Kenya, Part Four!
Enough of that boring work stuff. Let's get to the goods, complete with a shit-ton of pictures. No zebras were humped during the writing of this entry.
4 Dec 09 - With the conference over and all our official duties and functions completed, it was time to have some fun. Boss, Titan, Plotter, and I had taken some extra days after the conference for vacation time. Alas, Copper and Chief could not join us; their loss.
Although, just to make sure my point got across earlier...
Monkeys. Hanging around offices. Can work get any better?
Our grand safari adventure began at 7:30 am when a van picked us all up. This would be the same van that would take us through the park. Note to everyone: If you go to Kenya or Tanzania, check out Sardius Tours. Our experience with them was 90% awesome (they lose 10% because the vehicle they provided for us was a bit old). Leaving Nairobi to the north took us through a lot of coffee and tea plantations and some smaller towns. And then suddenly we hit the eastern escarpment of the Great Rift Valley.
I remember reading about the Great Rift Valley way way back in high school. It's one of those places that is really geologically important and always worth mentioning and you know all about it but you never actually expect to go headfirst into it. It was beautiful - vast regions of flatlands surrounded by rock walls on each side, miles and miles apart. Even the pictures don’t really convey the hugeness here. Mount Longonot and Mount Suswa, old volcanoes, are the highlights of the landscape.
The road went down into the valley, all the way across, and then back up the western escarpment. You know, it’s not often you get to use the word “escarpment”. I should visit this place more often.
Then the road ended.
To be fair, the driver warned us that at some point the road would become rough. I think that was the understatement of the weekend. The change in road states would be like comparing the pleasant surf waters of the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico during a hurricane. This one vibrates to eleven.
Anyway, we vibrate our way past the rift and into the savannah grasslands and draw close to Masai Mara, one of Kenya’s most popular game reserves. It already seemed to be a fruitful trip, as we saw a family of warthogs, a small herd of resident wildebeest, and several Thompson’s gazelles, as well as some guinea fowl. It should be pointed out that all the aforementioned creatures are edible, and yet none are available for consumption. Oh fate, how you mock me!
We get to the lodge and are greeted by a team of chanting Masai tribesmen. Or remarkable facsimiles thereof. Our luggage is brought to our “tents”. Really they were wooden foundations with a sturdy large canvas tent erected over the foundation, and then with a solid structure appended to the rear for water, power, and bathroom facilities. I think it’s cool. Titan and Plotter think that lions are going to come at night and rip open the canvas and eat them. The lodge security guards then point out that across from Titan’s tentcabinthing is a huge plain at the base of the mountain, and that at night lions and elephants and other animals come down the mountain to the watering hole which is near Boss’s tentcabinthing. My tentcabinthing is between theirs, and Plotter’s is further inside the grounds. An electric fence separates us from the Great Outside.
This was so much awesome. I’m such an easy-to-please tourist. Not even this guy could put me off my excitement:
Our first drive is at 4:00 pm. We get settled, rest and realign our spines from our long vibrating drive, and then meet our driver once more. And into the park we go.
Somewhere over the course of the three hour drive, I realized that the goal was not necessarily to see animals, because any zoo of worth has most of these animals on display. No, the goal was to experience the animals in their true environment, and in their true numbers.
I can say without a doubt that we saw on the order of hundreds of zebras, gazelles, impalas, and wildebeest. Hundreds. Entire herds of them just roaming around, minding their own business. One male impala with a score of females. Other solitary male impalas, waiting to challenge another male to dominion. Elands, largest of the antelopes. Topi, a midsized antelope. Warthogs, easily frightened and thus difficult to get close to. The Secretary Bird, which we learned about at the museum the day before, and now got to see live and up close. And we took pictures of everything, like kids in a candy store. The most amazing of these sights was a group of giraffes coming out of a thicket. It was just a majestic sight, eight of them marching past us.
