On Safari

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  Nairobi, Kenya
Thursday, July 31, 2008

I'm back from Safari!

Since I last posted I have had a week of not doing a lot of touristy things and three days of a safari. We are south of the equator, so this is winter, and the weather has been cool and foggy. Unfortunately there hasn't been as much rain as there should have been, so East Africa is having a drought. There have been a couple of days that we chose not to go anywhere because the fog was so thick. When it's clear, our view of the Rift Valley is spectacular, but it hasn't been very clear, and I don't know if I'll be able to get any pictures of the view before I leave.

Generally my day has been taken up with trying to get lesson plans done, sort through my pictures, and read. I've prepared a couple of PowerPoints for my students on the Middle Ages, and I need to finish up the plans and handouts before the start of school. I've also managed to sort a label pictures from several trips as well as this one. Fortunately I'm able to download my pictures from my camera to my computer, so that makes things a lot easier. I've finished a couple more books including "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" (a really cute take on the Christmas story from a different perspective) and "A New View from the Zoo" (anecdotes and thoughts from a former trainer and handler for the LA Zoo). Currently I'm reading "The Lunatic Express", which is a history of the British in East Africa, with an emphasis on the railroad from Mombasa on the coast of Kenya to Uganda. The reasons for building it were primarily political, and the surveying left a lot to be desired. Many people thought it was sheer folly to build the railroad in the first place, and it cost a great deal, including the lives of many workers. One of the obstacles were the "Maneaters of Tsavo", two lions in the Tsavo area that preyed upon the workers and proved extremely difficult to track and kill. Locally they came to be called "the Ghost and the Darkness". Some of you might have seen the film by the same name that came out a few years ago with Val Kilmer as the hunter who eventually killed the two lions.

We've also had some visitors. On Sunday, 20 July, a Masai who works as a guard nearby stopped to visit. He told us about some of the things that have happened. He stopped a group that had been stealing cement from the place he works. A couple of guys wanted to leave the compound but didn't have the proper paperwork to take out the sacks of cement in their car, so the guard wouldn't open the gate. They "discussed" the matter over several hours, during which time their boss came and wanted the guard to open up, even offering him some of the "proceeds". He refused, telling them, "First of all I am a Christian and this is wrong, and second I am being paid to do what I'm doing." Eventually the police arrived and arrested the men for theft. Of course they lost their jobs as well. The guard had to testify at the trial, and some of their friends are blaming the guard. In another incident, recently someone started to break into his house, so he turned off the lights and waited in the dark with his rungu (a club that the Masai use as a weapon). The intruders actually broke the door but didn't enter - probably afraid of an armed Masai waiting in the dark. The Masai are taught never to show fear and to be warriors. Part of the process of becoming a man traditionally includes killing a lion single handedly, though this is not universally practiced, especially since all wildlife in Kenya is protected. However, many Masai still practice their traditions.

Other guests have included visitors from the US on their way to various places including Rwanda, Uganda and Congo. Local visitors have also stopped by, so it has been a fairly busy place. Of course, I've also enjoyed afternoon tea and talking politics with the workers at the house.

Two days we went into Nairobi. One day was to get the family pictures taken. They came out great. When I get home I will be sure to show them to those of you I see personally. The other day we went to a nice Italian restaurant to celebrate everyone's birthday.

That brings me to the safari. We left early Monday morning and drove to Amboseli National Park. The last 80km or so was over dirt roads, some of which were almost as good as sections of the paved road. My brother had hired a driver, so none of us had to worry about driving, and we had a professional to take us on game drives. James, our driver, got us to the lodge (Amboseli Serena Lodge - a very nice chain of game lodges) just in time for lunch, which was wonderful. In fact all of the meals were scrumptious and plentiful. It's a good thing we stayed only two nights or I would eventually have waddled away. After lunch we went on our first game drive.

Rather than describing each one individually I'll just summarize what we saw and pick out a couple of highlights to describe. July and August are months in which the annual migration brings wildebeests (gnus) and zebras to Kenya. Naturally then, we saw lots of these two animals, as well as buffalo, gazelle and waterbuck (among other animals). Amboseli is most famous, though, for its elephants and its view of Mt. Kilimanjaro. There are probably more elephants per square kilometer in Amboseli than in any of the other parks, and we saw many family groups. Elephant society is matriarchal, so there is usually one bull with a dominant female and other females and children. The young males (bulls) are chased off and live more solitary lives as "rogues", which doesn't really imply lawlessness - even though elephants can be very destructive. At one of the other camps there were a lot of downed trees. It looked like a tornado had blown through, uprooting trees, but they had been pushed over by elephants.

