Safari Wrap-up
Nairobi, Kenya
Well, after some initial hesitation about joining an organized safari tour group, I'm happy to say that I had a pretty good time the past six days.
Last Saturday, myself, three French, one Chinese and one Japanese all headed out from Nairobi on our six day safari. The destination for the first night was a public campsite on the shores of Lake Baringo, an area famous for it's bird life. We didn't arrive until after 5pm, and with some light rain settling in, we couldn't do much more then setup the tents and wandering down to the shore line. Personally, I didn't really see all that many birds (I had visions of swatting birds away with an umbrella or stick), instead we spent a bit of time just watching a pod of hippos resting not far from shore. You can't really see much of a hippo when it's in the water as only the top of it's head is sticking out of the water.
The following morning, we had an organized boat ride schedule for before breakfast. The boat trolled along the shoreline and while I again didn't really see an insane number of birds, being on the lake for sunrise was pleasant. Further down the lake, we had a little "demonstration" from some local fisherman showing the techniques (or lack there of) of fishing in the lake. Not sure how legit that was since the fisherman paddled over to the boat looking for some "tips". We continued along the shore until the guide spotted a Fish Eagle (I think) in the trees. Obviously, this eagle is pretty common because the second the guide stood up and whistled at the eagle, it took notice and started flying towards the boat. The guide then threw a fish into the water, counted down from 3 and as expected, we all got great shots of a fish eagle plucking a fish out of the water. Staged? Absolutely, but still makes for a good photo... ;)
After breakfast, we quickly packed up the tents and headed over to Lake Bogoria, home to some very hot sulfur springs and millions of flamingos. A fairly quick visit and stroll around the hot springs and we were off again. I'd have preferred to stay a bit longer to photograph some more of the flamingos, but apparently we had to get going to out next destination, Lake Nakuru.
After arriving at our second campsite and having some lunch, we headed off to Lake Nakuru National Park, home to Lake Nakuru, millions of flamingos and some actual wildlife. On our "game drive" through the park, we saw plenty of zebras, buffaloes, a rhino and some giraffes. Of course, the lake is dominated by literally millions of flamingos which from a distance just look like pink seaweed floating on the surface. Lake Nakuru also offered the first indication of what awaited us in the Masai Mara, as I spotted no less then a dozen or so other tour groups driving around the park.
Monday morning, it was time to head south towards Masai Mara, first stopping in a small town to meet up with a second truck (and a second group of tourists) who would be joining us for the Masai Mara part of the safari. Luckily we kept the two trucks so both groups still had plenty of room. The company I went with, Gametrackers, uses 9 passenger (11 with driver/guide) Toyota Landcruisers. There three rows of three seats each. Since we only had 6 people in our truck, there was plenty of room for everyone. The roof and windows are just roll up plastic tarps, which provide limited visibility when rolled down, but allow for exceptional viewing when fully rolled up.
The drive to the Masai Mara is long, slow and very rough at times. The roads in Kenya could really use some work. We were treated to a sort of "mini" game drive that evening as we had to traverse a section of the park to reach our campsite. Gametrackers has a permanent camp group just outside the gates of the park which provided us with real beds in small 1-room buildings, perfect if you ask me and a nice treat given that the safari was billed as a "camping" one. The out-house shower even had hot, running, water!
In the other truck, there was a New Zealand couple on their way back home from Cameroon where they work in health care, there was a Canadian couple from Toronto on an extensive year long trip and a British guy at the tail end of his Kenya trip. We all ended up staying together and sharing the same meals since we were all with the same safari company. With no TV, little power and early mornings ahead of us, the evenings ended not long after dinner finished as most people retreated to their cabins.
Tuesday morning brought our first real game drive in the Masai Mara. First off, the Masai Mara is much more "vast" then I expected it to be. The rolling plains just go on and on with few trees or shrubs or provide shelter to the animals. Simply put, it's much more "open" then I thought it would be. There are dirt roads criss-crossing the park and for the most park, you just let the driver and the guide "do their thing" to find the animals. Gazelles and antelopes are in abundant supply and after the first few photo stops for those guys, you quickly start ignoring them. (Somewhat to my annoyment as a wild gazelle or antelope is still pretty damn cool to me!)
