Adopting a Warrior 1 yoga pose to stretch after the five hour flight, my face was flushed with heat as we stood waiting to be picked up in the shaded shelter outside Jomo Kenyata International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi. “I really should have taken my leggings off in the washroom”, I thought to myself. “Oh look, they’re here.”
In February, 10 years after our first safari to Tanzania, we decided it was time to embark on another African adventure, this time with my mother. Our last was with my mother-in-law.
After a flurry of doctor visits to ensure our travel vaccinations were up-to-date and to procure malaria pills, we were ready for another Lion King tour. This time on the other side of the Serengeti, the Masai Mara from Kenya.
Arriving in Nairobi just before lunch time, we were met by our guide Daniel, from Steenbok Safaris. After stopping to pick up a delicious grilled chicken lunch at Galito’s (which also has a branch in Dubai we later discovered), we set off on a bumpy drive. Kenya is in the midst of constructing new highways, but when we were there, we only got to enjoy very short fragments of a smoothly paved road.
Our drive took us along dusty roads populated by far too many trucks rendering the journey slower than necessary. Scenes of hillsides and popup sheds professing to sell tourist items in English and Chinese were replaced by little villages once we left Nairobi. Ever present on the shoulders of smaller roads were the adorable grey donkeys, which reminded me of Eeyore, hard at work dragging carts of goods.
“Oooh, take a picture, Mike, take a picture!”, I squealed each time we passed them. They are so much cuter than other donkeys (or were they mules?) I’ve seen in the past.
When the drops of rain started to plop loudly onto our windows, a nice change from dry Dubai, we started seeing motorcyclists sport umbrellas on their heads that covered their bikes, an amusing sight, but an even more fantastic idea!
“About 90% of fruits and vegetables organic”, Daniel told us as we passed young men and women approaching cars slowed to a halt in the traffic with bags of fruits or grilled corn.
“Oh yeah, we’ve seen some of them in Dubai too, remember?”, I said turning to Mike and my mom.
We learned that as part of its Climate Change Action Plan, Kenya has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 and has banned single use plastic bags. There are also interesting projects like using plastic bottles to make fences.
Five hours later we arrived at the gates of the park. As it was after sunset, the gates were closed and Daniel had to negotiate with the guards to let us enter the park since our hotel, Lake Nakuru Lodge, is within the grounds of the park.
As we travelled along a very dark and bumpy gravel road, we turned off the car lights so as not to scare the animals, making it a little creepy drive. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts and not nasty horror movie scenes in my head. Away with you, ghost tales!
Disclaimer: Although I took copious notes on animal facts that I quizzed Daniel, our incredibly informative guide, about, any inaccuracies or outright wrong statements are purely my own mistakes, most likely due to my inability to read my scrawls (very difficult to take notes along super bumpy gravelly paths!) I assume no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in this article or this site and do not provide any guarantees of accuracy or usefulness. I am documenting them here for my own learning and hopefully your entertainment only :o)
Lake Nakuru National Park
Bright and early at 6:30 am, Daniel came to pick us up for our morning safari at Lake Nakuru, a lake at the Rift Valley escarpment once known for its flamingoes which had apparently migrated to Tanzania to breed while we were there.
Most importantly for Mike is that it is a sanctuary for rhinos to protect them from poachers. Only glimpsing them from a distance, the rhinos had eluded us in Tanzania. As such, rhinos were incredibly important for us on this trip as they are Mike’s favourite and Nakuru did not disappoint. We were very excited to see about 10 rhinos at the park including a white rhino family with a baby up close!
I glanced at my dear husband, floppy safari hat atop his head, alertly poised with his long-lens camera snapping away, a slow grin emerging on his face as he silently mouthed “Wow!”
It was incredible to watch them graze the grass so close to our van. Their cousins, the black rhinos eat bushes which hide them, making them much harder to find.
Another highlight quite early on was seeing four lions, including one lion walking right up to our car, making my mom and I tremble with fear and excitement.
“Ooohhh!!! Daniel, Daniel, we better go!”, my mom anxiously instructed Daniel who was chuckling away while he assured us we were fine.
I, too, was torn between wanting to get a great photo/video and speeding off away to safety.