As we were driving and seeing lots of herd animals, I asked James about predators. He assured me that where there is prey there are predators. Not five minutes later we saw our first lions. While we eventually saw several small groups of lions - a couple of prides and a group of four young males on their own - the group that was closest to the road proved the most interesting. It was the group of four young males. When we first saw them they were playing on one side of the road. Then one of them headed off and sat down in the middle of the road for a while. Of course there was a "herd of tourists" gathered, about 6 or 7 vans, to watch. Next the lion finished crossing the road. At the same time a serval cat was walking by, minding his own business. The lion saw the cat and immediately decided to stalk. He crouched low in the grass and gradually made his way closer, rising to take a step or two and then lying down to wait until the serval was looking the other way. A breeze was blowing so that the lion was downwind and therefore not being scented. Then a second lion crossed the road and joined the hunt. However, he was not as careful, and the serval caught sight of him and bounded away into the brush. An attempt by the two lions to rush and pounce proved futile; the smaller cat was just too quick. It was an exciting moment to watch the larger cats stalk the smaller one.

Another memorable experience was taking the Nature Walk the lodge offered. After breakfast my brother and I joined the Masai guide and his assistant for a 3-4 kilometer walk. Our guide told us about the ecology of Amboseli and pointed out primarily flora and avian fauna. We learned how the Masai use acacia thorn trees to build fences to protect their homes and herds. The thorns on the trees are long and sharp, so predators are usually unwilling to try to penetrate them. One of the things that made the maneaters of Tsavo so feared was that they were able to penetrate the thorn hedges the workers put up for protection. Leonard (our guide) also pointed out some of the other plants that they use. One plant has poisonous fruit and leaves, but the Masai use the stems as a toothbrush and gum cleanser. If there is a wound in the mouth or periodontal disease the sap from the stem helps to heal it. Masai boys also use the fruit to play a game while herding their flocks of cows, sheep and goats. On the walk we also saw an eagle owl, egrets, kingfishers, starlings and numerous small birds. At the end of our walk we were met by a driver with refreshments. We enjoyed talking to Leonard, Mbake (his assistant) and Elijah (the driver) before being taken back to the lodge. Since there were only the two of us on the walk, it was very individualized, and we could ask questions. Leonard had killed a lion and undergone scarification as part of his initiation ritual. My brother thinks that the Masai are related to Ngambai in Chad: both are Nilots and have some very similar customs.

One of our drives took us to Observation Hill where we had a great view of the surrounding countryside. Amboseli is relatively flat, so even a small hill gives a commanding view. Along the way we saw something very unusual, a hippo lying on the ground away from the water. At first we thought it was dead, but then we saw it wiggle its ears. When we returned from Observation Hill, it was gone - probably returned to the water. They say there are two places you never want to be: between a mother hippo and her baby and between any hippo and the water. In Equatorial Africa more people are killed each year by hippos than by any other animal.

Mt. Kilimanjaro overlooks Amboseli and provides the water for the springs and swamps that dot the park. The snowmelt travels underground until it wells up at different places. Unfortunately, Kilimanjaro is usually wreathed in clouds, even in the dry season. We were fortunate that on our first afternoon the weather cleared enough for us to see the top. It was spectacular.

On our last game drive Wednesday morning, all of the ladies in the family decided to sleep in, so it was just my brother, my nephew and me with James. The two predators that so far had escaped us were cheetahs and leopards. Sadly, we never did see any. Thinking that a higher view might give me a better perspective than a seated one, I stood up (the van had a pop-up top) to scan the brush and trees for any cat forms. Instead I spotted a rock python. I called out "Snake!", and James stopped the van and backed up. The python was about 12 feet long. If I hadn't been standing up I probably wouldn't have seen it at all. We could see two tracks but only one snake. The second set of tracks went behind a bush and disappeared, so we figured the other python had crawled into the bush. While we watched the python we did see also crawled into the bush and disappeared. Even though we knew it was there, it became impossible to see. It's amazing that a 12-foot python (and maybe two) could hide inside a fairly small bush, but we watched it happen.

During the time we were watching the python, other vans began arriving. Anytime you see a car or van stop for very long, you assume they have seen an animal, so everyone comes to watch. Only one other van arrived to see any of the python, though. By the time most of the others got there, the snake had disappeared, so we had to tell them what we had seen. On the same drive we also saw a giraffe up close, as well as more elephants.

Finally it was time to leave and head home. The lodge provided us with box lunches that were enormous and delicious. We managed to have both lunch and dinner for six people with only four boxes. As we pulled into the driveway we saw some dik-diks. Someone commented, "Our final game drive!"

Today I spent sorting and labeling the pictures from our safari. Unfortunately, posting will have to wait until I have better Internet connection. So I'll sign off for now.

May the Lord bless and keep you.