An African Diary : A marvellous journey inside the Maasai Mara

Prologue 

People have often told me to start a travel blog. But, the inherent lax attitude (the feeling we lovingly call the ‘lyad’) of a Bong has always stopped me from taking that initiative. However, this time, I finally managed to do it, for my first trip to Africa has been so fulfilling that it would have been unjust not to share it with the rest of the world. And then, when a Bong finally decides to write a travelogue, nothing can beat the temptation to follow the style of our beloved 'Professor Shanku'. So, this piece here is more like a traveler’s diary, instead of a regular travel blog. I have tried my best to describe the experiences, and I do hope you will enjoy the stories and the photographs.

February 4, 8:15pm, Istanbul airport:

Since the day we (me and Kushal) planned to take this trip, tens and hundreds of worries gripped us from time to time, one of the major tensions being the authenticity of the travel agency we already paid an advance to. However, during the time leading up to the departure day, a different issue came up, giving us occasional headaches and making us (and many other well-wishers) think again whether we should actually go on this tour. Well, that burning issue is nothing but the recent executive order signed by the respected president of the country. Albeit none of India, Kenya or Tanzania are in the list of the countries that received the travel ban; one can never be sure until one sits on the plane.

Quite expectedly, when we arrived at the O’hare International Airport yesterday, it was not filled with many tourists and luckily for us, fifteen odd minutes were enough to get us in front of the gate. With more than one hour to spend, both of us being the best connoisseurs, we readily agreed to have a bite at the nearby Wow Bao store (and that brought certain happy memories to my mind – but that story is not for today) and we knew that the trip has been off to a safe start.

Spoke too soon!

It was certain that this trip was going to be an eventful one – possibly the most exciting one of our life! Hardly we knew that the first worth mention incident will happen five minutes before the first flight was supposed to take off. We boarded the flight at the scheduled hour and settled ourselves in our seats. As usual, I started checking out the list of movies in the in-flight entertainment system. And then, just when the plane was getting ready to leave the gate, the crew suddenly got up and the lights were switched on again. Bewildered, everyone in the flight started to look at each other to make a sense of what was going on. Every single person appeared to be at a loss. For only a couple of minutes though. Next thing we know, two police officers came rushing into the aircraft, stopped in front of a middle-aged man sitting eight rows ahead of us, and asked him to collect his things and leave the plane with them. It was a tense ten minutes for everyone. That person left with the police without making a fuss, bags were double-checked and then, much to the relief of the passengers, the plane started to move out of the gate.

And now, I am sitting at the gate of my next flight, the one that will fly us from Istanbul to Nairobi in seven hours. Boarding will start in five minutes, and hopefully will embark on a journey of lifetime from tomorrow.

February 5, 7:40am, Travel agent’s office at Nairobi:

It will be a very short entry, just to keep account of how things are shaping up here at the capital of Kenya. Turkish airlines brought us to Jama Kenyatta International Airport at Nairobi, safe and sound. It being an early morning arrival, the immigration did not take more than a few minutes and we were out of the airport before 5am. As promised by the Absolute Holiday Safaris, a driver was standing outside, with a sign that read ‘Kushal/Soudeep; TK 607, 4:30am’. We approached him, Jeffrey, a very welcoming guy of our age and he took us to the office within half an hour. The office is situated inside the city, right in front of the Supreme Court of Kenya. Jeffrey and the manager of the agency opened the office and helped us get comfortable in there. Since then, we spent some time on the internet before heading out for a walk around the neighborhood. A brisk walk told us that the area mainly has some offices, including the Supreme Court and the Conference Center. We also realized that Nairobi does not wake up before 8am, at least not on Sundays; and that certainly came in our way of getting some breakfast.

Anyway, we returned to the office only a few minutes back and now are waiting for six more people to join our group, as we came to know this morning. We were also told that the journey should commence at around 8am, which is only 15 minutes away. Hope things will go as planned and hope we will get some enjoyable company in this trip.

February 5, 8:30pm, Miti Mingi eco camp at Maasai Mara:

What a day it has been! Africa has blown my mind on a single day, and I just hope it gets better with every passing day.