However, most people, myself included, just want to see the big animals. For safari-goers, size does matter and no disrespect to the "wild dog", "bat-eared fox" or mongoose, but they just aren't nearly as interesting as elephants, lions and giraffes. Surprisingly, lions are sort of easy to find and it's not long until we're watching a male take a nap under some bushes. It was also our first experience of the safari-mob...
You see, as much as you'd like to think you're on some wild, bush-hacking, no-one's-ever-been-here-before trip, you're not. Not by a long shot. All the tour operators talk to each other on the radio and as soon as one spots a lion, cheetah or anything of interest, there's a dash of white minivans streaking across the open plains towards the animal in question. (For some reason, the vehicle of choice is a white-minivan. We were one of the few groups in a real, 4x4 vehicle with actual ground clearance. Embarrassingly, we actually got stuck in a mud whole as the minivans just drove around us.... ) So, as you're looking at this wild lion going about it's lazy day, there is at least a half dozen or so other vans forming a half-circle around it, with everyone sticking there heads out of their respective vehicle roofs, video cameras and still cameras all firing at once. No point in complaining since you're a part of the problem, but it does take away from the "Out of Africa" feeling. Most vans stay for a few minutes, then quickly race off to the next "hot spot". Frankly, you could ditch the radio and just use a pair of binoculars to spot wildlife because all you need to do is spot a group of minivans and then race over to that spot as there's bound to be something to see.
After the first game drive, we headed back to camp for some lunch and some down time. Why we need downtime from viewing animals I don't know, but clearly you don't stay out in the park all day. By around 4pm we were back in the truck and heading back into the park for our second game drive. We managed to find an extremely elusive black rhino (of which there are apparently only 45 in the park), which would arguably be the highlight of any safari if not for the fact that you can't get within about 500 meters or so of it without scaring it off. Not sure about others, but a black rhino over half a kilometer away is tough to get excited about since it looks like a bunch of other animals that are of similar size and color. For me, an up close encounter with an elephant or giraffe was much more rewarding then a black rhino so far away, but then again, maybe I'm more interested in the "photo" rather then the animal itself... As rains started to set in, we headed back to camp a little earlier then planned for another prepared meal with the whole group.
Wednesday brought our second full day in the park and we started with a pre-dawn game drive in an attempt to spot a few more animals. After a good amount of driving, we came across a good size herd of elephants that entertained us for a bit, and gave one truck a little bit of a loud warning that maybe it was a bit too close to the baby elephant. Of interest, is that the only time the drivers don't shut off the vehicle engine for viewing is when we are in the presence of elephants. For every other animal, they pull up as close as they can get then just shut the engine off, but I guess there's too much risk of an elephant charging so they keep the motor running, just in case....
Back at camp, our group decided to take the controversial tour of the local Masai village. I say controversial because you're warned several times that the village is over commercialized and not at all reflective of "real" Masai village. Regardless, we all decided that we were still interested in visiting it so we spent the mid-afternoon being entertained by some local Masai (report to follow).
A fourth game drive took place Wednesday afternoon, and as luck would have it, it provided for some great photos. We again found some more lions and even came across a rather large group of cubs that were just playing around in the bushes as the mother lions nursed the others. We also spent a good amount of time driving around looking for more elephants and particularly some giraffes, but to no avail. How it is that we could routinely find a lion lying under a bush in the shade but we couldn't find a herd of elephants or giraffes is beyond me. I realize that animals move around, but it's not like a bunch of giraffes can just blend into the landscape, or duck under a bush to hide. I guess that's some of the irony that you come across. The bigger the animal (rhino, elephant, giraffe) the harder it is to spot them.
As the game drive was ending and we started heading back to camp, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that I still didn't have "my shot", that one clear photo that really captures an animal in a special way. Well, someone "up above" must have been listening because as we rounded the corner, we came across a male lion that earlier had been sleeping and rather uninteresting, at least as uninteresting as a wild, sleeping lion can be. Well, just as we saw us come around the bend, he sat up and gave up the biggest yawn I'd seen to date. Teeth, tongue and all, right in front of us just a few feet from the truck. I had the driver slam on the breaks, quickly pulled the camera back out, and got off a sequence of photos that gave me "my shot". Amazing how luck just drops in front of you sometimes... A minute earlier or later and the lion would have been back sleeping. (Which it did do right after we left.)
