Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, Days 334 - 337

Unlike most people who come to Africa to go on safari, Christi and I did not book our trip to the Maasai Mara National Reserve ahead of time through some flashy-looking website with beautiful images of wildlife (although now that I write that, I realize that is exactly what I am striving for with this blog series. Well, perhaps, the website is not quite in the league of flashy, but I hope in totality and breadth the photos I am posting at least give you the urge to think about traveling!). But I do wonder when I book any foreign trip through a US travel agent / website (which I almost never do) who is the actual vendor. Is it simply a matter of the US travel industry taking a cut and passing the safari reservation to an agency in Nairobi? Now for a regular two-week vacation, I can appreciate having a US-based travel agency arrange everything so that you can relax and enjoy the trip, but since Christi and I are already in Nairobi where agents are falling over themselves to arrange safaris, it seemed much more practical to book our Maasai Mara locally. And I think we got a rather good deal from Jocky Tours. Initially, we discussed joining a larger tour group, but the cost of a private trip was really not that much more so we are embarking upon a 4-day safari to the Maasai Mara National Reserve (technically not a national park as it is not run by the Kenyan government and the Maasai people still have grazing rights). What we get is an 8-seater pop-top minivan, a driver / guide (George) and a cook Matthew.

It’s a long, bumpy drive from Nairobi to the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Considering this route bringing thousands of tourists to the Maasai Mara every year, you might think that the roads would be in much better shape. George explains why that is not the case. Corruption is endemic in Kenya and many officials have to be bribed before construction (often orchestrated by Chinese contractors) can begin. However, by the time all the government officials have been bribed, there is little money left to pay for the work. So rather than build a structurally sound road, a thin layer of asphalt is relaid over the existing pile of debris, which looks great for a week or two and then the pot holes reappear!

We stop twice on our journey out to the Maasai Mara. Once for views over the rift valley (in which the Mara lies) and the second for lunch in Narok, the largest town in the area. No one (apart from me that is) appears in a rush. Part of the reason is that access to the reserve is granted in 24-hour blocks. Although we arranged a 4-day safari, we only have a 3-day pass for the Maasai Mara. Having said that, I am surprised to see wildlife roaming the route to the Mara (giraffe, Thomson’s gazelle, wildebeest, baboons, and zebra to name but a few). Another point that maybe Christi and I should have clarified with Jocky Tours is that our permanent tented accommodation is not actually in the reserve. The way it is described in the brochure makes it sound as if it is, but just to let you know it is not. Instead the Rhino Tourist Camp lies a few minutes outside the Oloolaimutia Gate. Our tent is built onto a concrete base and split into two sections. The front part houses two beds, while the discretely concealed rear of the tent hides a tiled bathroom with sit-down toilet and shower with hot water. A generator provides power between 6 pm and 10 pm to charge the batteries in those fancy cameras! I have no idea where George and Mathew sleep, although Mathew snags a section of a communal dining area for Christi and I to eat (and somewhere hidden from view is a shared kitchen. Apparently, Mathew brought all the food that Christi and I will eat with us from Nairobi). So the things that man control, such as food and accommodation, works well. Spotting wildlife is a whole other story.

Breakfast is at 7 each day and by 7.30 we enter the reserve. And for the next 11 hours (or as long as I can persuade George to stay in the Mara) the search is on for wildlife. And because the Maasai Mara is a premier wildlife area, there are a lot of people and vehicles doing the exact same thing as us. The wildlife seems much more relaxed that the visitors who wait, long lenses at the ready, for something to happen. And there’s the rub. Safari companies are adept at seducing us, the punters, with dramatic images of wildlife, but the Mara is nearly 600 square miles in size and so the odds of any one individual being in the right place at the right time is small. That is not to say that you do not see wildlife. It is there in abundance (herds of giraffe, zebra, elephants, and all manner of antelope) but a lion on a kill? A cheetah playing with its cubs? A leopard stalking its prey? Not so much.

We potter along some dirt tracks around shady nooks or take to the vast open plains in hopes of spotting something spectacular. George is an experienced guide so hopefully he has an idea where we should go, but he is also very quiet. George does not talk, he merely drives. Eventually our persistence pays off, though. We do see a lion on a kill (which it drags hurriedly into the undergrowth to avoid the unwanted attention of a dozen vehicles), a male and female lion mating, and a lioness with cubs. At one point we get a flat tire amid some very tall savannah grass and George very warily gets out of the vehicle to change it. We are told to stay inside, but I never was very good at taking orders and jump down, camera in hand, and step foot on the Maasai Mara . A gazelle appears from nowhere taking me completely by surprise. I had no idea it was it in the long grass not ten feet away. What else could be hiding nearby, I wonder? I edge nearer the minivan and feeling a little more circumspect ease myself aboard. Christi gives me a look that says I told you so! In theory we have timed our visit to the Maasai Mara to see the annual wildebeest migration and we dutifully visit the Mara river which the million or so animals have to cross in order to move from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to the lush grasslands of the Mara in Kenya. Once again, though, the wildlife is not cooperating and the wildebeest migration is delayed this year.

It is surprising how much of an appetite one develops on safari, even though we never leave the vehicle. Matthew does a grand job of keeping us well fed. All too soon the adventure is over. I should liked to have stayed longer; being on safari is addictive (the heat and the mosquitoes aside) and one always has the hope that something spectacular will happen right in front of our eyes. Christi has to prise the camera from my hands and then tells George it is okay to leave the reserve. The drive back to Nairobi is rough and the traffic in the capital is unimaginably heavy. A few hours ago I was scanning the horizon as a herd of elephants ambled by, now I’m sucking in pollution and barely moving on the congested streets of Nairobi. It’s a sobering dose of reality when all I want is the fantasy.