Picking up from where I left the last entry, it might be the best to introduce our companions at first. However, I will change the names (and just the names). The first person to join us was Alex, a molecular biology PhD student from China. He seemed a bit introvert, and only opened up a bit when our second last companion, Shao, joined. She is a traveler from China too, and the two engaged in deep conversations soon after. Later we came to know more about them and found that they are really nice persons. Shao will be with us for the full six days in Kenya and Andrew will continue with us in Tanzania too. In fact, we three will be the only ones to go across the border after day six. Two of the other three, Sven and Sven (ah yes, they have the same first names) are from Netherlands and they are here only for the first three days, the time we are supposed to spend in Maasai Mara. The seventh tourist on this trip, Jansen is a college student from Denmark. He is an avid traveler and has been to seventy countries so far. And last but not the least, Stanley was our guide for the part in Kenya. A jolly good fellow, Stanley is a funny and nice guy and is well informed about the flora and fauna in the locality.

Our journey eventually kicked off at around 9:30 am after everyone managed to be picked up. Stanley drove us straight for an hour, until we reached a viewpoint to take a look at the vastness of the Great Rift Valley. This magnanimous land form runs from Lebanon in the north to Mozambique in the southern side of Africa and covers nearly 6000 kilometers in total. Fifteen minutes were nicely spent at the viewpoint where we clicked some photos of the valley. Stanley told us that our trip to the Mara will cover some parts of the valley and excited we hopped on to the van to make our way to the heaven of wildlife.

View of the Great Rift Valley

It took about two hours after the viewpoint to reach the city of Narok where we had our lunch at a local restaurant. It was a sumptuous meal with homemade salad, rice, beans with tomato, potato fries and chicken curry. The heavy lunch and a jet-lag were enough to help me fall asleep as soon as our next part started. It was another two-hour drive from Narok to Maasai Mara and we finally arrived there at 4:10 pm. But the drive this time was not boring at all!

For the last 74 kilometers of our route, it was what our guide called ‘real Kenya’. Dirt roads and occasional potholes made it super bumpy at times. And then, fifty kilometers before the final destination, we spotted the first sign of wildlife. It was a group of zebras eating leaves from a roadside shrub. Minutes later, a friendly group of wildebeest looked at us from the left side of the road while some deer with beautiful antlers kept running here and there. We later came to know that these deer are called Thomson’s gazelle. However, there is literally no photo from this part as it was next to impossible to click a decent picture on the bumpy ride. Stanley chose not to stop for them, for he of course knew that it’s not the end of some zebra sighting and than we will be beside ourselves within an hour only! Well, I guess, without further ado, I should start jotting down the experience from our afternoon game drive at the national park.

As instructed, all of us settled ourselves inside the tent (me and Kushal got a two-bed tent, the Sven duo and Alex with Jansen got the same while Shao had a single one), had coffee and got ready within 20 minutes. Stanley hit the gas right away and within a few minutes, we found ourselves inside the Mara.

It might be hard to describe the experience of seeing everything, for sometimes these things can just be experienced and felt. So, I would rather share some images with occasional anecdotes.

Ten minutes into the park, we got to see hundreds of Thomson’s gazelle, impala, wildebeest and zebra; grazing and running around the greenery that spread across for miles and miles. A few Masai villages were visible at a distance and we saw Masai people returning home with their herds of cows. Stanley told us that lions and other predators often attack those villages to get their food – the cows, sheep and goats of the Masai.

Thomson's gazelle

Zebra

Wildebeest

Impala

After half an hour, we had our next thrilling citing waiting behind a bush, clearly not being able to hide themselves with the long necks. Yes, we saw a group of giraffes chewing leaves with the afternoon sun glowing behind and it indeed was special for all of us. Meanwhile, a Coke’s heartebeest, another type of deer also made its presence felt in front of us.

