Expedition to Serengeti pt. 2

Simba!

The expedition to Serengeti might have been the most incredibly 4 days of my life to date. Each day seemed to top the last, as we discovered a hyena den, watched leopards nap in trees, hippos fight (and mate) and a pride of lions devour a wildebeest. The sunsets every night were incredible, but the real excitement started after dark. Every night we’d have all types of animal visitors. Hyenas were there every night to poke around the camp site, and there was even a cheetah and a leopard that came through. On the last night, an elephant had come very close to browse, and as a couple of us were led to the bathroom by an askari (Swahili word for guard) he shone his light on a tree only 150 meters away and whispered “Tembo”. I expected to see a leg or head in the stand of trees, but instead, there was a gigantic elephant munching on an acacia at the fringe of our campsite. You could literally hear it cracking branches and munching on leaves! It could have destroyed our whole camp in a matter of minutes if it had wanted to, so luckily it was content with just eating.

Just your classic Serengeti sunset from our campsite

Heyena eating an old wildebeest carcass

One of my favorite parts of the trip was seeing the wildebeest migration. Their entire lives are one giant movement towards the next water source. The cycle starts in the Ngorogoro crater in January through march. During the dry season, they begin their way up through Serengeti and across the Kenyan border, and as the rains start in Tanzania in November, they begin migrating back down through the Serengeti and to Ngorogoro. We saw them in massive herds, mostly running in long lines that stretched for at least a mile as thousands of them moved south through the plains.  To witness this tradition that has been going on for thousands of years was very special and something that I will never forget. As a result, the Wildebeest has made it into my top 5 favorite African mammals list, along with warthogs, giraffes, elephants and leopards. However, if I were to ever be so lucky as to see a cheetah reach its top speed of 70 mph while taking down prey it would immediately shoot to the very top of every unofficial list of animals I’ve ever made in my head. Nuff said. 

One of the long trains of wildebeest migrating through the park

                               

Leopard! I took this through my binoculars

                                 

Expedition to Serengeti pt. 1

Early Saturday morning the land cruisers pulled out of Moyo Hill camp, packed with 30 wanafunzi whose cups of joy were overflowing with excitement. We were on our way to Serengeti National Park, home to cheetahs, leopards, lions and the great migration of the wildebeest. Could life get any better? I think not.

Along the way we stopped at Olduvai Gorge. For those that don’t know, the Olduvai Gorge is the sight of multiple findings by the Leakys of our ancient ancestors and the oldest fossils of humans ever to be found. It is the birthplace of the human species and was a really fascinating place archeologically.

Around 2, we finally arrived at Serengeti. The game drive into the park and to our campsite was epic, with the famous grass plains unfolding us in a vast expanse that stretched uninterrupted to the horizon. Puffy, tall clouds hung low and flat in the pure blue sky and thousands of wildebeest and zebra grazed on the tender green shoots starting to sprout after the first of the short rains. My mind raced as I tried to find a song worthy of this incredible scene. I would have to go with a lyric I have found myself using a lot on this trip.

-And at once I knew, I was not magnificent” – Bon Iver, Holocene

Expedition to Lake Nakuru!

So it’s been quite a while since I posted on here. A lot has happened, here in Africa and back in the U.S. I have to say I felt the need to disconnect from all of the shitty things that have occurred. I still can’t come to terms with the fact that Reuben is gone, but life keeps moving and I know that he would want all of us to be throwing ourselves into the present like he was so good at doing.

So that’s what I’ve tried to do. I think it’s working.

Something new happens here every day, so I’ll just skip forward to the most recent adventure. Last week, we left the KBC camp, which was starting to feel like a second home, and drove north to Lake Nakuru National Park. If you’ve never heard of this place, I highly suggest copying and pasting that into google images.

Warning: mind will be boggled.

The area is out of the rain shadow of Kilimanjaro, so it is much more lush than the place I have been for over 6 weeks. It was incredible to see the lush, green life that comes with steady rains. As we climbed up to the edge of the rift valley, we could see massive rainstorms moving through the valley as the sun beat down on us.

The entire transformation from red dust to tall green trees and full undergrowth was a lesson about life. Watching the rain fall thorugh the day with sun dancing through the droplets and refracting in a million directions inspired a thought. Water is this world’s greatest gift. It can instantly breathe life into any area, and just as easily take it away when the rains don’t come on time or weather patterns change. The cycle from sky to earth to springs and lakes and back up into the sky is incredible. It’s what makes this rock different from all the other spinning rocks hurtling through space. It gives us the gift of life, and we need to respect it as such.

Once we got to the actual park, the expediton only got better. Within an hour of being there, a few of us were sitting on top of the land cruisers watching two lions stalking a herd of impala in the open grassland directly outside the fenced enclosure we were staying at. Then, without warning, a herd of African Cape Buffalo (who are the most single-minded, angry beasts you can find in Kenya) got pissed at the proximity of the lions and decided to flush one of them out. When I say herd, I should clarify that I mean over 150 of these 2 ton animals, and they all have giant curled horns that could demolish a lion in seconds. As we sprinted full tilt around a tree that was obstructing our view, all we could do was shout what we thought was happening. It was being chased! The buffalo were gaining on it! Then, as I came around the other side of the tree, I saw the lion leap up, stretching its front paws upwards almost 10 feet and dig its claws into the bark of a lone acacia tree. In the same motion it pulled its hind legs up and was into the crook of the acacia about 15 feet up and out of reach of the buffalo. For those that don’t know much about lions, they don’t climb trees. Period. Unless they have to.