Turns out, Daniel was right and our fears were unfounded as the lion ignores our presence and trots away.
In addition to the rhino and lion, we saw another of the Big 5 – buffalo – at Nakuru, and saw the other two – leopard and elephant later on our trip. The Big 5 are so named for their size, dangerous nature, and endangered status (due to human poachers). At 188 square kilometres, the park is a perfectly compact size, compared to Masai Mara and Serengeti, to see a wide selection of wild life.
Of course, we also saw the usual assortment of impalas, gazelles, warthog (Pumbaa of Lion King), hyena, zebras, lots of buffalo, flamingoes at a distance, and the Superb Starling, a pretty bird with a very eye-catching blue. Only on writing this did I realize, it was not called Superb Stallion, which is a horse.
After our game drive, we came back to the hotel for breakfast and as if on cue, a herd of zebras came to our lodge’s watering hole providing us with some light entertainment with our meal.
Lake Navaisha and Crescent Island From Out of Africa
Less than two hours away was Lake Navaisha and Crescent Island, where the 1985 movie “Out of Africa” starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep was filmed.
They actually brought animals here from Masai Mara and elsewhere for the filming and left them here afterwards. Every few years, a census is done and if there are too many animals because there are no natural predators, they will take some back to Maasai Mara to avoid overpopulation.
“Given that they are not used to predators, does that mean they get eaten first by the lions?”, I asked, not liking the answer I did get, despite my realizing that this is the circle of life and that I shouldn’t have species favourites.
No natural predators here also meant, drum roll please, we got to walk alongside giraffes, zebras, and gazelles!
Surprisingly for someone afraid of house pets, I was happily frolicking near the animals. Trailing a giraffe, I had to be warned by our older guide James not to get too close just in case. Male giraffes can get to 5.5 metres tall and can use high kicks to even kill a lion. Apparently, it can take five lions to kill one giraffe. Hearing that, I then wisely did my observations from a bit further afield.
In order to be one with nature, I even brought my striped zebra-like top, which I had to shed given how hot it was on our hour-long walk that also involved dodging animal poop.
Oooh, but before that, we took an hour boat-ride with Nathan, who took us fairly close to the hippos lying in the water to cool off from the heat. Most of them were fairly lazy and ignored us except for a couple which started to get up, causing a flurry of boats to back away slowly since these massive animals can open their mouths 150 degrees, stretching up to 5 feet!
Pointing out Grand and Long Tailed Cormorants (black coloured birds), white egret, and fish eagle nest, Nathan informed us that in 2009, the lake we were in was dry land and the water came from rain and the underground rivers of the rift valley.
Masai Mara, The Spotted Plains
After our morning of activity, it was nice to be sitting again, although the roads were even bumpier here, so rough that we had to hold on for dear life and I wore my airplane pillow to protect my delicate neck (with its slipped discs).
Had we known that construction of new roads were ongoing, we might have postponed our trip to avoid this ‘Kenyan massage’. Luckily, in addition to being a font of knowledge, Daniel is a very skilled driver, aptly maneuvering the many potholes to help reduce some of the impact on our three-hour ride to Masai Mara.
Named for the Maasai people, the Masai Mara National Reserve, is about 280 Km from Nairobi. Mara which means “spotted” in the Maasai language, it is believed that the national park is so named for the spotted landscape of acacia trees, shrubs, and bushes. By the way, “Maasai” is spelled both with three and two As, but the place is usually spelled with just two As.
The Masai Mara, spanning 1510 square km, is actually connected to Tanzania’s Serengeti where we visited a decade ago, although the latter is about five times larger. Because the two are connected, the mass migration of wildebeest happens here around summer time.
I prefer Mara to Serengeti due to its smaller size since there were times in the Serengeti where we would be driving for a while without spotting cool wildlife, no doubt why its name means “endless plains” in the Masaai language.
Kenya, and the Masai Mara, in particular has tremendous diversity of wildlife and habitats, from vast open plains to acacia trees dotting the grounds flanked by rolling hills and spotted with watering holes.
