On Safari

So we had made it to Nairobi, and not a half hour after making it to the YMCA was the "results" of the election in and Kibaki was sworn in...so things were going to get worse. Nairobi had been pretty much shut down and supplies were already low seen as none of the shops were opening. We took the advice of our receptionist and headed for a lovely Cuban bar in the richer side of town and decided that we would get out of Nairobi and start off on a safari the very next day.

The next morning we met our tour office lady and was taken downtown, the streets were empty except for tourists. In a city that is normally bustling with people and activities and where the fair skin tourists stick out like sore thumbs...this day that was all there was. We hoped in the van with a Canadian, and two Danes. Then we headed across town and picked up a Swiss couple and we were off.

The trip follows the same road over looking the Rift Valley and down the escarpment but it was still amazing to see. The roads were OK, then not so good and by the time we were close to the park the roads were ridiculous in places. Apparently our van had been on back to back safaris and hadn't rested in 11 days so it wasn't all that shocking when it over heated and we got the chance to relax under some trees on the side of the road in the middle of who knows where.

We drove by tons of Masai villages and saw the people in the traditional wraps and they are still using thorn bushes as fencing to keep the nastier animals out while keeping their sheep in. The mud huts and lack of any technology was amazing, I say that and quietly wonder if their cell phone is in that traditional looking bag of theirs! It wouldn't surprise me.

Once we got to our camp and chatted for a bit with others who were a day ahead of us on the safari route we packed back up and headed out for an evening ride, our first safari. You can enter the Masai Mara through a few gates, named for their location in relation to the camp we entered in the eastern gate, Olodlaimutia Gate.

Right as you enter the gate there were giraffes, almost like they were planted, it felt like an open air, drive through zoo. But then things got a whole lot better...

The zebras seem to mix with most of the other animals (excluding cats, of course) and here they were grazing happily intermixed with Wildebeast and Taupe gazelles. We caught glimpses of Thompson gazelles and small foxes. The park itself is gorgeous even without animals in the shot and it seems to go on forever. Then we pulled up right next to a Cheetah, which the driver said was quite rare, only more rare was the leopard. But this guy really didn't seem to impressed with us. We drove around and tried to get a good shot but I guess he was a bit camera shy because no matter what the angle we tried he would crane his neck in the other direction.

After the amazing cat siting we drove on, up and down hills over the grassy areas till we found a grouping of giraffes grazing on the very large shrub. Both male and females in the grouping and we were told that the darker ones were males.

The lighting was perfect for the more advanced photographers but it made the park gorgeous! The drive was only for a few hours but we were able to see plenty of more gazelles, ostriches and even female elephants with their young. What an amazing day, to actually see these animals as we normally see them on the Discovery Channel. It was amazing how close our driver would park from these animals and it really didn't seem to bother them at all.

We headed back to camp and prepared for ringing in the New Year. The camp was bustling with about six groups of safaris and everyone was excited for the Cheetah sitting but stories of lion cubs and other cat sightings were all the chatter.

Dinner was served and a skinned goat was in the tree for later in the evening, closer to the strike of midnight. Most of the tourists in this camp were European and had brought bottles of their own booze. So we sat around the camp fire as they started the celebration and we were going to be entertained by a group of Masai warriors. The dancing they preformed were for various rites of passage in a Masai's life: killing a lion, circumcision, marriage etc. The last dance, the marriage dance, the Masai chose all the woman sitting around the fire and were asked to dance with them, so maybe I have a Masai husband now, who knows? They put their cloth on us and WOW that thing needed a good scrub but it was very fun.

After the dancing was done they hung out in camp and they liked the booze being offered to them from the Europeans, they took turns at the coffee cup which was filled with everything from Jack Daniels to a Hungarian schnapps that tastes like jet fuel. Yuck! But these guys really liked it.

Then it was nearing the hour. Only problem was we had oodles of cell phones, and a few watches all with different times so we chose 3 "official" clocks and counted down all three times. This way we figured we must have hit it sometime. Then it was time for bed so we could be up at the crack of dawn looking for animals.

There are just too many pictures to put in here so all of the Safari pics will be at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jacquelineenyart