T.I.A.

Andrew V., Christian and I were quite excited to
finally be in Maasai Mara

     In the movie Blood Diamond, as an explanation for why messed up things are happening, the character Danny Archer responds with "T.I.A. -This is Africa!" Occasionally we students in the program here have used the phrase when something happened that just seemed so out of place to our Western sensibilities. And, sometimes, something so beautiful appears that you can only say, "this is Africa." Each version of this phrase could have been used on my safari this last weekend. 

     The trip did not quite get off on the right foot, and car trouble seemed to dog us the whole time. To get to Maasai Mara we first had to take a car to Narok (normally a 3-4 hour drive), and then switch to our Land Rover for the safari and drive another 2 1/2 hours to the lodge. The problems began right away when our first driver showed up 40 minutes late. Then we got lost along the way and the drive took 4 1/2 hours. Considering there were four of us crammed into the back of a rather small car and at least one of us had needed a bathroom since the first hour, the extra time spent driving was not a pleasant surprise. We finally arrived in Narok at 2pm (2 hours late) and after a quick lunch, we were finally en route to Maasai Mara in what was, by far, the comfiest and coolest looking safari vehicle we saw during the trip. Apparently it's high season right now, what with the wildebeest migration, so our program couldn't get us one of the normal vans. Instead, we four students (myself and three boys) and Judy our house mother got a private jeep and a Maasai named Mike as our driver. Rats. ;) 

One of the two male lions we saw

One of the many monkeys at our lodge

     Because of our delays, we didn't have too much time to get into the park before it closed at 6pm, but I'm so glad we did. After hours spent cramped and uncomfortable, and then another two on some of the bumpiest roads I've experienced (though Mike sort of made it like a Disneyland ride since he was constantly swerving onto smaller roads in order to find a better path), it was heavenly to stand up in the car with the wind whipping my hair, the sun setting over the hills, and animals seemingly everywhere we looked. We were barely inside the park when we saw gazelles, impalas, and the resident herd of wildebeest. We had just spotted elephants when the call came over the walkie-talkie that another van had seen a leopard. We raced over as quickly as possible, scaring a herd of zebras along the way, only to discover that the leopard had already slunk away into the bush. Undeterred, we decided to keep looking. We never did see a leopard, but that evening we did see a buffalo, a warthog, ilans, taupis, and some rather interesting birds. An hour later we started to head back when we got another call. It was a bit late, but Mike turned us around anyway and soon we found ourselves staring at an adult male lion. A few minutes later we discovered that he was really one of two brothers, and the other one was lazily sprawled in the grass just a little bit away. We were ridiculously close to them, but the lions didn't seem to care. All in all it was worth the detour. Plus, we discovered that it was rather handy to have a Maasai as a driver. Although we reached the gate 45 minutes after the park was closed, we didn't have to pay a fine because the park is still considered Maasai land and thus Maasai can kind of be out there however long they want. 

Giraffes, one of my favorites in the park.

     As fun as it had been to be out in the park, it was nice to get back to the lodge. We were all rather bruised already from standing up in the Land Rover and being thrown around at every bump and we knew we had a long day coming up. After a hot shower and a good dinner, we were ready to head to bed. Then some of the Maasai who worked at the lodge announced that they were going to demonstrate some of their traditional dances. We decided to check it out. When they got to the fourth dance, the one performed at weddings, they started asking audience members to join in. Andrew G. was one of their first targets. It was highly entertaining to watch him try to dance along and I'd just finished telling Judy that she was next when suddenly a Maasai was standing in front of yours truly. Yeah, it happened. I danced and had fun, though I was quite glad when I could sit down again. 

The boys all wrapped up in their blankets

     The next morning we got up bright and early to set out on our whole day safari.  First Mike stopped at his village so we could buy Maasai blankets and wrap up (Maasai Mara is the only place in Kenya where I've been remotely cold, and it's at 6000 ft), and then we headed into the park. We didn't get very far however. Shortly after passing the gate, our battery died. Luckily we weren't far from help, so forty minutes later we were on our way again. Soon enough we found some elephants just chilling and eating. A bit later we came upon a bunch of giraffes. Most of them were quite young, though there was one real adult with them. I was pretty excited because I rather like giraffes, and the Swahili word for giraffe, Twiga, is one of my favorites. After the giraffes there weren't many animals for a while, but I'd finally mastered the method of standing up in the Land Rover without been bashed into the side every second, so I was feeling like Queen of the Safari. 