Keekorok Lodge and Hippo Pool
Entering the gates of Keekorok Lodge, one of the loveliest and oldest lodges, we were greeted with beautiful, sprawling grounds and a canopy of trees, always a treat for us being chlorophyll-deprived urban dwellers.
The lush greenery made it a haven for the cheeky blackfaced velvet monkeys running around. I am actually more terrified of the monkeys than the lions. Despite Mike’s assurances that he would protect me, I insisted we hide indoors on our last morning till the monkey bandits (including cute babies) waiting to steal our food and sunglasses had dispersed.
Good thing we did too since Mike had to shoo away a monkey that came into our van trying to grab my hat. Luckily, I was in the washroom or would have freaked out!
Keekorok has its own Hippo Pool with a bar where we came at sunset to watch some of them, ever so slowly, get out of the water to graze. Because some of the hippos come onto our hotel grounds, we need guards to escort us back to our rooms in the evenings. The hippos (one male and 20 females) are here all the time and don’t migrate.
The lodge has really nice rooms and excellent service, and being in the reserve made it very convenient for the drives. We had two and a half days of amazing game drives with a full nine-hour day including a stop for a picnic lunch at Mara River. In the summer, the river is the site of the great migration of about 2 million wildebeest from the Serengeti heat to the greener pastures of the Masai Mara.
In our time there, we only covered about a quarter of the Masai Mara, the North West and South West parts.
Elephants Never Forget
We saw many, many herds of African elephants, some of them with 30+ family members. They could have extended families as big as 100. The babies were extremely cute and we witnessed two young ones play fighting with their trunks. Daniel pointed out the ages of some of them.
“Elephants are my favourite,” Daniel said, “They are like humans as they can mourn, grieve and shed tears. They use the same corridor to migrate and if a family member dies there, they will stop to mourn when pass that same corridor. They really do have great memories.”
They also have ‘midwives’. One midwife and a male elephant will be alone with the mom giving birth for a couple of days like a maternity period before returning to herd. The baby elephant will also be baptized in a water ceremony with family who will ‘sing’ with trumpet sounds which are quite beautiful. Daniel has seen it once, but alas, was unable to arrange one for us to experience. :o)
We held our breath as a herd of 17 pass our car, their size truly majestic and the moment truly surreal.
Apparently, African elephants (where both males and females have tusks unlike the Asian elephants where only males do) have ears with the shape of Africa and Asian elephants have ears shaped like Asia. Hmmm… I don’t see it, but then again I am not the most observant of folks.
As no other animals prey on elephants, the elephant life span is about 60 to 70 years, although they can live up to 100 years in captivity. Elephants eat grass, sugarcane, pumpkin, but in their old age, the molars fall out, requiring dental treatment and a soft food diet.
Suddenly, Mike called out to us, interrupting Daniel’s talk. “Look, look, look!”
A young male was mating with a female standing up, a quick blink-and-you-miss-it activity although it caught the eye of the dominant male which honked loudly because all females were supposed to be his mates only.
Yeah, there is limited female equality in the animal kingdom! This was the case with most of the other animals too with the males having as many as 20 female partners (gazelles).
Stalking the Stalkers — Lions, Leopards, and Cheetahs, Oh My!
Waiting with bated breath, we watched two young male lions hunting warthogs which get eaten a lot due to their weak memories. This was unusual since lionesses usually do 80% of the hunting, although sometimes the younger males come along. Our female here was preoccupied on a romantic date with the dominant male lying under the tree.
As the two young lions passed our car, my chest was pounding, fingers floundering as we recorded them on video, a most surreal experience. Eventually they gave up on the warthogs as they were too far away.
Not long after, we witnessed another stalking incident where a pregnant leopard waited patiently for two gazelles which were moving one step slowly at a time.
Since the gazelles were on alert and they are faster than the leopard, she soon gave up and started walking towards us. There were 20+ cars around the leopard when she came in front of our van, which was terrifying as she was in hunting mode! Oh…My….Gosh….!
Regally ignoring our presence, she went on her way, no doubt used to cars. We felt sorry for her as she was literally surrounded by all these foreign metal beasts in her own habitat.
As leopards tend to be nocturnal, we were extremely lucky to see them especially up close since they tend to hang out on tree branches. Their retractable claws can be used like fingers to climb trees and suffocate prey.