Coke's heartebeest

Giraffe

And then, the next best thing was waiting for the jubilant group! Throughout this drive, Stanley was keeping contact with other guides and we had no idea what was going on as the communication was being done in Swahili. This time, we could only see an urgency in Stanley’s driving as he hit on the accelerator and took us to a place where two other cars were already standing around a bush. As we moved closer, it became visible to us - a lioness resting in a queenly manner! There were two other partners as well, all three gazing at us with a piercing look that I was most fortunate to capture.

First of the big five - Lion

The piercing eyes of the queen

In case you did not know, Africa is famous for lion, rhinoceros, elephant, buffalo and cheetah – collectively called the big five. Everyone dreams of watching them here in Africa and our day kicked off with the gracious kings of the jungle. We spent more than twenty minutes at this spot, looking at the lions only from a few feet’s distance. And then, as we finally made a move, a pair of buffaloes came in sight, to make our count two of the big five.

Second of the big five - Buffalo/Bison

It is needless to say that the whole group was ecstatic to spot so many animals within one and a half hour. With the sun getting ready to go beyond the horizon, we started our journey back to the camp.

Oops, stupid me! Spoke too soon again!

Stanley was not yet ready to go back and kept contacting his friends to see more. Soon, the accelerator of the van made it evident that we are going for something big, once again! A couple of minutes later, it was a dream come true for me. Since the day I got hooked on to the wildlife around the world and started knowing stuff about them, I have always dreamt of seeing some special animals out in the wild, the list mostly comprising of many endangered ones from different parts of the world. A gorgeous resident of the African jungles made it to that list too. And it is, as one can easily guess, the fastest runner of the animal kingdom. Yes, I have always wished for seeing a Cheetah in its natural habitat, but never ever I actually thought that I would be able to do that. And then, my first day in Africa, there they are!

As Stanley maneuvered his car efficiently and came to a stop, I observed them with undivided attention. Under a tree, there were two cheetahs sitting quietly. I can never explain the feeling of that particular moment. It literally took me more than a few seconds to realize that I am actually seeing a cheetah out in the wild and then I took out my camera to click a picture. Right at that moment, the car started moving again. Surprised and annoyed, we requested Stanley to stop for us and let us take a photo. “Look there,” came the reply. We looked at the direction he pointed at. And there was the planet earth, live in front of us. Five other cheetahs were chasing a herd of wildebeest and impalas. For about a few seconds, this chase sequence was on and no one could take his eyes off this astonishing scene. I was so enthralled that I could not think about anything else and naturally, no photo or video was taken. However, minutes later, as our super awesome guide took the car in front of the cheetahs, bewildered I saw them again, from a few meters out. And here is one of the pictures of those graceful cats – third of our big five.

Third of the big five - Cheetah

We came back to the campsite after the cheetah-spotting, all geared up for tomorrow’s full day game drive. A nice dinner with noodles, ground beef curry and a mixed veg followed and I am now sitting in the dining hall, finishing this entry. It has been a long entry, but a well-deserved long one, don’t you think?

February 6, 7am, Miti Mingi eco camp at Maasai Mara:

A good sleep was all I needed to get charged up for the day. I went to bed yesterday right after finishing the last entry, and slept for about eight hours to wake up fit and ready. Today’s plan is very simple – have breakfast (which I just finished), pack lunch and leave for a whole day of game drive inside the park. The breakfast was pretty nice, with bread, roti-sabji, sausages and coffee. We should start our day very soon and it goes without saying that I am really looking forward to the day now. Hope to see a lot of new animals and birds today. Fingers crossed!

February 6, 2 pm, Middle of nowhere at Maasai Mara:

I thought I would write down the experience after going back to the camp. But, it has been so enthralling so far I cannot wait to put it down lest something slips my mind later.

We are now sitting in the middle of nowhere, having lunch in the shade of a tree. The food packet contained sandwich, fried chicken wing, fruits and juice and it felt great to have them now, especially since it has been more than 6 hours since breakfast. Anyway, let me start from the beginning.

