Game Driving

Traffic was not nearly as bad as I was expecting at the Mara this weekend.

The light traffic conditions began with our flight out of Wilson Airport, a smaller, lesser known airport than Kenyatta International, where anyone can check you in, you don't need ID, and your boarding pass is a laminated, color-coded slip of paper that the "gate attendant" (or the woman who checked you through security) recollects and reuses.

Fortunately, our 16-seat plane was nearly empty, as the space allotted to each person is quite tiny. The requisite safety and alimentary advisories came from the pilot who twisted around in his seat and leaned his head through the opening to the cockpit, which incidentally stays open for the entire 45-minute flight, before handing the closest passenger a tupperware full of mints and informing us that there was water in the back of the plane -- just ask the last passenger to pass some forward. There didn't seem to be any pressurization system, but apparently we didn't need one as we never got very far off the ground, offering great views of the changing landscape below.



Writers tend to describe Africa as vast and red, conjuring particular images of heat in an arid climate and triggering a primal emotional reaction. For this and other reasons, I expected the land passing below me to look different -- more like the deserts of Utah than the rolling hills of Nebraska. But it ended up being a mixture of the two. The topography was unlike anything I'd seen before, somehow flat and jagged all at once, with gentle hills suddenly rising into mini mountains that abruptly ended in table tops or falling into short, steep canyons, and just as frequently cut by a snaking river as a deep, dry crack in the earth.

But while the earth looks like clay with deep reddish undertones, the landscape itself is painted in gentle, calm shades of pale yellow and green. The Mara inspired feelings of peace and calm, not the suspenseful anticipation or danger of an animal planet documentary on the circle of life in the safari.

The plane made a few stops -- each safari/hotel operator has their own "landing strip," or patch of cleared dirt in the middle of the Mara frequently visited by game, as evidenced by the occasional zebra or piles of manure on the runway. And as we flew from resort to resort, you could see the tracks in the tall grass where safari operators had driven as well as various groups of game animals and cows.


Rather than waste precious daylight hours driving back to the camp and checking in, our driver suggested that we undertake our very first game drive straight off the plane. Almost immediately he saw a cheetah. Apparently all the other mzungus besides us could also see the cheetah, because their cars were parked in a neat semi-circle around a patch of grass. I was starting to feel concerned because I could not see anything at all. Our guide so desperately wanted me, one of only two in our group for whom it was a first safari, to see the cheetah he took painstaking care to describe her position. Which, in effect, I heard as, "See that blade of grass next to that other blade of grass in the 10,000 square kilometers of grass in front of you? She's right there."

what I saw

what, apparently, our guide saw

But while we waited patiently for the hidden picture to emerge from the grass, we saw an enormous bull elephant across the horizon. We zoomed off to see him (he was the biggest animal I've ever seen in my life, and graceful) and I think he changed our luck. When we went back to check on the cheetah, she decided to get up out of the grass and look around. Eventually she even sat up and moved. From then on our trip was a nonstop animal party.



The first game drive was only an hour or so given our late arrival to the Mara, and yet we saw the aforementioned cheetah and elephant as well as a serval, two lions, and a variety of birds and DLTs (deer-like-things) that no one seemed to consider worth a second look. And, an incredible sunset over the plains.


Our second day far exceeded the first. We were in the truck at 6:30AM with boxed breakfasts and no sooner had we started driving when we came across three female lions and six cubs, lazing about with full bellies after a zebra kill. Once a few other cars discovered us and our pride of lions, we decided it was time to move on. More elephants (this time a herd, complete with babies and adults), some wildebeests and zebras, a common waterbuck, and another cheetah -- all more or less in the same 100 square-foot area.

A bit more driving and we found hyenas and vultures finishing off a wildebeest kill. More zebras, more wildebeests, and two beautiful, big male lions lazing about under a shade tree, hippos, giraffes, and cape buffalo. We even saw a leopard, a treat because they are quite shy, and were able to watch her leave one tree, move through some tall grass where we heard her kill and eat a mongoose (so identified by the other mongoose that fled while bouncing away screeching), before she eventually slipped through the grass to perch in the branches of another tree.

But, Rafael, our loyal guide, came through for us again on the third day. As I mentioned in my last post, the great migration of wildebeest has begun. Unfortunately, we quickly learned that the majority of the wildebeest were still feasting on the tall grass in the Serengeti in Tanzania, with just some groups moving across the Mara. Nonetheless we requested to see a river crossing and a crocodile kill.

When we arrived at the river crossing, wildebeest had already begun to gather, and a crocodile was lurking by the bank. A lone wildebeest on the opposite bank (our bank) was bleating hoarsely, trying to call the herd over and attempting to reconnect with a lost child or other member of the family. A few zebras joined, and while those waiting on the banks paced up and down, moving to the water and back, a steady, seemingly endless line of wildebeest flowed from the horizon kicking up dust and adding to the masses gathered and waiting.

For more than an hour, nothing happened. A wildebeest or zebra would approach the water and drink. Or a group would even run to the banks only to turn and run back. Rafael explained that as soon as one crossed, thousands would follow, but it could be hours before or any animals crossed, if they crossed at all.

Finally, after two small excursions away from the crossing and our boxed breakfast, the crossing began. As Rafael predicted, all it took was one brave wildebeest to take the plunge and soon a solid line of wildebeest followed her in, swimming across the river in neat lines and running up the bank past the collection of safari vehicles bearing witness. The crossing took twenty minutes or more as thousands of wildebeest streamed past us.



Despite our excitement for the crossing, we worried about the two crocodiles we had seen, and likely more we hadn't seen, that were laying in wait just below the surface of the water. The first kill was excruciating. One wildebeest began wailing, short panicked cries as it appeared to get pulled downstream. This went on and on for what felt like minutes but could have only been seconds while the rest of the wildebeest continued to stream right past. Eventually the crocodile, who had been dragging the wildebeest downstream from underwater, surfaced opened its mouth and clamped down on the screaming wildebeest's muzzle before pulling its head under. And that was the kill. Crocodiles suffocate or drown their prey and then keep the meat under water, twisting the meat away from the carcass by spinning in opposite directions from a partner holding the other side of the kill.

As the flow of wildebeest slowed, more and more lone animals were returning to the crossing, calling out for lost mothers, brothers, or friends. They call once or twice standing facing the line of running animals, before eventually turning and going along with the crowd. Rafael told us that in the confusion and chaos of the crossing many families get separated, and it can take days for family members to reunite, if they do at all. All in all, it was a beautiful and interesting sight, but also mournful, as the wildebeest showed their humanity.

In three days, we covered four of the Big Five game animals (elephants, lions, buffalo, rhino, and leopard), saw a few kills at various stages, as well as babies and aged animals. Our last event of the weekend completed our tour of the circle of life -- hippo sex. No life without death, no pleasure without pain. Hakuna matata.

** Given that I took 2 gigabytes of photos this weekend and the fact that my internet connection is rather slow, more pictures will likely be appearing in this post in the next few days. Check back if you're interested, and look out for a link to the best of the Mara pictures in the photographs section of the blog**