     After a brief pit stop at a super nice lodge we were en route to the Mara River to see the Wildebeest migration, the one USA Today named one of the "new" wonders of the world. We weren't quite done with the car trouble yet though. At 11:40am, our drive shaft, what the Kenyans called the "propeller," broke. We ended up sitting in the middle of nowhere for 3 hours until another car came to take us to the river. During this time we were pretty much confined to the inside and roof of the Land Rover because visitors aren't allowed to exit their vehicles inside Maasai Mara. We got a little break though when another car from the Maasai company stopped to help us around 1pm. The driver had brought us a new drive shaft and started to help repair it, but they hadn't been there ten minutes before one of the six girls in the car started complaining that they had wasted too much time already and they wanted to see the animals. The driver had no choice but to go... only he didn't, because their battery was dead. In the end our cars switched batteries since our car wasn't going anywhere anyways, and the girls would not stop complaining. Even when the battery was switched, the other car needed a bit of a jump start, hence the picture above. You may notice the six girls from the other car just watching, while the other driver, the boy from their car, the two Andrews, and I push their car until it starts. On the plus side, we got a chance to stretch our legs and the complaining which had started in our car earlier vanished after such clear evidence of how unattractive complaining makes someone. 

Shy hippo in the Mara River

The border between Tanzania and Kenya

     Eventually another car came to pick us up and we finally made it to the Mara River. Along the way we started passing hundreds and hundreds of wildebeest, all the ones who had already made the crossing from the Serenghetti in Tanzania to Maasai Mara. It was astounding to see so many. It wasn't until later that we actually saw the crossing though. First we went to see hippos and crocs at the river. There's a point where at least five hippo families all live. Most of the time they're submerged, which made it difficult to get a good picture, but quite a few surfaced to say hi (loudly) to us. While we walked along the bank (we were along to go on a "Jungle Walk" with a ranger there), we also saw a couple massive crocs, one of which had snagged a wildebeest earlier. We also saw some feisty baboons and an awesome pink and blue lizard. It was getting late and we were starting to head back from the Tanzania/Kenya border when we got the call that some of the wildebeest were crossing the Sundry, one of the offshoots of the Mara River.

Wildebeest crossing the right way

     We raced to the river because no wildebeest had crossed at all that day. Getting close we passed a huge group of wildebeest that had just made the crossing and we thought we'd missed everything. Some wildebeest were still waiting to cross though and we got to see the whole process. After watching it, we began to think that the "wonder" of the migration was that the animals managed to get anywhere. Many of them just stood on the side of the river waiting for who knows what (some had been there for days or weeks) despite the fact that this part of the river was shallow and crocodile free. Then, when some wildebeest finally started to cross, they crossed the wrong way and went back to Tanzania. When some decided to cross the right way, they ran into the other group and they all stopped for a drink in the middle. It was actually pretty funny. 

     It was really starting to get late now, so we began the long trip back. We were all pretty tired, but we kept our eyes peeled for any more animals. We still hadn't seen all of the Big 5 (Elephant, Rhinoceros, Leopard, Buffalo, and Lion -chosen by how dangerous they are, not how popular), though seeing all of them is pretty rare. In the end, there were not many animals to see. There were some ostriches and more wildebeest, but not much else... at least, not until we were almost out. Then we found a whole herd of elephants, including one that apparently quite friendly and enjoyed eating real close to the road. It was a good way to end the evening.

Andrew G. jumping with the Maasai

        We weren't able to go in the park again the next morning. Instead, we went to the Maasai village. We got to walk around the village and see how they live. The boys even got to participate in one of the traditional dances: the jumping competition that is usually used to win the hand of the chief's daughter. After being walked through all the different aspects of Maasai life, we visited their market and then waved goodbye to main park. The ride back seemed much shorter, and soon we were at the far border of Maasai Mara. Mike was afraid that the border guards would try to scam more money out of us (it often seems to be the Kenyan way), but he talked to them (actually I think he told them that we were missionaries) and soon we were on our way and back in Narok. Another uncomfortable taxi ride later and we were back in good ol' Migori. 


Swahili Words of the Post -the animals we wanted to see but didn't
Chui -leopard
Duma -cheetah
Kifaru -rhino
Fisi -hyena