahs walking through the grass searching for prey. As we were photographing them, we heard a loud roar across the savanna down near the lagga. Dixon abandoned the cheetahs and raced the Land Cruiser across the savanna to the source of the roar. By the time we had arrived, three young male lions were grouped tightly together with ears down and bodies flattened against the ground. These young boys were at a stand off with a pride of six lions. After much posturing and more roaring, the three males thought better of challenging the dominant male of the pride this day. The pride moved on. We continued to follow the pride for a few hours watching them wander, play, nap, and nuzzle.

We had lunch in the shade of shrubs after Dixon had driven around and determined the area to be lion-free. After another delicious bush lunch, we packed up our things and headed on again. We stopped for a long time in the afternoon sitting quietly just to listen and observe. Cameras were put down and the talk stopped. We immersed ourselves in the sounds of the Mara: zebras barking, hyena calling, insects busing, wildebeest snorting, and birds calling.

We were back to camp for another fine dinner that is always served in the beautiful lantern-lit dinning room around 8:30 pm. The group talks of the sightings and activities of the day, has a glass of wine and then sits for a four-course meal. Sleep comes easily at the end of the day that started well before sun up.

Day 7: Giraffes by Moonlight

Wake up call was at 5:00 am and departure from Camp at 6:00. Night was still clinging to the land with just the first whispers of dawn on the horizon. Gradually, almost imperceptibly the rising tide of dawn spreads across the land. We bumped our way up the rutted road through the dark. A huge black boulder appeared beside the road where none had been the day before. As we approached the boulder stirs and begins an awkward movement to stand. By the time we pulled along side, it was standing with its head at nearly 5 meters above ours and began striding away with a slow purposeful gait. The giraffe’s head was silhouetted against the stars and eclipsed the quarter moon.

We headed out across the Mara.

The air was cool and moist with ground fog filling the swales and valleys. Gazelles, wildebeest, impala, and zebra were beginning their day. Three jackals trotted across the dew-covered grass. The air was filled with anticipation – another African Mara day had begun.

Mara meaning spotted – here meaning spotted landscape: spotted with trees, spotted with termite mounds, spotted with open grasslands, spotted with marsh, and spotted with animals.

In the open grasslands Secretary birds were hunting their small insect prey. Stomp – Stomp – Stomp stomp stomp like a secretary typing on a manual typewriter. This long-legged pale grey bird has a body length of 60 inches. Its conspicuous black head plumes dance in dramatic contrast with the bare orange skin around its eye.

Ever so quietly, we watched as a Tawny Eagle stalked its prey: a spit cobra slithering through the short grass. The eagle would run toward the cobra and bite at its tail and then agilely jump back to avoid a strike. Over the course of an hour or so, the cobra weaker and finally the eagle could tear at the head. Once the snake was dead, the eagle could enjoy its well-earned breakfast.

We drove to the lagga (a stream lined with trees and bushes) and enjoyed our breakfast as well in the warm early morning sun. The day was unfolding on the Mara and ended with elephants at sunset.

• Swahili words today:
• Jambo – hello
• Karibu – welcome
• Asante – thank you
• Hakunamatata – no worries
• Kwaheri – good-bye

Day 6: Cheetahs at Sunrise

Away at 6:30 am with clouds at sunrise and drove onto the savanna. We heard a chirping bird-like call and our guides followed the sound. Beautiful and stunning, yes - but a bird, no. A lone cheetah was standing on a termite mound calling for its sibling with an amazing chirp-like call. We have been lucky again. This makes 11 cheetahs that we have seen and photographed.

The sibling cheetah came out of the shrub along the laggar, and both headed out onto the savanna. Actions were different today, as they moved out briskly with heads low but eyes fully aware of the need to hunt. Bellies were slim and empty, and it was time for food. Impalas snorted their warnings to the rest of their herd and to the zebras and gazelles that also graze on the savanna.