Thursday was our last day and after packing up we had a small game drive in the morning as we crossed the park and headed back towards Nairobi. Humorously, the most "dangerous" part of the entire trip was dealing with the Masai souvenir sellers that literally attach you as you enter and leave the park. It's pretty amazing how aggressive they are and as the truck pulls up to the park gate, about a dozen or so sellers just swarm the truck, stuffing all sorts of merchandise in your face as they shout out prices. Luckily, I didn't really interest them and instead they focused on the first row of the truck, where the three French travelers were sitting, and the rear row where the two Asian travelers were seating. The lone Canadian guy in the middle didn't really interest them. (Of course, it was probably more related to the fact that the others were actually making purchases, which causes a frenzy among the sellers in much the same way that whacking a bee hive stirs up the bees around it. Just crazy.) The trip back to Nairobi, while long and bumpy was rather uneventful and we rolled back into town around 6pm.
So, all in all the trip went really well. I could have done without Lake Baringo and Lake Bogario, they didn't really offer me all that much. Lake Nakuru was a nice stop and obviously the Masai Mara is worth it, though I've heard that some of the other parks, notably Samburu National Reserve, are just as good and in some ways better then the Masai Mara.
The only complaints that I have are directed more towards the whole safari thing to begin with, and not really towards the tour operator. Like I said earlier, the park is full of vehicles racing around looking for animals. If you think you're going to be alone, you're wrong. At one point I was wondering what would happen if we just got two or three trucks to stop in the middle of nowhere, pretend that there was something of interest, then wait to see how long it would take for the others to race over. We never did that, but I think it would be a fun experiment. I've heard that the crowds are even worse in Tanzania, which all but rules out any thought I had of also doing a safari in the Serengeti on this trip. I can only imagine what the crowds are like during high-season. (Mid-March is considered low-season since the rains have begun.)
So at the end of the day, it was fun trip, I enjoyed having three meals a day cooked for me, but it wasn't some wild, machete hacking, we're-in-the-middle-of-nowhere safari that I'd still like to experience. Oh, and maybe the ultimate example of just how "developed" the Masai Mara is.... Mobile phones work out on the planes.... 'nuff said.
Kenny
Well, after some initial hesitation about joining an organized safari tour group, I'm happy to say that I had a pretty good time the past six days.
Last Saturday, myself, three French, one Chinese and one Japanese all headed out from Nairobi on our six day safari. The destination for the first night was a public campsite on the shores of Lake Baringo, an area famous for it's bird life. We didn't arrive until after 5pm, and with some light rain settling in, we couldn't do much more then setup the tents and wandering down to the shore line. Personally, I didn't really see all that many birds (I had visions of swatting birds away with an umbrella or stick), instead we spent a bit of time just watching a pod of hippos resting not far from shore. You can't really see much of a hippo when it's in the water as only the top of it's head is sticking out of the water.
The following morning, we had an organized boat ride schedule for before breakfast. The boat trolled along the shoreline and while I again didn't really see an insane number of birds, being on the lake for sunrise was pleasant. Further down the lake, we had a little "demonstration" from some local fisherman showing the techniques (or lack there of) of fishing in the lake. Not sure how legit that was since the fisherman paddled over to the boat looking for some "tips". We continued along the shore until the guide spotted a Fish Eagle (I think) in the trees. Obviously, this eagle is pretty common because the second the guide stood up and whistled at the eagle, it took notice and started flying towards the boat. The guide then threw a fish into the water, counted down from 3 and as expected, we all got great shots of a fish eagle plucking a fish out of the water. Staged? Absolutely, but still makes for a good photo... ;)
After breakfast, we quickly packed up the tents and headed over to Lake Bogoria, home to some very hot sulfur springs and millions of flamingos. A fairly quick visit and stroll around the hot springs and we were off again. I'd have preferred to stay a bit longer to photograph some more of the flamingos, but apparently we had to get going to out next destination, Lake Nakuru.
After arriving at our second campsite and having some lunch, we headed off to Lake Nakuru National Park, home to Lake Nakuru, millions of flamingos and some actual wildlife. On our "game drive" through the park, we saw plenty of zebras, buffaloes, a rhino and some giraffes. Of course, the lake is dominated by literally millions of flamingos which from a distance just look like pink seaweed floating on the surface. Lake Nakuru also offered the first indication of what awaited us in the Masai Mara, as I spotted no less then a dozen or so other tour groups driving around the park.
