The Last Safari

Well. Not actually the last safari, but our last game drive of this safari. Just thought it sounded like a better title.

Tsavo East combined with Tsavo West create the largest park and wildlife preserve in Kenya. It was established in 1948 and I had been unaware of the place before it was recommended by our safari coordinator. It was established in what was previously known as the Taru Desert and is known for it's red elephants. Shifting weather patterns that had flooded Lake Nakuru to the north had also reduced rainfall in Tsavo resulting in drier than normal conditions here putting stress on the ecosystem and reduced the number of visitors.

Normally there were a large number of safari vehicles gathered at the front gate when we entered any of the national parks in Kenya. That was not the case here. Normally there were dozens of vendors walking up to those same vehicles to sell little trinkets. That was not the case here. We were the only ones entering the Manyani gate as the sun was rising behind us. One old man got up from the table under the thatched roof where his carved safari souveniers rested and came to ask if I could make some change from US dollars to Kenyan shillings for him. Tourists would buy in their money, but he was not able to spend dollars easily. Of course he started out with an exchange rate that was ridiculously in his favor. After a little back and forth he gave me a little better than the going rate if I would come and look at his table of precious goods.

I saw the point of the whole exchange discussion, both from a practical matter and as an ice breaker in the barter game. I honestly do want to help the locals when I travel and this was about as local as you could get and he was definately not going to be making up for small margins in volume. So we spent a few minutes chatting and going through the buying/selling dance of value and quality as we slightly overpaid for a few souveniers while not being completely taken for suckers. Three small animal carvings and a beaded braclette later we were back in the van an on our way down the dusty red trail into Tsavo East.

Mudana Rock is a 1-1/2 kilometer long rock that stands out as a single stone rising from the dry scub in Tsavo East. For years it stood adjacent to a natural dam creating a small lake that wildlife flocked to in dry periods. The dry period had been almost three years now and there was no lake to attract wildlife of the African bush kind. Our first significant sighting came as we parked and climed the 100-meters or so to the summit of the landmark.

There were about a dozen young travelers at the crest posing in pairs in a line while two of their group were taking photos of the live art display. I could see that they were trying to make letters, but just could not read the message they were sending. W-E-R-O-A-D was the spelling. It didn't make any sense to me until I had spoken with the two taking the photographs to find out they were tour guides for a group called " We Road" from England. The group was about a dozen young Italians on a Kenya voyage.

Dusty and Isaiah with our van from the top of Mudana Rock

After chatting with the guides for a bit about their company and the improving health of the travel industry we hiked back down to Isaiah and our van to hit the dusty trail deeper into the park.

In spite of the drought that had been in place for too long the wildlife seemed resilient enough to endure the harsh conditions. I always say that the first sign you are in one of Kenya's national parks is sighting giraffes. The Masai giraffes were beautiful in the morning light and appeared to be well nourished. I was feeling a bit better about the state of the ecosystem.

Across the wide open plains we could see dozens of the the park's famous red elephants. They aren't really red they just roll around in the red soil that makes up most of the soil in the park and cover themselves with it. They do this to help protect themselves from the sun and bugs. It seems to work because they keep doing it and they are all the same lovely shade of rusty red.

The warthogs seemed to enjoy the same spa treatment.

The Grant's Gazelle seems to prefer to keep a cleaner coat. Beautiful animal.

The hartebeest was another one of the stranger members of the antelope family that we saw while we were kicking up dust.

I'm not sure how Isaiah did it, but he spotted a cheetah, that turned out to actually be two cheetahs, resting in the shade under a small tree. With so few other vehicles in the park it was nearly five minutes of watching and waiting until another van stopped to see what we were looking at. In the other parks it was almost as soon as one vehicle would stop that it would attract others like vultures to carrion. In spite of our patience the pair of them never really moved about. One finally sat up for a bit to look around and that was the best that they were going to provide in terms of modeling for my camera.

The morning had not provided a lot of excitement and the afternoons in the past had typically been a time for all the wildlife to hunker down during the heat of the day. We had reached lunch time and Isaiah drove us to a lodge at the edge of the park that had a watering hole in the sights of their outdoor dining space. So we ate our buffet lunch in the shade watching the comings and goings of the wildlife that was attracted to the gift of water in the prolonged drought the park was experiencing.

After lunch we worked our way back into the wild parts of the park only to see a school bus leaving a red dust cloud in its wake as it rolled down the trail. The bus from Harambee Garden School was from the subdivision Liken in Mombasa. This was on a field trip. I never had anything like this when I was in grade school!

Our afternoon luck seemed to have turned. Shortly after we saw the school bus there was a Greater Kudu strolling away from us toward the denser brush. I took my butt shots to be sure I had something from this guy. It was the first time I had seen one and I wanted to get at least one clear photo to document the sighting. Just when I thought it was all I was going to get he stopped and turned to give me a profile shot. Nice. Then he turned his head to look directly at us. Better. As I was taking too many pictures to make sure I got at least one keeper I noticed something odd. There was another kudu photobombing this one. He snuck up in the brush just behind my model and I could swear he gave a wink as I just kept shooting.

Soon after seeing the Kudus we spotted activity just ahead of us on the side of the road. There was a large puddle, or small pond, that had a gathering of the red elephants taking full advantage of the opportunity to drink and shower themselves with their built in shower nozzles/trunks. We stopped and shut off the engine. We were all alone in our van listening to the silence broken by the occasional spraying noises and grunts from the massive pachyderms. They seemed completely oblivious to our presence as they enjoyed the welcome relief from the heat provided by the gift of precious water.

We watched until the elephants wandered off and then we moved on down the road/trail/path.

The end was near. I recognized the area as we approached the exit from the park. My hundred meter gaze was ready to turn off. No more need to scan for wildlife in the brush. Abruptly Isaiah stopped the van and I looked down the left side of the trail only to see a healthy lioness strolling toward us watching something in the brush intently.

Was she getting ready to bolt after some unsuspecting prey? Was I going to get a really cool action shot. Get ready. Take portrait shots of her. Don't forget to get a few with the iPhone. They're easier to share with the iPhone. Ears are up. Mouth is open. Stalking towards an opening in the bushes. She pauses. Then she turns around and walks casually to a small bush and lays down in the shade. Not an action shot, but some nice portraits and nobody got killed in the process.

When we got back to the Maneater's Camp we went to our tent and sat on the porch. There was a kingfisher perched nearby. A rock hydrax hopping between rocks. And a bottle of Gordon's Sicilian Lemon Gin that we got on our first day of our safari that was begging for our juice boxes to turn it into our final sundowner (A definition of a sundowner is a refreshing (alcoholic) drink taken at sunset in the African bush to end your afternoon safari game drive adventure in style: a so-called safari-inspired happy hour while enjoying the sunset on a beautiful place in the African bush or on the Savanna plains.)

Well. To wrap things up. The next day we took the Nairobi to Mombasa road back to the airport to fly out. On the way Isaiah posed for a picture in front of a baobab tree and we hit a patch of oil about a half hour away from the airport resulting in our crashing into the rear of another car that tried to pull off the side of the road into the oily patch. It turns out an oil tanker had spilled it's whole load onto the three lanes of traffic causing chaos that did not spare us.

Travel has its highs and lows. Nothing is guaranteed. You plan as best you can and hope for the best, but sometimes shit happens. You deal with it and move on. Yes. I do plan on traveling more. A lot more!