The first twenty minutes of today’s game drive were more eventful than yesterday. We started with a couple of cheetahs who were chasing wildebeest and impalas in the vast field. Stanley informed us that they are brothers and stay and hunt together. Along with several other cars, we spent some time looking at them in the morning lights. Here is a picture of that gorgeous animal.

A cheetah walks graciously

Minutes later, the engine roared again and ran off to another place nearby, where we came across a few giraffes. A town eagle was also sitting on a tree close by. For the next one hour or so, we kept on roaming around these areas and saw plenty of animals. Topi, eland, mongoose, ostrich, grey-crowned heron, marabou stork and saddle-bill stork were a few new additions to our list.

Topi

Eland

Grey-crowned heron

Saddle-bill stork

Ostrich

And then, the radio soon spurred off and the car sped towards a place little bit up in the hill. There we spotted, literally, the Mara. In Swahili language, Mara means the male lion and we finally saw him, walking graciously after his female partner. They went near a bush and started mating moments later. It was a quick fifteen seconds for the duo, before they started relaxing again. Interestingly, throughout this time, a pack of zebra and wildebeest kept looking towards the king from a stone throw distance.

Lion

It was already about 10 in the morning and the number of animals started decreasing, mostly due to the scorching heat of the sun. Still, we spotted vulture, starling, hawk and a martial eagle having a feast with a small bird.

Vulture

Martial eagle eats a bird

After driving around for some time, we got another breakthrough. The amazing land of Maasai Mara presented us with the rarest of opportunity to watch an elusive creature in action. Although there was a big pack of elephants at a distance, Stanley decided not to go for them as his friend informed him over the radio of something even more spectacular. What followed was an astounding display of driving from our Kenyan guide and after more than 15 minutes, we reached the destination. It was a leopard walking leisurely around a small canal, searching for food. I did not actually know that the leopards can be seen in these parts of Africa and it was a pleasant surprise for me. There he was, jumping from one side to another, indifferent to the presence of the shutterbugs around him. We also saw a hyena here, but the focus being on the leopard, I failed to click a good picture of the scavenger.

Leopard

The people in the car were already hungry and asked Stan if we can now go for lunch. “Let’s take a quick drive around the Mara river to spot some hippos and crocodiles and then we will go for lunch,” he replied. Fair enough, I thought, still amazed to grasp everything that I have seen throughout the day! Within minutes, we were beside the Mara river, where hundreds of hippopotamuses were resting in the water. A couple of crocodiles also came in our view. But we chose not to spend more time on them. Happy and starving, we then headed for this place. On our way, jackals and a couple of baboons crossed our way, but they were so fast and shy that it was not possible to click them in a quick flash. Honestly, I don’t mind; because some things should always be left for the next time.

Hippopotamus

February 6, 9 pm, Miti Mingi eco camp at Maasai Mara:

The last part of the game drive was not at par with what we saw in the morning. It was not at all bad, though. Right after the lunch, as we started our journey, a few African elephants greeted us in fashion, to be the fourth one of our big five. A pumba or warthog was the next on the list and then we saw an interesting phenomenon of the mother nature.

Fourth of the big five - Elephants

Warthog

From very far, we could see a group of giraffes and zebras standing in an orderly manner right around a bush. Stanley talked to his friend over the radio and informed us that there was a lion inside that bush, and the giraffes and the zebras were observing her very closely. It was only about 20 to 25 meters from the lion’s den to the place where these animals were standing. The scene certainly had the element of surprise. I wondered whether they are actually playing hide and seek with the predator lying inside the bush. However, as our car approached the aforementioned bush, the picture got clearer. The lion had killed a wildebeest already and was having a full meal with its meat, which made it clear for the giraffes that this was not going to be their day. It is a known fact that lions hunt only when they are hungry and with that delicious wildebeest already on the plate, the king of the jungle will spare the other ones to live another day.

This group of giraffes were looking at the lion while she was eating

For the rest of our game drive, except for the waterback deer, no new animal was there to be seen. Exhausted us chose to take short naps in the car, paying little to no attention to the herd of already-seen-animals around us. Eventually, we returned to the camp minutes before 5pm.