Monday morning, it was time to head south towards Masai Mara, first stopping in a small town to meet up with a second truck (and a second group of tourists) who would be joining us for the Masai Mara part of the safari. Luckily we kept the two trucks so both groups still had plenty of room. The company I went with, Gametrackers, uses 9 passenger (11 with driver/guide) Toyota Landcruisers. There three rows of three seats each. Since we only had 6 people in our truck, there was plenty of room for everyone. The roof and windows are just roll up plastic tarps, which provide limited visibility when rolled down, but allow for exceptional viewing when fully rolled up.
The drive to the Masai Mara is long, slow and very rough at times. The roads in Kenya could really use some work. We were treated to a sort of "mini" game drive that evening as we had to traverse a section of the park to reach our campsite. Gametrackers has a permanent camp group just outside the gates of the park which provided us with real beds in small 1-room buildings, perfect if you ask me and a nice treat given that the safari was billed as a "camping" one. The out-house shower even had hot, running, water!
In the other truck, there was a New Zealand couple on their way back home from Cameroon where they work in health care, there was a Canadian couple from Toronto on an extensive year long trip and a British guy at the tail end of his Kenya trip. We all ended up staying together and sharing the same meals since we were all with the same safari company. With no TV, little power and early mornings ahead of us, the evenings ended not long after dinner finished as most people retreated to their cabins.
Tuesday morning brought our first real game drive in the Masai Mara. First off, the Masai Mara is much more "vast" then I expected it to be. The rolling plains just go on and on with few trees or shrubs or provide shelter to the animals. Simply put, it's much more "open" then I thought it would be. There are dirt roads criss-crossing the park and for the most park, you just let the driver and the guide "do their thing" to find the animals. Gazelles and antelopes are in abundant supply and after the first few photo stops for those guys, you quickly start ignoring them. (Somewhat to my annoyment as a wild gazelle or antelope is still pretty damn cool to me!)
However, most people, myself included, just want to see the big animals. For safari-goers, size does matter and no disrespect to the "wild dog", "bat-eared fox" or mongoose, but they just aren't nearly as interesting as elephants, lions and giraffes. Surprisingly, lions are sort of easy to find and it's not long until we're watching a male take a nap under some bushes. It was also our first experience of the safari-mob...
You see, as much as you'd like to think you're on some wild, bush-hacking, no-one's-ever-been-here-before trip, you're not. Not by a long shot. All the tour operators talk to each other on the radio and as soon as one spots a lion, cheetah or anything of interest, there's a dash of white minivans streaking across the open plains towards the animal in question. (For some reason, the vehicle of choice is a white-minivan. We were one of the few groups in a real, 4x4 vehicle with actual ground clearance. Embarrassingly, we actually got stuck in a mud whole as the minivans just drove around us.... ) So, as you're looking at this wild lion going about it's lazy day, there is at least a half dozen or so other vans forming a half-circle around it, with everyone sticking there heads out of their respective vehicle roofs, video cameras and still cameras all firing at once. No point in complaining since you're a part of the problem, but it does take away from the "Out of Africa" feeling. Most vans stay for a few minutes, then quickly race off to the next "hot spot". Frankly, you could ditch the radio and just use a pair of binoculars to spot wildlife because all you need to do is spot a group of minivans and then race over to that spot as there's bound to be something to see.
After the first game drive, we headed back to camp for some lunch and some down time. Why we need downtime from viewing animals I don't know, but clearly you don't stay out in the park all day. By around 4pm we were back in the truck and heading back into the park for our second game drive. We managed to find an extremely elusive black rhino (of which there are apparently only 45 in the park), which would arguably be the highlight of any safari if not for the fact that you can't get within about 500 meters or so of it without scaring it off. Not sure about others, but a black rhino over half a kilometer away is tough to get excited about since it looks like a bunch of other animals that are of similar size and color. For me, an up close encounter with an elephant or giraffe was much more rewarding then a black rhino so far away, but then again, maybe I'm more interested in the "photo" rather then the animal itself... As rains started to set in, we headed back to camp a little earlier then planned for another prepared meal with the whole group.