Daniel pointed out the differences between the oft-confused leopards and cheetahs, but I still can’t distinguish them. Anyway, we also saw two sleeping cheetahs which eat every two days because the meat takes a while to digest. Cheetahs have streamlined, thinner and longer bodies (than the leopards which look very similar) which make them the fastest animals (they can run at 70 to 120km/hour).
“Daniel, who would win in a fight?”, I asked, one of my many questions to determine relativity between different animals.
“Leopards would likely beat cheetahs as they tend to be stronger”.
Other Wildlife
“See those topis on that hill? The ones brown and black in colour?”, Daniel pointed, “They are the sentinels that stand on guard. They will make loud noises to warn everyone else if a predator is close.”
Head perched atop our van’s pop-up roof, sometimes with binoculars in hand, Mike was our own topi, scouting out interesting animals for us to see.
The Maasai giraffe with its white head, star-like spots, and brown legs (unlike the Rothschild giraffe which has white legs), was often spotted amidst the tall bushes where they eat leaves and shrubs.
Despite seeing so many giraffes, because they are so beautiful, elegant and graceful, I just couldn’t help snapping photos of them, especially the young ones. There was a simply adorable baby giraffe about a month old running around like a happy baby.
Speaking of lack of female equality, we saw a family of impalas with one male and about 60 females! Impala can live till 12 to 15 years and can usually can jump 3m high and 9m long. When they get old, predators pick them off because can tell they are slower.
Impalas are all brown in colour and only the males have horns whereas gazelles are brown with a black line and a white underbelly.
The African buffaloes grazed nearby. Grass eaters, they only attack in self-defense, but they can be very aggressive and can’t be tamed unlike the Indian water buffalo. Daniel has seen them viciously attack lions and hyenas, hooking the prey with their horns to injure them, throwing them into the air, and then trampling them. Ouch!
Birds of Different Feathers
Although not usually the main event of a safari, we enjoyed a few species of birds. We saw six ostriches – females are grey and males are black to absorb the heat from the sun since they sit on eggs to generate heat. They are the second fastest animal after cheetah running up to 70 km/hour. One male and one female will guard the eggs of the other ostriches for 42 to 45 days and take care of all chicks as surrogate parents.
Other birds we saw included guinea fowl (black with blue neck which are apparently very tasty) in the stream, Lilac Breasted Roller Bird (a gorgeous multi-coloured purplish and blue bird with white head), Malibu Stork (a dark grey stork with a white underbelly and some red on its head), three Crown Cranes so named for their yellow crowns (with grey, yellow, vermillion neck, brown feathers), and Secretary Birds (black tail and legs, white body, red face). Secretary Birds catch live snakes by their tail and head so the venom is concentrated, fly high and then drop snakes so they are unconscious in order to drain the poison out. They also eat grasshoppers and insects, but mostly snakes.
“See that tree over there? That’s called the Sausage tree or Molatina. Some people make beer from this fruit which is both delicious and nutritious for stomach disease and cancer,” Daniel pointed to a tree that was filled with sausage-like fruit.
Unfortunately, as they were only served during ceremonies, we weren’t able to try them. The very bitter seeds are boiled three times and then mixed with sugarcane and honey to make the beer and then fermented for two weeks.
The Maasai People
Our waiter at Keekorok, Ampai is Maasai, who comprise about 2% of population. As the Maasai now herd cows, they no longer hunt and they eat meat about once a week. The warriors’ distinctive red dress was thought to scare animals.
I found it fascinating that Ampai works in a five-star resort with all its modern amenities and is even given a mobile phone, but he went back to a very traditional home and lifestyle – a mud hut, made with dung and leaves with no electricity or power (they used kerosene lamps instead). I remember those tiny rustic huts that we had to bend to get into in Tanzania and their bare earth floors without any plumbing or infrastructure in sight.
The Maasai are polygamous — our tour guide in the Maasai Village in Tanzania had 12 wives. Ampai has two and soon-to-be, three wives, and five kids.
As we had brought a bag full of books, calculators and stationery, we decided to give them to Ampai and Daniel’s kids instead of stopping by a school. There are no government schools in Maasai. Their community schools teach English and Swahili, and do have some limited electricity use for computers.
