Teeming with Life

I received a great present on March 23rd, the day after my birthday – all wrapped in new, mosquito-repellant safari clothes and tied with straps from binoculars, cameras and wide-brimmed hats – my father, Aunt Amy, Uncle Larry and a cousin, Susie, arrived after a long 41-hour journey from Missouri. After 5 months away from home, seeing them was a true gift that meant a lot to me! We spent Friday, March 23rd, sightseeing around Nairobi, and then set off on Saturday for a week spent divided between Amboseli National Park, Masai Mara National Park and Lamu Island.

Amboseli and Masai Mara are the African parks of my imagination – of Hemingway and Dineson stories – with beautiful landscapes and endless skies and full of animals and birds as far as the eyes could see. Rarely did we see humans other than Maasai men and women, dressed in colorful robes and jewelry, herding their goats and cattle across the open savannah. The romanticism of all this was enhanced by flying in small planes to each destination and landing on dirt “paved” airstrips, driving across fields in open air vehicles, having cocktails while the sun set and the Southern Cross appeared, and dining under an open tent with our guides who entertained us with stories of life growing up in Kenya. We spent our days driving around the parks and then sitting quietly to stare out at African eagles and other birds of prey sitting atop lone acacia trees, warthogs running through tall grass, and herds of buffaloes, giraffes, elephants, ostriches, wildebeests, topi and gazelles all sharing the same open space. Always, there was such a display of life!

Both Amboseli and Masai Mara border Tanzania – Amboseli to the south of Nairobi and the Mara to the north. Amboseli is a small park, at only 392 sq Km, compared to the huge Masai Mara which measures 1510 sq Km. Amboseli lies at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro and it is a spectacular sight to see herds of giraffes and elephants walk by with the snow-capped mountain in the background. Water run-off from the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro feeds several swamps and lakes in Amboseli, and these are full of flamingoes, pelicans, hippoes and so much other wildlife. At Amboseli we saw juvenile lions, were charged by elephants and observed a pack of hyenas fighting over territory.

Masai Mara is an extension of the Serengeti Plains in Tanzania and is backed by the marvelous Siria Escarpment. Possibly one of the most spectacular things I have seen in my life was during one day in the Masai Mara. We were driving along when our guide spotted a few lions under a group of bushes. As we approached from one side, we saw it was not just a few, but 9 lions – 2 mothers with their juveniles and young cubs. As we moved even closer and circled around the bush, we saw that this group had just – only moments earlier – killed two large topi, dragged the topi from the open grass back to the bush, and were now having lunch. We sat forever, only a few feet away and watched the mother lions guard the area while the cubs, literally, ripped the topi apart to eat. You could smell the blood that the young cubs had all over their faces and the insides of the topi intestines that had been pulled out from their bodies. This was no zoo, but real – wild – life!

(Pictured: Fighting hyenas; A lone male elephant passes by Mt. Kilimanjaro).

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I hope everyone has a good Easter holiday. Here in Kenya, both Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays and I am taking advantage of that to go on a camping trip up in Northern Kenya, around Lake Turkana and the Chalbi Desert. Will be back in touch in a week or so. Enjoy!