Cheetah males weight up to 140 lbs and stand up to 36 inches at the shoulder. Females are 20 lbs lighter but about the same height. The cheetah is diurnal resting only during the heat of the day and is seldom active at night. They can sprint at an incredible 70 miles per hour for very short distances, but their average chase is less than 40 miles per hour. Cheetahs brings down their quarry by either tripping it or hitting the hindquarters and knocking the prey off balance with a smack. Once down the cat latches on to the prey’s throat choking it to death. After eating nearly 30 lbs at a feeding, they then do not hunt again for four or five days as their swollen bellies digest the food.

Day 5: Lions on the Mara

In the morning, we found a pride of lions stretched out in the shade of low shrubs and watched them for several hours. Their swollen distended bellies were evidence of last night’s successful hunt. Gorged on food and satiated for a time, the lions lounged in the shade and wanted to do little else than digest. We pulled to within 15 feet of them and hardly an eye opened or an ear twitched. I took the opportunity to get many extreme close up photos of their hair, face and paw detail for reference. The pride consisted of one young male about 4 years old, one female and three cubs maybe two years old. The spotted coat of their youth was still faintly visible when the light was just right. Lions are lithe and powerful with a more muscular build than the cheetah. Cheetah are made for speed and are the greyhounds of the Cat family, and they can simply out run their prey. Whereas, lions are pure muscle and strength and must use stealth to get close enough to attach.

An adult male lion weighs on average 416 lbs. The females are small at around 277 lbs. I would not want to tangle with either.

Day 4: Afternoon with the Elephants

Awakened at 5:30 am by a soft friendly Maasai voice softly calling, “hello hello.” They wake you here with morning coffee complete with hot milk and raw sugar delivered to the table on the deck of our tent cabin. The morning was cool – almost damp. Hippos were bellowing just down at the Mara River while the dawn chorus of birds welcomed the new day. To the Land Cruiser by 6:30 am, we loaded up and bumped up the rutted road to see whatever came our way.

Our first spotting was two Dik-Diks. This miniature antelope is barely over a foot tall not quite the size of our black tail jackrabbits of the desert southwest. This is the world’s smallest antelope and is superbly adapted to arid areas preferring the safety of rocks and dense brush. These delicate shy animals are completely water independent – they never drink water at all. They get all the water they need from the dew and the plants that they browse upon. They mate for life, and if one dies then the other is soon to follow.

A huge herd of Impala ran full speed across the road in front of the truck. An Impala is a graceful slender antelope: Males weight up to 170 lbs and females up to 118 lbs. An s-shaped set of horns is found only on the male. Males keep a harem of 50 to 60 females and defend them from interested bachelors. Young males form bachelor herds and wait for their chance to challenge the dominant breeding male. The dominant male is only in charge of the harem for a few months before the stress and strain of defending the harem weakens it and another male wins the group. Absolutely amazing jumpers! When we were close to a running herd, our guide William clapped his hands once and the surprised Impalas jumped literally ten feet straight up. They can also broad jump an astounding 36 feet.

We had a “bush lunch” – cheese, fruit, bread, vegetarian quiche (no crust), and potatoes all with a world-class view of zebras grazing on the savannah. By 3:00 pm we were exploring again. Dixon drove amongst a small stand of trees and quickly cut the engine. There not more than 100 feet away was a family of eight elephants with two very small babies. One baby was about 2 weeks old and the other about 4 months. In the shadowed light of the cool trees, we had an intimate view of family life. The babies were young enough that they did not have the use of their legs sorted out yet. Standing up was a labored awkward rocking motion that often times was less than successful. Legs would get tangled and the baby would flop on its side just to try and try again. Parents and extended family seemed patient and attentive with the clumsy little ones.

Returned to camp in the dark to a beautiful meal and conversation with the other guests, camp manager, and owner of Serian Camp.