Nairobi, Green City in the Sun
The largest and capital city of Kenya got its name from a Maasai phrase which means “the place of cool waters”, referencing its location on the Nairobi River.
Kenya’s Vision 2030, which aims to transform it into an industrialized middle-income country, has already resulted in providing its residents with a cleaner and safer environment. By 2030, there will no longer be slums because the government is building some nice-looking apartments for low income people to live in.
Despite the increased income and sales taxes, the people aren’t complaining as they see their tax dollars being hard at work in improved infrastructure, health care, services, measures to protect the environment, and lower corruption. Employment is good due to foreign investment and the government which also encourages self-employment, e.g. people can use their motorbikes as taxis.
The crime rate is down with drug-related offenses remaining, but even that is an improvement.
Sadly, these measures were not enough to prevent a tragic terrorist attack at Dusit Thani hotel where >20 killed and more injured in mid-Jan 2019. As this was a mere three weeks before we were there, I had wondered if we should reschedule our trip. However, I realized that this was the state of our new normal and that attacks were possible anywhere, and in fact, Nairobi would likely be safer in its aftermath.
Turns out I was right; there was very high security in the city. Our hotel made us get out of car for a body screen and a car scan outside its gates, and then our bags were scanned before we entered the hotel building.
We stayed at the super cute Ibis Hotel. It is a 3 star, trendy, compact, comfortable, very Ikea-like in its efficient use of space sporting fold-up red stools, hanger knobs instead of wardrobe, and a small yet functional bathroom. I just could not stop raving about its cuteness!
A Carnivore’s Delight
Despite being only 15 km away, it took us an hour to get to our dinner that night. Aptly named Carnivore for its plentiful array of meats, for USD 36, we were provided with a scrumptious three-course meal including all-you-can-eat meats.
We started with a delectable vegetable soup made from carrots and cucumbers (which were apparently boiled and blended). Mike had the famous Kenyan cocktail called dawa which is a concoction of honey, lime, white sugar, and vodka.
In addition to the finger-licking good chicken, beef, pork, sausages, lamb, we even tried crocodile (tastes like calamari) and ostrich (tastes like beef + liver). As a very non-adventurous eater, I stuck to chicken and beef after the obligatory taste test of more exotic meats.
Crocodiles are only eaten in specific areas and tend to be young ones bred in farms. Only meat from the hind legs to the tail are eaten with skin used for shoes, belts, and bags which are very expensive.
Desserts were yummy pineapple pie, chocolate brownie, and passion cheesecake.
Nairobi National Park, The Largest City Wildlife Park
We decided to squeeze in another safari the morning of our departure since the Nairobi National Park is next to the city centre and only a convenient half hour drive from the airport.
At 117 square km, it is the largest city wildlife park in the world. About halfway through our drive, we saw a male and female rhino, a pair of the 150 rhinos in the park. We were quite close to them and had to reverse and move out of the way a few times since their horns can pierce metal! As in Nakuru, these were white rhinos since the black ones are more elusive and more aggressive.
We saw two male lions with darker manes than those we saw in Masai Mara as they were older, a hippo pool with egrets, eland with its cool twisty horns, Yellow Billed Storks, Secretary bird with its long legs and popping head, gazelles with their smooth curved horns, impalas with their ridged horns, three female ostriches, Superb starlings (the lovely blue birds), two adorable twin-like baby giraffes and their moms, and five Nile Crocodiles including a baby in a fresh water pond waiting to eat animals when they come to drink. Crocodiles can grow to be as long as 21 feet! They lay eggs outside of water and dig hole to bury eggs.
What a phenomenal way to end an absolutely incredible trip!
As I make sense of my illegibly scrawled notes to write this, I am transported back to the majesty of Africa and its animal kingdom, vibrantly full of awe-inspiring, surreal experiences, only five hours away, yet an other-worldly, alternate reality.
“In Africa, you feel grounded in an indescribable way because by choice I had no connection to the outside world or technology. It forces you to be in the moment because you don’t know what the next minute will bring. There is a constant sense of awe and surprise” ~ Karen Banks