Wednesday brought our second full day in the park and we started with a pre-dawn game drive in an attempt to spot a few more animals. After a good amount of driving, we came across a good size herd of elephants that entertained us for a bit, and gave one truck a little bit of a loud warning that maybe it was a bit too close to the baby elephant. Of interest, is that the only time the drivers don't shut off the vehicle engine for viewing is when we are in the presence of elephants. For every other animal, they pull up as close as they can get then just shut the engine off, but I guess there's too much risk of an elephant charging so they keep the motor running, just in case....
Back at camp, our group decided to take the controversial tour of the local Masai village. I say controversial because you're warned several times that the village is over commercialized and not at all reflective of "real" Masai village. Regardless, we all decided that we were still interested in visiting it so we spent the mid-afternoon being entertained by some local Masai (report to follow).
A fourth game drive took place Wednesday afternoon, and as luck would have it, it provided for some great photos. We again found some more lions and even came across a rather large group of cubs that were just playing around in the bushes as the mother lions nursed the others. We also spent a good amount of time driving around looking for more elephants and particularly some giraffes, but to no avail. How it is that we could routinely find a lion lying under a bush in the shade but we couldn't find a herd of elephants or giraffes is beyond me. I realize that animals move around, but it's not like a bunch of giraffes can just blend into the landscape, or duck under a bush to hide. I guess that's some of the irony that you come across. The bigger the animal (rhino, elephant, giraffe) the harder it is to spot them.
As the game drive was ending and we started heading back to camp, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that I still didn't have "my shot", that one clear photo that really captures an animal in a special way. Well, someone "up above" must have been listening because as we rounded the corner, we came across a male lion that earlier had been sleeping and rather uninteresting, at least as uninteresting as a wild, sleeping lion can be. Well, just as we saw us come around the bend, he sat up and gave up the biggest yawn I'd seen to date. Teeth, tongue and all, right in front of us just a few feet from the truck. I had the driver slam on the breaks, quickly pulled the camera back out, and got off a sequence of photos that gave me "my shot". Amazing how luck just drops in front of you sometimes... A minute earlier or later and the lion would have been back sleeping. (Which it did do right after we left.)
Thursday was our last day and after packing up we had a small game drive in the morning as we crossed the park and headed back towards Nairobi. Humorously, the most "dangerous" part of the entire trip was dealing with the Masai souvenir sellers that literally attach you as you enter and leave the park. It's pretty amazing how aggressive they are and as the truck pulls up to the park gate, about a dozen or so sellers just swarm the truck, stuffing all sorts of merchandise in your face as they shout out prices. Luckily, I didn't really interest them and instead they focused on the first row of the truck, where the three French travelers were sitting, and the rear row where the two Asian travelers were seating. The lone Canadian guy in the middle didn't really interest them. (Of course, it was probably more related to the fact that the others were actually making purchases, which causes a frenzy among the sellers in much the same way that whacking a bee hive stirs up the bees around it. Just crazy.) The trip back to Nairobi, while long and bumpy was rather uneventful and we rolled back into town around 6pm.
So, all in all the trip went really well. I could have done without Lake Baringo and Lake Bogario, they didn't really offer me all that much. Lake Nakuru was a nice stop and obviously the Masai Mara is worth it, though I've heard that some of the other parks, notably Samburu National Reserve, are just as good and in some ways better then the Masai Mara.
The only complaints that I have are directed more towards the whole safari thing to begin with, and not really towards the tour operator. Like I said earlier, the park is full of vehicles racing around looking for animals. If you think you're going to be alone, you're wrong. At one point I was wondering what would happen if we just got two or three trucks to stop in the middle of nowhere, pretend that there was something of interest, then wait to see how long it would take for the others to race over. We never did that, but I think it would be a fun experiment. I've heard that the crowds are even worse in Tanzania, which all but rules out any thought I had of also doing a safari in the Serengeti on this trip. I can only imagine what the crowds are like during high-season. (Mid-March is considered low-season since the rains have begun.)
So at the end of the day, it was fun trip, I enjoyed having three meals a day cooked for me, but it wasn't some wild, machete hacking, we're-in-the-middle-of-nowhere safari that I'd still like to experience. Oh, and maybe the ultimate example of just how "developed" the Masai Mara is.... Mobile phones work out on the planes.... 'nuff said.
Kenny
posted by Kenny Carruthers at 3/10/2006 02:04:00 AM
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