As per the schedule, it was time for an optional activity of different flavor altogether. For an additional fee of ten dollars, we were offered the opportunity to go for a short visit to a Maasai village nearby. Since the day I read that Kakababu novel of Sunil Gangopadhyay, I actually have been looking forward to this visit, for the tribal life has always attracted me. In that novel, Kakababu and Santu spent considerable time in a Maasai village, learning about their customs and practices, and the intricate descriptions of those customs instigated in me a certain interest to know more about them. Finally, I had my chance today, and I embraced it at once. Kushal and Shao were enthusiastic as well while the European folks decided to stay back and relax at the camp. Two Maasai guys, clad in red shawls according to their age-old tradition, accompanied us to their village. It was a ten minutes’ walk through the nature and on our way, the duo told us about different plants and their usefulness.

Maasai people are the tribes who live in this region, at the border of Kenya and Tanzania. They stay together in different villages, each consisting of about twenty families and two hundred people. Usually, each village is for the people from same ancestor and so, marriage within a village is not allowed. The Maasai customs about marriage are really fascinating. First of all, one has to find a girl from another village. Cattle are very crucial for Maasai economic system and so, the most eligible bachelors are the ones who have more cows. On the other hand, dancing around fire is a common thing for any occasion in the village. They are extremely passionate about the dance and it is a terrible idea to think that they will dance in front of you for money or something. The dance is for men only and if you are a man, you have to dress like them and dance with them if they offer to show you the custom. The worst dancer in the world, I always prefer to stay away from finding my steps, but this time, intrigued to see the famous custom, I went ahead and wrapped a red shawl around me. It was indeed a beautiful experience.

The whole group of men sings in their language and dance in a circle at first. All of them carry a hammer-like wooden structure in their hands and use them to be in sync with the beats of the music. Taking a couple of steps with one foot at a time, they keep circling before they stop and stand in a line. The music continues and it is time for something different now. While the group stands in a line singing, each man takes turns to move forward and then he jumps, as hard as he can, in front of the audience, the women of course. And this is one of the ways to show how eligible one is as a husband. The higher one can jump during the dancing, the more beautiful wife he can take home. Polygamy is allowed in Maasai villages, and so it all comes down to cows and jumping. Our guide said that his grandfather had ten wives and his father had three. We found it rude to ask for his counts, but it totally makes sense why two hundred people in the village are all from the same grandfather.

Maasai man jumps in the middle of the dance

After the dance, we went inside the village. Each house has a secure area to keep their sheep and goats, so that the leopards or lions cannot find an easy way to grab one during the nights. The men usually build one house for each wife. The houses are made with different woods and leaves and sometimes have a plastic cover as well. There are several small rooms in each house, one for the couple, one for the children, one guest room and one where people can sit and talk. In the middle of the house, not so much as a room, the fire is made and that is where they cook. Usual diet of the Maasai contain bread, meat and a drink made with blood and milk. Both the meat and blood are from the cows only. We also got to see how they make a fire using just two different types of branches.

Our Maasai friend further told us about how the boys are raised in their world. The eldest son of the family is always in charge of taking care of the cattle. Usually the boys go to school until the age of fourteen years, and then they have to go through a difficult ordeal to become real men. When a boy turns fifteen, he is circumcised in the middle of the village and he cannot show any sign of pain at all. Afterwards, with some other boys of the same age, he has to go to the forest and spend considerable time out there, surviving through thick and thin in the wild. Eventually, they have to kill a lion before returning back to the village. Once they finish this ordeal, they are considered real men and can be trusted with difficult works and are eligible to get married and start a family.

Gradually, our short trip to the village came to an end. We bought some handmade souvenirs from the welcoming tribe and returned to the campsite at around 7pm. It was almost dinner time already, and I stayed back at the dining hall, talking to some new friends. There are more people at the camp today. We have met three Indian army men, who have been posted in South Sudan for UN work and have come here for a trip. While we were having a chat with these three guys, a girl sitting just on the other table started talking as well. She is a twenty-year-old girl from Norway and is a passionate traveler. Along with her regular college studies, she has been going to night classes to know more about tourism and possibly wants to build a career around that. What is even more crazy is that she is mad about Bollywood. She has been watching Hindi movies since the age of six, and she probably has seen more than thousands so far. All of us had a nice conversation over dinner and beyond. But then, as always, I felt the urge to spend some quality time alone and bid them goodbye to head back to the tent to complete this entry.

