Safari

On Wednesday we were picked up by three vans from the travel agency and driven to the Masai Mara Game Preserve on the edge of the Serengeti International Park.  There are dozens of lodges and camps in the Masai Mara that cater to foreigners who want to see wild animals in their native element.  Our lodge, Mara Simba, is a “Luxury” hotel, by African standards, which means the facility was much like a Holiday Inn, only with an African tribal theme, and lots more workers.  It had hot and cold running water in the shower, not the usual electric water heater shower head that most other African hotels have.

The purpose of this trip was team-building.  This is a place where the average Kenyan will never get to go because of the cost.  We took all the orphanage workers, Maureen and Francis, Risper from the WBS office and Susie and I.  We took time on Thursday to meet together about education needs, but otherwise it was all rest and relaxation.

When we arrived, we were served lunch; the food is excellent, by any standard.  Then at 4pm they took us on our first of four game drives that we experienced this week.  They have these vans that the top comes up on.  You can stand up or sit as you prefer.  The drivers have radios so they can communicate a “find” to the others.  They do a great job of finding the animals you came to see, though the terrain is very bumpy. 

 

We were able to see lions, mostly females but a couple of males, and cubs.  We saw a rhino on our first day from a distance and then Thursday, we were able to get amazingly close.  We found a cheetah, which are amazingly beautiful creatures, though we did not get to see her run.  There were wildebeests aplenty as well has hundreds of zebras.  Yesterday, Simon Karanja, who was riding in our van, spotted three lionesses sleeping in the sun that the driver had missed.  We were able to get to them and have them basically all to ourselves, though the driver was nervous because they were a little “off the track.”

We had a great time each evening socializing and kidding each other over dinner and after.  I think the workers really got along well together.  This morning we did our last game drive on the way out of the park.  It was ok, but a little late in the day for great animal spotting.  After we left the park, we did have two animal encounters that were memorable.  

Along the side of the road, near a Masai village, we spotted a couple of dozen Kenyans looking at a large carcass.  As we approached I was saddened to see that it was an elephant, killed by the poisoned arrows of poachers, and with its entire face hacked off to get the ivory.  It was awful to see such a mighty beast slaughtered for nothing more than a human’s greed.  Ivory is tremendously valuable and the poachers use of poisoned arrows ruins the meat of the animal so very little can be salvaged.  I won’t be posting the pictures as they are pretty disturbing.

After a little more driving we came across two giraffes “necking.”  This is a type of fighting that two males do to determine the leader of the herd.  We scared them off, however and the fled back to the herd who numbered at least twenty.  They are amazingly large, not at all like the cartoon figures you are used to.  Very elegant runners; almost like slow-motion.

Tomorrow we’ll have another meeting with the workers and then bid them farewell back to their homes.  We’ll be seeing most of them again this trip as we begin to visit the orphanages Sunday with Ndhiwa. Below is a web album of the safari pix.

Kenyan Safari 2010