Kenya - Part 1

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Kenya - Part 1

There she lay, staring right through me, as if I was made of glass. Her large round eyes nested in a huge head bristling with power and energy. And hunger. Only a matter of feet away from where I stood watching and waiting with baited breath. My heart pounded as I imagined this look being directed at me. She rested on her fore paws, her head at the same level as me on the embankment, gazing longingly at her prey as she worked out her strategy.

It is hard to describe the emotions you feel being so close to one of nature’s most ruthless killers in her territory. Especially, when the bus you are standing in is broken down and has its roof up high, with a gap just about big enough for a determined lion to sneak through and save herself a chase. So, I, and the five others with me, sat down very quietly and bowed to her superiority. That is how it was watching this massive lioness as she began to stalk a small herd of zebras.

But I am getting way ahead of myself, for this was two days in to what was a six day adventure that I truly believe everyone should try.

Since I was a small child, reading Willard Price adventure stories, I have long dreamed of visiting Kenya. For me the Kenyan Safari was the end goal, the holidays of holidays, and I always knew one day I would make it happen. So why was it that when my beloved wife suggested we go there I hesitated? Simple. I was holding myself back. I felt it wasn’t fair of me to accomplish my life’s goal, especially at the age of 27! But go we did, and it is a decision that I will never regret. For, though I had often dreamed what it would be like, the reality left me far from disappointed.

We departed England from Gatwick and spent a fairly comfortable 9 hours flying to Mombassa airport where we were greeted and transported through the shanty towns around the city to our hotel. I will not bore you with the details of the hotel, or the stay we had there, for like most holidays there is always something to do for a determined tourist, or nothing to do for those that like a “crocodile holiday”. This last is a local euphemism I picked up which aptly describes those holidays where you do nothing but eat drink and sleep. After the stay in the hotel, where we really took in all the sights of Mobassa with local guides, tuk tuks, pole boats and matatus, the day I had been waiting for finally arrived. The Safari was upon us.

My wife and I (season travellers both… ahem!) had packed our six days clothes into one tiny bag big enough to fit over my shoulder, forfeiting any and all luxuries in favour of clean underwear and mosquito repellent. And, as we walked out of the hotel expecting to be greeted by air-conditioned state of the art Land Rovers, we saw our only mode of transport for the better part of a week. A broken down, rusting heap of metal that would usually be called a minibus, except when it has had its roof cut so that it can extend upwards by about two foot! So in we got, greeted the people that would later become our friends and headed out into the open savannah.

The landscape changes along with the weather, the further inland you go from Mombassa towards. They both gradually become drier. The architecture changes also, for as you make your way along the tarmac road, moving from one group of people to the next, never out of the eyesight of at least one person, the buildings change, from well constructed tower blocks, to brick houses, to dwellings composed of mud and dung. But all the while the locals smile and wave as you pass the by. Until, most unexpectedly, the driver turns sharply onto what can only be described as a dirt track, deeply cut with grooves and trenches, and driving over which the remainder of your safari will be spent.

We should probably dilate here upon the sublime feeling of spotting your first animal, for as we made a turn some many miles down this track, we came upon the memory which stands out the most for many travellers to Kenya. For me it was a large bull elephant, long past his prime and separated from the herd for the remainder of his life. It is virtually impossible to describe the emotions which overwhelmed me at that time, but I shall try by explaining that within me there was a cocktail comprising of two parts elation, one part wonderment, three parts excitement, one part relief and several other parts of emotions unknown. The relief came from an initial introduction the guides give at the beginning of every trip about the scale of the landscape and the quantity of animals, along with a rough indication of the odds of seeing anything at all. Needless to say, of that very fist animal, there were reels of photos take, though had we known early on that this elephant was to be least of our sights, we could have saved the battery and space. However, for that moment as we headed on to our first Lodge, quaintly known as Crocodile Camp, we were in bliss, for already our trip was a success.

But here I shall leave it, for there are many tales to tell of this mini-adventure. For surely as the sun sets over a hazy savannah, these tales will be told and all will have their fill.

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