It was a great day beyond doubt and hope tomorrow, our last day at Masai Mara, will continue the trend. Tomorrow’s plan includes an early morning game drive, followed by breakfast at the camp and we will leave for Lake Nakuru right after that.

February 7, 8:45am, Miti Mingi eco camp at Masai Mara:

It’s time to leave the camp in a few minutes and it will be the last entry from this place. We went to a morning game drive at 6am and it was certainly a fulfilling end to our trip to to Masai Mara.

Well, the main motive of this morning drive was to see a beautiful sunrise from inside the park, and I think it would not be an exaggeration to say that the sunrise was a disappointment. The park is surrounded by mountains in the east and so, when you actually see the sun it is very bright. However, still, this morning trip was something I would always cherish.

Our European friends during the sunrise

After the unsatisfactory saga with the sunrise, Stanley told us that we will return to the base at around 8am and will just roam around the park meanwhile, which essentially means looking at the same old zebras and wildebeests and gazelles and giraffes. And honestly, albeit it is actually very thrilling to watch these animals, we have kind of grown indifferent to their presence by this time. We wanted more, and that was almost impossible, as we saw nearly everything (excluding the very rare ones, of course) in the first two days.

But unexpected things do happen! At least, it has happened so many times in this trip that we can surely expect for more.

The first new species to make an appearance was a Dik-dik, a type of very small deer that mostly stays in the bushes. It is a very shy animal and keeps running as soon as it sees a human being. Naturally, we failed to take any picture of the cute little one. However, a bigger animal did not disappoint us a few minutes later. A sudden adrenaline rush was felt when our expert guide moved the car at an alarming speed, following a radio communication with other guides. Yesterday’s experiences told us to expect something special to happen, and as the car made its way to the edge of a bush, we realized what it was! Thanks to our guide’s efficient and alert driving, we have finally seen them all – five out of the big five! Yes, it was a rhinoceros, moving very fast to the bushes with its kid. It was a really funny scene to see them run with their small steps, which did not at all go with the huge build of the rhinos.

Within seconds of our arrival at the scene, the mother-child pair went and hid behind the bushes, but Stanley, as enthusiastic as ever, was not ready to give us a ten-second view of the rhino. He instead turned the vehicle and entered the bushes from the other side. Within a few minutes, we saw them, once again. This time too, as soon as they felt our presence, the duo ran with their small steps, and went further into the forest. But, before they left, I could take a quick shot of them.

Fifth of the big five - Rhinoceros

As we prepared to return, a content Stanley said, “So I’ve given you big five, my friends.” The jubilant group could not but agree. Afterwards, we decided to go back to the camp now. On our way, we saw a tawny eagle and a secretary bird to add to our list, and truth be told, when I came to Masai Mara, I did not know that I will be able to see so many species in only 48 hours.

Secretary bird

Tawny eagle

I think it is a good time to stop here. We will be off to Lake Naivasha, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli National Park very soon and will travel to Tanzania afterwards. It all depends on the experience, but I will surely try to come back with another piece of my African diary. Until then, good bye!

Animals we saw in Maasai Mara:

Lion, Buffalo, Cheetah, Elephant, Rhinoceros, Leopard, Spotted hyena, Impala, Thomson's gazelle, Topi, Eland, Dik-dik, Waterback deer, Coke's heartbeest, Wildebeest, Zebra, Giraffe, Jackal, Warthog, Mongoose, Hippopotamus, Crocodile, Velvet monkey; and some special birds - Grey-crowned heron, Saddle-bill stork, Marabou stork, Tawny eagle, Martial eagle, Ostrich, Vulture, Black hawk, Secretary bird, Helmetted guinea fowl, Superb starling.