Why is the white vehicle on the RIGHT? Later in the day there were Masai people here offering
jewelry and other items for sale to the tourists.
Monday, March 26 (Day 10): Game drives in the Masai Mara
As planned, Maina woke us with a quiet, "Good morn-ing!" from outside the tent's front flaps, which had been zippered shut the night before to keep out bugs, monkeys, and what-have-you. In a bit of a fog, I replied, "Just a minute!" thinking that Carol and I ought to get up and put some clothes on before he came in with a tray. I could hear him rattling the cups slightly, so I suggested, "Just leave it out there and we'll get it in a few minutes." He said, again quietly, "Sorry, I can't. The monkeys might get it." I gave up and told him to bring it in. He unzipped the flap and came in smiling broadly with a small table with two cups, two pots (one coffee, one chocolate), some milk and sugar and a plate of cookies. He placed the table between the beds, ducked back out and zipped the flap shut.
Carol nibbled the cookies and sipped the steaming hot chocolate while I shaved and pulled on some clothes, then she dressed while I sampled the coffee. What a delightful wake-up! We grabbed camera, binoculars, and backpacks with drinking water, rain suits (just in case) and other items, and bustled out of the tent and across to the camp entrance to meet Willie. Les and Linda were already loading up as we arrived, so we were off at 6:30 on the dot.
It was still fairly dark in the pre-dawn twilight, and actually almost chilly! We couldn't believe we were in equatorial Africa and needed long sleeves. Les and Linda actually put on several layers. The Land Cruiser we were riding in was more open than the one in Tanzania had been and we were exposed to the breeze blowing through, adding some "wind chill" to the air temperature which was probably in the upper 60s. We drove South from the camp towards the park entrance, bouncing through the ruts and over the rocks.
The park entrance was a fairly imposing building built right over and across the road with a gate blocking the way in. It wasn't clear what Willie had to do to allow our vehicle to gain entrance. Probably he just checked in and out. Back in Nairobi, Joyce (of Luke Travel) had given Carol a large sum of cash - over $300 - (in U.S. currency!) to cover our 3 days of park entrance. When we arrived at Kichwa Tembo, as I was signing us in at the lobby desk, Carol met with some park rangers at a table in the lobby and gave them the money for our entrance. She was given receipts, which we assumed we would need to get into the park. But we were never asked for the receipts. We couldn't figure out their system, but we knew we had paid, and we were allowed in with no questions. Go figure!
Below is a dark picture of the entrance building at dawn, taken through the Land Cruiser's windshield.
Why is the white vehicle on the RIGHT? Later in the day there were Masai people
here offering
jewelry and other items for sale to the tourists.
About ten minutes later we were still quite close to the camp when Willie saw lions lying on top of some dirt mounds just across a creek. He eased our vehicle down to the water, across on some gravel, then gunned the engine and managed to climb up a steep sandy bank on the other side. Another Kichwa Tembo land cruiser was right behind us, but the driver lacked Willie's skill. We waited and watched while they made several attempts to climb up out of the creek, getting stuck and spinning each time before reaching the top. The picture below shows the last attempt we watched (unsuccessful!) If you look closely at the right front tire (on the left side of the picture), you can see it's spinning.
These folks need a tow. We didn't offer them any help, though.
We spent the next ten minutes watching and taking pictures of what Willie called "the Kichwa Tembo pride" of lions. He told us that this group tended to stay quite close to the camp, and could frequently be heard at night roaring. Normally the pride consisted of 15 lions; on this morning we saw only 13.
There are four in this picture, but one is hard to pick out in the background.
"Mabel, why don't they go away and leave us alone?" "I don't know, Helen, they
just won't!"
"Well, I'm not putting up with them another minute." "I'm outta here."
As we drove around in the Mara we were struck by several differences from the Serengeti. First, as mentioned before, Willie could drive anywhere the vehicle could go. He didn't have to stay on the roads. This was really nice, allowing us to get as close as possible to any animals we saw. Next, the topography was different near Kichwa Tembo. The escarpment was always clearly in sight to the West as a constant geographical reminder of where we were and which way we were driving. The land wasn't as rolling in character, but rather flatter with more trees and wooded areas, especially along the Mara river and its tributaries. One similarity, though, was the height of the grass! Here too, the dry season had not been all that dry, and the grass was 3-4 feet tall or more and thick in most places. This made for a lot of "green ears" sightings, when we thought we had glimpsed an animal in the grass only to head towards it and discover leafy weeds or a small termite mound.
The picture below is intended to give an idea of the topography of the Masai Mara. Willie told us that "Mara" was a Masai word that meant "spotted plain." The "spots" were the small acacia trees that show up in most of our pictures, except the close-up shots. As usual, a good, descriptive name.
The Masai Mara: truly a "spotted plain."
We were already clamoring for a "Chui!" (leopard) and looked in every tree for a cat. We succeeded this morning in finding a tawny eagle in a tree, and later a secretary bird on the ground. These bird are so-named because of the black individual feathers on the top and back of its head. These are said to look like pens (the kind you write with!), and apparently reminded someone of a secretary. Whoever it was gave that name to the bird. They have long, skinny legs, and look almost gawky as they walk around. We have other pictures of secretary birds later, which might show the "pens" better.
A tawny eagle deciding whether to fly away or not. At right, a secretary bird
with pens behind her ears.
The picture below is one of the better ones we got of two waterbucks. Actually these are both females, so I dubbed them "waterdoes." I don't think Willie was too amused - he had probably heard it many times before. These gazelles are really pretty, both because of the coloring of their coats and the fact that they are long haired; almost shaggy. At the very end of the trip we saw a herd of sable antelope, which are also long haired and very pretty. But waterbucks were one of my favorites.
Two waterbucks, ready to bolt into the trees.
By now it was almost 8:00 A.M. We tried to get a close-up shot of a black-headed heron, and although the focus isn't crystal clear, we were rewarded with an easily identifiable photo of one.
Black-headed heron. One of the few African birds whose
colors
actually matched its name.
As we drove on, I noticed a number of vultures in some trees ahead. I didn't attach any significance to this, assuming they were just roosting there. Then one of us (Carol, I think) spotted a recently killed waterbuck and three lions. For some reason we took no pictures of the lions. We can't remember if they were just low in the grass and not very visible, or what! Our notes tell us there were three, and we have a nice, gory shot of the carcass, but no lions. ??? We made a real effort to record in our notebook everything we saw and many of our impressions during the trip. We knew that days and events and animal sightings would all begin to get fuzzy in our minds as time passed, but as each day went by I kept thinking that I would clearly remember each scene. They were so vivid at the time! Wrong! As I write this it's only been 8 weeks, and some of the scenes are just gone from memory! Anyway, here's what was left of the waterbuck.
Eeeeewwwww!
Most of the time Willie would follow tracks where other vehicles had gone before, but sometimes he would just head out across country. We left the waterbuck kill, and drove for 10-15 minutes along a "road" (tracks through the grass). We saw other vehicles stopped ahead and off to one side, so headed in that direction. Cheetahs!! The light was good (it was just after 8:00 AM, and the sun was shining through broken clouds) and we are really proud of some of the pictures we took here! See what you think…
"I'm a mighty hunter and the fastest in the Mara!" At right: "No, I'm faster
than you are and a better hunter!"
"I'm sleepy!" At right, Mama is ignoring the brood and looking for their next
meal.
The "kids" are still playing and acting like kittens. What's happening on the
other end of the log?
Mama is there, checking things out.
Our first full day in the Mara!