KENYAN SAFARI, PART II

          The next morning, we didn’t make the game drive. I had had a horrible night with terrible muscle cramps in my legs. John made me stay in bed and get more rest. Then, we lounged around the pool and used our binoculars and telescope to look out at the valley and the animals out there. It was very pleasant. 

Then we were on the road again. And, let me say something about the roads in Kenya, at least back then. They were horrible and the guide/driver drove very fast because that way the van didn’t go into every single little crevasse, it merely went from the top of one to the next. I only rode in the shotgun seat once and as soon as I saw how fast Timothy was going, I decided I’d never sit there again…there was no airlift to Harborview Hospital (or any hospital for that matter) clear out there.

There’s something else I want to speak to and that is the fact that with the exception of Anthony, all the guides (L-R, Tom, John, Timothy and Anthony) were dead from AIDS the next time I saw Anthony at the zoo. It was, maybe still is, a definite plague in Africa. Anthony told us a story  about how if a male comes home and there’s another man’s spear in front of his home, he cannot go in. Anthony also told us about his wife’s family coming to visit. Now, protocol is such that you welcome them, no matter how many, make them feel at home, feed and entertain them. You may not ask when they will be leaving and returning to their own home(s) because that’s considered very rude and is simply not done. Sometimes relatives can stay for weeks or even months. I’ve heard nothing about Anthony for a very long time now and hope he is doing well. Anthony also had many stories about his country and I enjoyed learning some of Kenya's history from him. 

Our next stop was Lake Nakuru National Park. There was lots of territory to cover between Samburu and Lake Nakuru. We saw lots of different kinds of housing, went through a few towns, stopped for gas which was taken care of by uniformed attendants supervised by a woman, had a flat tire which the men in our group helped Timothy change. We saw Mt. Kenya, rain showers falling way far away, Thompson Falls and finally the Great Rift Valley. We stopped at the Subukia View Point and all got out to take photos. There’s one of John and I holding hands (only have large framed one of this) on top of a platform that scared the crap out of me…it was made out of pieces of lumber or wood that I might not have even put in my fireplace. In the photo you can see the Rift valley in the distance and a few of the boards that scared the heck out of me. 

We saw baboons on the drive and learned that they are extremely nasty. They’d sooner rip you apart than not. You need to be very careful around them. There was also a tree where a lion or leopard had stashed its kill for later meals. We also saw a white rhino, actually 14 of them even though they are quite endangered. And they do have those birds on their backs eating whatever it is they eat. We also saw a fish eagle high in a tree.

We stayed at Lion Hill Lodge which provided a view of the lake. The lake is actually pink…pink from all the pink flamingos. It’s amazing how many there actually are. When night comes, they move toward the center of the lake to avoid predators. There are also a lot of pelicans in this location. We drove down, close to the lake and it’s very smelly. It doesn’t have sand like a regular beach, but this inches thick mixture of salt and pink flamingo poop. You can see depressions from large animals who visit after dark to drink from the lake. Nakuru is also the location of the largest candelabra tree forest in the world. That's us lounging on the porch of our cabin and a photo of the lake from that porch.

The next day we travelled again and on our way to our next and final location, we stopped at an elementary school. We had each brought books, school supplies and things like soccer balls for the school. Again, it was very interesting to see the Kenyan take on school. This school’s motto was, “Education is a weapon”, and its mission was “To provide quality education which will be a weapon against ignorance.” Another sign which I found terrific was, “There are three kinds of minds: 1) Simple minds – discuss people; 2) Ordinary minds – discuss events; 3) Great minds – discuss ideas.” The school taught Form 1 through Form 8 classes and the teachers went from room to room rather than the children changing rooms. One of the teachers was wearing a brand new (at least they looked that way) pair of light blue Levi brand levis (how come the stock dropped after I bought some stock???).

We visited several different Form classes. Blackboards consisted of walls that had been painted black and then written on with chalk almost to the point of being unreadable. In each room, there were many teaching aids on the walls. These were on large pieces of cardboard and hand printed. At the time, my zoo was in the process of building the African Village. The project manager for that was on this trip and there was discussion about purchasing these “authentic” aids. There were those of us who pointed out that the people in this school couldn’t just go to the local store and purchase new pieces of cardboard to make replacements. Instead, I took photos of every single thing and gave them to the project team when we returned. I should also say that whenever it was possible to obtain “authentic” things like plastic tubs and food containers for our home exhibit, we did so.

We were each invited to ask the children any questions we’d like. I asked what they did after school, i.e., free time, play time. The children did not understand this concept because after school, they help their parents do whatever needs doing whether it’s herding cattle, gardening, cooking. There is no play time.

The fact that if a child doesn’t pass his or her Form 8 exams, s/he will have no future. School is required and children are expected to do well. I asked what happens if a child doesn’t do what s/he is supposed to and this was another concept that wasn’t understandable to either the children or the teachers. How can you not want to do well when not doing so means you have no future? I wonder if it’s still this way 20 years later.

The children at this school also had formed a conservation club which meets after school. There was a conservation corner with a variety of bones and skulls the children had collected as well as hand-printed and drawn information on the walls. Not only do they talk about conservation, but they work on conservation. They plant a variety of stuff and protect it by building stick shelters to keep animals from eating them.