Species List:

Impala Spotted hyena Bare-face go-away-bird Dik-dik Topi Wattled starling Reedbuck Common zebra Superb starling Black-headed heron Cape buffalo Elephant Savanna monkey Eland

Waterbuck White-bellied bustard Ruppell’s long-tailed starling Helmeted guineafowl Silver-backed jackal Wildebeest Thompson’s gazelles Kori bustard Golden pipit Lilac-breasted roller Yellow-billed oxpecker Coqui francolin Little bee eater Grey shrike

Day 3: This is Africa

The day began with a fabulous buffet breakfast overlooking the gardens at the Fairview Hotel. Kevin and John picked us at 7 AM and drove us and our stuff to the airport for an 8 AM departure on Safari Link, a small commuter flight operation that delivers people into the Mara.

The flight was spectacular: left the edge of Nairobi and headed north to the Mara. We passed over small villages and the breathtaking landscape of the great rift valley. The Masai Mara is a vast land marked with rutted roads, game trails, scattered Acacias along with a sprinkling of zebras, gazelles, and other large animals. It was here from above that we saw our first elephants.

I can’t believe it. I am here – this is Africa – this is the Masai Mara.

We landed gently on a rough dirt runway at 9 AM. At the side of the landing strip were a Land Cruiser and our Masai guides: Dixon and William. They escorted our stuff and us into the safari vehicle. Dixon explained the trip to camp was 45 minutes but may be longer depending on what we might see. Five hours latter we arrived at Serian Camp having been awed and amazed by an abundance of zebras, gazelles, Impalas, Wildebeest, Topi, Spotted Hyenas, Cheetah and much much more.

We were welcomed to a lovely lunch on the open deck, were shown our wonderful new tent home with walls of cloth and netting surrounded by beautiful vegetation and a view over the Mara River toward the Serian Escarpment.

By 4 PM we were again in the Land Cruiser for a late afternoon and evening of exploring. We were back at the camp by 7 PM with darkness setting in with a beautiful dinner served at nine. We went to sleep listening to the sounds of hippos bellowing and lions roaring in the African night.

Species list for the day (partial):

• Cape buffalo
• Thompson’s gazelle
• Impala
• Warthog
• Masai giraffe
• Common reedbuck
• Waterbuck
• Hartebeest
• Topi
• Wildebeest
• Plains zebra
• African elephant
• Banded mongoose
• Slender mongoose
• Spotted hyena
• Cheetah
• Black-backed jackal
• Ostrich
• Cattle egret
• Augur buzzard
• Secretarybird
• White-backed vulture
• Lilac-breasted roller
• Tawny eagle
• Eland
• Ox pecker
• And much more

Day 2: Arrival Nairobi

Reached Nairobi International about 7:30 pm. We were relieved to see a small 8 X 11 printed sign held high above the many heads reading “Sharon Shafer” and greeted warmly by Kevin and John. Our driver John and our tour guide and problem solver Kevin were both kind and skilled at making us feel safe and well taken care of. With them we had our ride to the Fairview Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya.

Nairobi is a sprawling city of 3.5 million people and is the capital of the country. Modern towering buildings of glass and steel mark the city center. Pulled up to the Fairview Hotel, a beautiful example of classic 1940’s stone buildings situated on five acres of gardens. It is truly one of Nairobi’s finest historic hotels. Got a late night Sushi dinner and climbed the well-worn regal staircase to our room and bed.

Day 1: Departure Las Vegas

The journey has begun. Up early, drove to McCarran Airport for a flight leaving at 9 am. An uneventful flight to Newark, New Jersey took three hours, actually 2.5 with an amazingly stiff tail wind. Another 8-hour flight to Amsterdam where we enjoyed Dutch hospitality for only a couple of hours before flying on to Nairobi – another 8-hour flight. Flying over the Sahara Desert was amazing. Red dunes and dust as far as the eye could see in vibrant contrast to the azure sky.