The Supreme Goal of the safari drive is to see The Big Five: lions, elephants, buffalo, cheetahs or leopards, and rhinos. We found buffalo first, lounging around grazing, and with tick pecker birds on their backs. More driving, more herds, some vultures waiting for a dead body to show, some hyenas waiting for evening, and then a cheetah, resting in the shade like a big lazy kitty. You can tell a cheetah from a leopard by its slimmer body and the “tear stains” under its eyes. We were some twenty feet from it, and it just lay there. No one got eaten.
Up next, lions. In a small grove we found four lionesses resting up. They would occasionally sit up and look at the gawking tourists, and then lie back down for a catnap. Once again, no one got eaten. No male lions were in sight this time. Our guide tried a few known rhino hangout spots, but all for naught. Still, the volume of animals that our three-hour tour provided was unbelievable. Also, I was hungry for ANIMAL FLESH! So much to eat, and yet all so far away.
On the way back to the lodge, I took a picture of the landscape. Ok, that's not a wholly true statement; I was taking pictures of the landscape every ninety seconds or so. I'm a sucker for landscapes. But I liked this one especially, because of the clouds:
When we got back, Titan and Boss and Plotter hung out at the reception desk while I headed back to the tentcabinthing. As I got close, a passing security guard waved to me. “Come see this!” I followed him to the electric fence and, in the dark, we could see the silhouettes of a few elephants going to the water hole. He pointed out that ten minutes earlier they had been right across from Titan’s tentcabinthing. She was somewhat apprehensive about that when I told her.
Nighttime in the tentcabinthing was relaxing - the sounds of dozens of different birds and bugs were kind of relaxing. Sure, occasionally an elephant trumpeted, but I guess that’s the local flavor coming through.
Also, lizard vengeance came back to haunt me. My bathroom was a haven for class reptilia and its cohorts. There were anywhere between three and five salamander-like things hanging out on the walls of my bathroom at any given point in time. They weren't doing much, so I let them be. However, I did promise that if one of them dropped on my head while I was pooping, there would be a genocide such as the world had never seen before. I think we all got the message.
Even more exciting action tomorrow, as our journey continues! Also, it helps to spread all the pictures out over time.
4 Dec 09 - With the conference over and all our official duties and functions completed, it was time to have some fun. Boss, Titan, Plotter, and I had taken some extra days after the conference for vacation time. Alas, Copper and Chief could not join us; their loss.
Although, just to make sure my point got across earlier...
Monkeys. Hanging around offices. Can work get any better?
Our grand safari adventure began at 7:30 am when a van picked us all up. This would be the same van that would take us through the park. Note to everyone: If you go to Kenya or Tanzania, check out Sardius Tours. Our experience with them was 90% awesome (they lose 10% because the vehicle they provided for us was a bit old). Leaving Nairobi to the north took us through a lot of coffee and tea plantations and some smaller towns. And then suddenly we hit the eastern escarpment of the Great Rift Valley.
I remember reading about the Great Rift Valley way way back in high school. It's one of those places that is really geologically important and always worth mentioning and you know all about it but you never actually expect to go headfirst into it. It was beautiful - vast regions of flatlands surrounded by rock walls on each side, miles and miles apart. Even the pictures don’t really convey the hugeness here. Mount Longonot and Mount Suswa, old volcanoes, are the highlights of the landscape.
The road went down into the valley, all the way across, and then back up the western escarpment. You know, it’s not often you get to use the word “escarpment”. I should visit this place more often.
Then the road ended.
To be fair, the driver warned us that at some point the road would become rough. I think that was the understatement of the weekend. The change in road states would be like comparing the pleasant surf waters of the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico during a hurricane. This one vibrates to eleven.
Anyway, we vibrate our way past the rift and into the savannah grasslands and draw close to Masai Mara, one of Kenya’s most popular game reserves. It already seemed to be a fruitful trip, as we saw a family of warthogs, a small herd of resident wildebeest, and several Thompson’s gazelles, as well as some guinea fowl. It should be pointed out that all the aforementioned creatures are edible, and yet none are available for consumption. Oh fate, how you mock me!