We kept watching for over an hour as the buffalo angrily grouped around the tree, even trying to headbutt it from time to time. They aren’t the smartest animals, so they would periodically forget why they were so angry and start to leave until one of them remembered the lion up in the tree and they’d all come rushing back. Finally, as dusk was transforming into the pure blackness of night, the buffalo gave up and the lion was able to come down and slink off. An unforgettable experience to say the least, and we had only been in the park for 3 hours!

I could write a similar length story about each of the days we were there, but I won’t make this post that long. Over 5 days of 8 hour safari drives, we saw both white and black rhinos (who can only be described as BOSS), spotted and stripped hyenas, impala, gazelles, zebra, thousands of birds that had gathered to catch the explosion of fish in the lake, waterbucks, buffalo, elands, warthogs, baboon, Colobus monkeys, even more lions, so many giant rothschild giraffes and to cap it off, my safari group managed to spot the most elusive animal in the park: A leopard! My professors reaction to this was hilarious. The normally calm, majestic man couldn’t hold back his excitement. “Why did you not call me immediately?!”

These elephants are from our first visit to Amboseli National Park. They are two subadult females that are play fighting, but one actually got a gash on its face from the tusks. Credit goes to Maggie Stryker for getting this awesome action shot. 

The lion is from Lake Nakuru. I’m not sure when the kill was made, but nearly every day we would see the same pride of lions sitting near the zebra and either snacking or just lazing around.  Credit goes to Mellisa Keller for sniping this picture.

Safari Time

Hamjambo!

(if you haven’t noticed, there’s about 3,001 ways to say hi in Kiswahili)

So this is a little late, but two days ago I had the kind of experience that made me realize I was actually in Africa, doing something I never thought I would have done a year ago. I found myself standing up through the roof of a Land Cruiser with two subadult female elephants play-fighting with violent tusk collisions and trunk slaps (not scientific terms, but still accurate).  So this is what my first safari is like? What’s going to happen on the other ones??

Two days ago, we drove about 45 minutes from camp to Amboseli National Park to go on our first safari (which means adventure in kiswahili). This is a relatively small park, especially compared to Serengeti National Park. It is situated in southern Kenya, very close to the Tanzanian border, with magnificent Kilimanjaro creating a stunning backdrop to the herds of wildlife, which migrate here for the dry season. Amboseli has several year-round wetlands that are able to sustain large amounts of classic African animals, like wildebeests, zebras, gazelles, giraffes, lions and of course elephants!

There’s no words to describe how you feel standing up on a seat with your body halfway out the roof of a Land Cruiser, braced against the roll bars and scanning for wildlife as the sun beats down on you and large dust twisters form and reach upwards all across the horizon. It’s probably the most adventurous I’ve ever felt.

We drove through the park and walked to the top of a small hill overlooking one of the swamps and sweeping views of the dry and barren plains of Africa. The amount of vegetation, especially the ever-present Acacia trees, has never ceased to surprise me. Even in the driest conditions, life seems to find a way in. From the hill we could see different herds going about their elephant activities: Eating. Sitting in the cool mud and eating. Standing and contemplating things.

Just from observing, you would get the impression that these creatures hold more knowledge than any one of us could ever hope for. You can tell just by watching them move. Careful, slow and deliberate movements that suggest a wise old man who knows a lot about the ways of the world. They understand the Flow.

This was proven shortly after making this observation, when I became fortunate enough to witness an elephant greeting ceremony. I watching through my binoculars, ignoring the fact that I’d been holding them up for over an hour and not wanting to miss a second of what was about to happen. They walked towards each other steadily, trunks extended in greeting. As they connected, they began to feel each other, recognition and affection flowing between them. They began to circle around on another, keeping in constant contact. You could feel the love. Sense the beauty. And see the majesty.

Hamjambo!

Hamjambo!

After just a week in Kenya, I’m already starting to get more confident and comfortable. My Swahili, while still not good enough to have a meaningful conversation with anyone, is decent for a friendly greeting with locals in the market. Today I even talked to a guy about Bush and Romney. Then he sold me some carrots. They were delicious. There was also a baby crying because a herd of white people were walking by. 

The most stressful part about going into a market place is the Maasai Mamas, who sell their intricate handmade beadwork and tend to flock, surround and overwhelm the unsuspecting white visitors. All you can do is tell them “no thank you please” (Habana Asante), but that usually does nothing, and when others see, they move in for the kill. I feel rude telling fragile old women to back off. but seriously. Give me some space.  

On a more serious note, today was our first day off from class and we went to visit the VCT. It was a center for women with HIV/AIDS, and they help spread awareness to reduce the stigma surround the disease in the country. We met four women that told us some truly heartbreaking stories about their experience with diagnoses, the struggle they faced at home and finding and receiving treatment. All but one of the women were abandoned by their family because of the stigma, and left to care for multiple children while seeking treatment for a debilitating disease. In a country like Kenya, where finding transportation to major city centers like Nairobi is difficult, it becomes exponentially harder when you lack resources like money and childcare.

Looking around at the group, I could see everyone felt the same as me. Disheartened. Sorry. But also we all realized how brave they were to tell these incredibly personal stories to educate others. 

The most heartwrenching story was from a Maasai women who had received HIV unknowingly and given it to her mentally challenged son through the sharing of a razor blade. The pain, suffering and guilt must have been unbearable, but because of the lack of testing resources and education on the disease, there was no way for her to know until it was too late. It really put a lot of things into perspective for me.