Toward the end of our visit the children in Form 6 were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. Two said they wanted to be teachers ($100/month pay back then); one said a doctor; one said a pilot and the apparent class clown said he wanted Anthony’s job. A visit like this with children so well-behaved, hard-working and eager to learn really made me wonder what we were doing wrong here to have so many children grow up without a decent education or even the desire for one.

On our way to Maasai Mara, we took a quick detour so we could all say we’d been to Tanzania as well. Our driver drove us around the stone border marker. Our stay at Maasai Mara was the longest one of the trip…three days. It was also the most interesting lodge, built to look as though it had grown out of the hillside. It was also decorated in a beautiful fashion with Maasai colors, decorations and beautiful landscaping. It also had a pool. 

During our game drives on those three days, we saw plenty of wildlife. There was an entire lion family, which consisted of one male, four females and 11 cubs. They walked ahead of our vehicle down the middle of the

road. One of the cubs kept annoying the male, but he must have been a favorite because dad didn’t really do anything. We also saw hyena, topi, gazelles, giraffe, a huge herd of impala, jackals, African elephants, a secretary bird (my personal favorite), hippos, crocodiles, ostrich and finally, on the very last game drive in the early morning I finally saw the last of my big five…the cheetah. She halfheartedly chased after a gazelle and then, realizing I wanted a great photo, posed perfectly for me. We also saw the only black rhino left in the park…sad.

At some point during this time, we were out on an afternoon game drive. An elephant appeared off to our right, but instead of moving toward it, our guide began to back up and turn around. We wanted to know why. Timothy pointed out that the elephant was in musth. His huge Johnson was hanging way down and there was fluid from his temporal lobe dripping down his face. Timothy told us you see that, you go away quick quick. Funny story…one of the people in our group was a young woman who wasn’t sure about how to use her dad’s camera. Well, she’s the only one that got a photo of that elephant with his Johnson showing.

On our middle day there, we were taken to a Maasai village. We were met by the chief and what appeared to be the entire population of the village. It was morning, but they’d all been up for quite a while, sending their cattle out to graze. That the cattle stayed inside the village inside the fence was obvious due to all the huge cow patties all over the place. I’m sure they laughed for a long time at all those white folks trying to avoid stepping in cow poop. I took a photo of a Maasai warrior which I now wish I had blown up and framed. The women in their kangas and jewelry insisted we women dance with them. Talk about feeling ridiculous, but I did give it a try. They even managed to get a couple of the men to join them. This village also had a market, but we weren’t forced to run a gauntlet. They let us wander from woman to woman and purchase what caught our fancy.

Our stay there was both relaxing (pool time), exhilarating (game drives), fun because we’d all gotten to know each other, plus one of the couples celebrated their 37^th wedding anniversary. The lodge staff made a special cake for this couple and came out en masse to sing them the Jambo song and wish them well. Another member of the group went on a fishing trip to a nearby lake and brought back fish for dinner…it was very good. 

After we went on our final game drive, we were taken to the bank of the nearby river for breakfast. There were so many hippos in the river and I didn’t know they could be very dangerous. Once again, we had a guide with a gun, just in case one of the hippos decided to climb out of the river and see what was happening. We’d also had lunch at the river upon our arrival at Maasai Mara. 

Those two meals at the river seemed like something right out of one of those old movies, only the natives weren’t carrying a cargo. They were set up with tables with cloths and napkins, chairs silverware, china and glassware. We had mimosas and the cooks would make an omelet to your specifications. There was so much good food available at every location, it was hard not to overeat.

Breakfast over, it was back to the lodge, gather up our bags and leave for the small plane that would take us all back to Nairobi. Looking down from the airplane, it was amazing to see all the trails on the ground, amazing because they had all been made by human feet. It was so hot in Nairobi John was about to keel over. Once in our room in the Safari park hotel, he laid down on the floor, opened the fridge and held two glass bottles to his head…I laughed and took this photo.

Our trip home called for some time in Amsterdam. I was too exhausted to leave the hotel, so we just went to our room and dozed until it was time to get back on a plane. The one memory I do have from the Amsterdam hotel is this huge vase with dozens of yellow tulips on the concierge’s desk. It was clear glass and enough tulips had been included that the interior was completely tulip stems while the heads rose above the vase.

Back home, I had 27 rolls of film to get developed and my sense of size is not very good. I ordered what I thought were 4 x 6, but instead they were 3 x 5…the larger prints would have been so much better. Once we’d been home for a while the trip leaders put together a potluck at the zoo so we could look at all the photos and ask for copies of ones that other people had taken. That’s when I got the photo of the elephant in musth and the one of me with the Maasai dancers. It was so good to see everyone and it’s hard to believe that in a few months it will have been 20 years. It’s also when John and I made the cover of Newsweek and National Geographic thanks to one of the men in the group who had serious computer skills. I’ve lost touch with most of the people who were on the trip with the exception of the trip leaders who still work at the zoo. We connect via Facebook or on visits to the zoo.

Of course, I have a ton more memories than what I’ve shared here, but you wouldn’t want me to go on for too long…right? I also have two complete albums of photos. I made one for John and one for myself so we wouldn’t have to fight over who got to take it to show to whoever. It was a wonderful and remarkable trip full of great memories. I’m glad I pulled out those albums and took a trip down the Kenya memory lane.

Here's a few more photos I couldn't fit into the body of the post. The white rhino from Lake Nakuru, the only black rhino left at Maasai Mara when we were there, the impressive Maasai warrior and our covers of National Geographic and Newsweek...didn't know we were so famous did ya?