We get to the lodge and are greeted by a team of chanting Masai tribesmen. Or remarkable facsimiles thereof. Our luggage is brought to our “tents”. Really they were wooden foundations with a sturdy large canvas tent erected over the foundation, and then with a solid structure appended to the rear for water, power, and bathroom facilities. I think it’s cool. Titan and Plotter think that lions are going to come at night and rip open the canvas and eat them. The lodge security guards then point out that across from Titan’s tentcabinthing is a huge plain at the base of the mountain, and that at night lions and elephants and other animals come down the mountain to the watering hole which is near Boss’s tentcabinthing. My tentcabinthing is between theirs, and Plotter’s is further inside the grounds. An electric fence separates us from the Great Outside.
This was so much awesome. I’m such an easy-to-please tourist. Not even this guy could put me off my excitement:
Our first drive is at 4:00 pm. We get settled, rest and realign our spines from our long vibrating drive, and then meet our driver once more. And into the park we go.
Somewhere over the course of the three hour drive, I realized that the goal was not necessarily to see animals, because any zoo of worth has most of these animals on display. No, the goal was to experience the animals in their true environment, and in their true numbers.
I can say without a doubt that we saw on the order of hundreds of zebras, gazelles, impalas, and wildebeest. Hundreds. Entire herds of them just roaming around, minding their own business. One male impala with a score of females. Other solitary male impalas, waiting to challenge another male to dominion. Elands, largest of the antelopes. Topi, a midsized antelope. Warthogs, easily frightened and thus difficult to get close to. The Secretary Bird, which we learned about at the museum the day before, and now got to see live and up close. And we took pictures of everything, like kids in a candy store. The most amazing of these sights was a group of giraffes coming out of a thicket. It was just a majestic sight, eight of them marching past us.
The Supreme Goal of the safari drive is to see The Big Five: lions, elephants, buffalo, cheetahs or leopards, and rhinos. We found buffalo first, lounging around grazing, and with tick pecker birds on their backs. More driving, more herds, some vultures waiting for a dead body to show, some hyenas waiting for evening, and then a cheetah, resting in the shade like a big lazy kitty. You can tell a cheetah from a leopard by its slimmer body and the “tear stains” under its eyes. We were some twenty feet from it, and it just lay there. No one got eaten.
Up next, lions. In a small grove we found four lionesses resting up. They would occasionally sit up and look at the gawking tourists, and then lie back down for a catnap. Once again, no one got eaten. No male lions were in sight this time. Our guide tried a few known rhino hangout spots, but all for naught. Still, the volume of animals that our three-hour tour provided was unbelievable. Also, I was hungry for ANIMAL FLESH! So much to eat, and yet all so far away.
On the way back to the lodge, I took a picture of the landscape. Ok, that's not a wholly true statement; I was taking pictures of the landscape every ninety seconds or so. I'm a sucker for landscapes. But I liked this one especially, because of the clouds:
When we got back, Titan and Boss and Plotter hung out at the reception desk while I headed back to the tentcabinthing. As I got close, a passing security guard waved to me. “Come see this!” I followed him to the electric fence and, in the dark, we could see the silhouettes of a few elephants going to the water hole. He pointed out that ten minutes earlier they had been right across from Titan’s tentcabinthing. She was somewhat apprehensive about that when I told her.
Nighttime in the tentcabinthing was relaxing - the sounds of dozens of different birds and bugs were kind of relaxing. Sure, occasionally an elephant trumpeted, but I guess that’s the local flavor coming through.
Also, lizard vengeance came back to haunt me. My bathroom was a haven for class reptilia and its cohorts. There were anywhere between three and five salamander-like things hanging out on the walls of my bathroom at any given point in time. They weren't doing much, so I let them be. However, I did promise that if one of them dropped on my head while I was pooping, there would be a genocide such as the world had never seen before. I think we all got the message.
Even more exciting action tomorrow, as our journey continues! Also, it helps to spread all the pictures out over time.