Kenya's Incredible Animals
Our First Safari
ARRIVING IN NAIROBI
Susan and I are very fortunate to be able to travel widely at this point in our lives. Our Bucket List consists of More Music and More Travel! This African safari partially fulfills our travel bucket list.
I must confess that I was as naïve about Africa as I was about China prior to visiting it. I have traveled in Morocco and briefly in Egypt. Though these two countries are located at the top of the African continent, their cultures are strongly tied to the Middle East as opposed to central and southern Africa. Kenya is at the heart of African culture, with a long and troubled history as well as being blessed by a wonderful landscape containing multitudes of African wildlife, including the so-called “big five”: lions, leopards, rhinoceroses, elephants, and African buffalos. The “big five” are those animals hunted for their trophy heads. I would add hippopotamuses, wildebeests, and giraffes to the list of animals to be seen, not to mention monkeys, birds, and other exotic creatures.
Kenya shares its rich assortment of animals with its surrounding countries, including Tanzania, Uganda, Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, etc. Our eighteen-day safari will take us to selected sites in Kenya and Tanzania. It’s impossible to see everything of interest in such a short time. The wildlife of Africa represents the last remnants of the variety of wildlife descended from prehistoric times that was present everywhere around the world with regional variations. Unfortunately, the presence of the earth’s dominant species, human beings, has extinguished the previously numerous and varied assortment of wildlife previously found in most parts of the world.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF KENYA
Our guide informed us that forty-five different tribes live in Kenya. Each speaks its own language and has its unique individual characteristics. The official language of Kenya is Swahili. English is widely taught and spoken. Thus most Kenyans are tri-lingual, speaking their native tribal language, Swahili, and English.
Kenya was part of the United Kingdom’s East Africa Protectorate established in 1895. The UK imported workers from India to build the railroad from Nairobi to the port city of Mombasa, to facilitate the transport of exports. Those Indian workers never returned to India. Thus Kenya has a substantial Indian population, as well as a substantial Muslim population from North Africa. The British promoted Christianity, which was widely adopted. Thus Kenya is home to Christians, Muslims, and Hindus.
Following a protracted revolt and independence movement, Kenya gained independence from the UK in 1963. Its political history has been troubled, with its original prime minister, Jomo Kenyatta, creating a one-party state that made him a virtual dictator. The first multi-party elections occurred in 1992. Inter-tribal conflict and violence continued. However, gradually elections have become more peaceful, with the peaceful transfer of power to the fifth president of Kenya in 2022. The growing tourist industry has led to infrastructure development and economic improvements. My impressions of the capital city Nairobi and the other locations we’ve visited are uniformly positive. All the Kenyan people we have met have been friendly and welcoming. We expect to have an outstanding visit here.
NAIROBI MUSEUM
Our first tour upon arrival was to visit the excellent museum. Kenya is regarded as one of the earliest sources of Homo Sapiens, modern “thinking” man. There was a great exhibit of the predecessors to Homo Sapiens. There were extensive exhibits of Kenyan wildlife, including a room full of full-size representations of the major mammals. Another room was devoted to Kenyan birds. There was the statement that Kenya contains three thousand different bird species. Another room was devoted to traditional Kenyan clothes…patterns worn every day and for special occasions.
An important exhibition of the museum describes Kenyan history. I found myself to be completely ignorant of Kenyan history. Kenya was exploited under European colonialism by the British. Similarly, Belgium exploited the Congo. The Dutch exploited South Africa. Italy attacked Ethiopia. France had several colonies. I’m thankful that the colonial era is over. Kenya is developing rapidly with the advent of increased tourism and foreign aid from China and other nations.
THE EQUATOR
The Kenyan climate is warm and moist most of the time. The agricultural growing season seems to be year-round. The weather has been very pleasant for us so far. There have been some light rain showers which settled the dust. I was not aware of how close we were to the equator until our first driving day led to a stop which celebrated being located on the equator. It was at an elevation of seven thousand feet, so the temperature was cool…not the heat that one normally associates with standing at the equator.
We were driving close to Mount Kenya, Kenya’s second highest peak which is around seventeen thousand feet high. But it was completely obscured by clouds, so we had to be satisfied with the photos. We will be close to Mount Kilimanjaro later in our trip. It is Africa’s highest peak at nineteen thousand feet. Due to climate warming, the permanent snows of Kilimanjaro are melting.
FIRST ANIMALS!
Our first opportunity to view the animals was at a historic building in the middle of a national park. It was named The Arc. The Arc was constructed close to a large watering hole for the park’s animals. The rangers put salt into the earth near the building and the watering hole. The elephants in particular loved the salt. In the afternoon a single elephant was there. But around dusk sixteen elephants came to lick the soil for salt and to drink the water. Soon ten more elephants joined the party for a total of twenty-six!
THE GREAT RIFT VALLEY
The Great Rift Valley is a contiguous geographic depression running from Ethiopia to Mozambique, through Kenya and Tanzania, and is home to some of the biggest game reserves in Africa. It is estimated to be thirty-five million years old.
Our next two nights were at a luxury resort on the shores of Lake Naivasha. Zebras, giraffes, and monkeys roamed freely around the resort grounds. Our tour included a boat ride on the lake, which allowed us to observe hippos being fed, as well as the presence of a large variety of birds. An island in the lake was used for location shooting for the movie Out of Africa starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. We had previously toured the house shown in the movie located just outside Nairobi. We must view this movie again having visited the places featured in the movie.
Lake Nakuru is an “alkaline lake,” meaning that the water is so salty that it cannot support fish life. Mono Lake in California’s high Sierras Utah’s Great Salt Lake are American examples of alkaline lakes. Such lakes in Africa attract flocks of flamingos and pelicans that eat the special algae and brine shrimp along the banks of the lake.
MAASAI MARA
The Maasai (also spelled Masai) are the largest tribe in Kenya inhabiting the largest tribal land area. The word Mara means “plains.” Their ancestral lands and villages extend also into Tanzania to the south. Only twenty percent of their land is arable, suitable for farming. Eighty percent of their land is savannah containing the largest populations of Kenya’s wild animals. As the tribes of Kenya modernize, many of the Maasai retain their original lifestyles, herding cattle, sheep, and goats. Their diets depend on their animals since agriculture is limited.
We visited a traditional Maasai village in which the villagers derive their income from visiting tourists. The women sang for us. The men executed a dance in which the men took turns jumping as high as they could in a friendly competition while their fellow tribesmen chanted and shouted encouragement.
We were able to step inside a traditional Maasai house which is constructed of a wooden frame plastered with a mixture of dried cow dung and mud. The women construct and maintain the houses, while the men attend to the animals. The houses are very dark inside with only small holes as windows for light and ventilation. They explained that this was necessary to prevent monkeys and other creatures that might enter their houses if the windows were larger. The houses have no electricity, running water, or toilets. Cooking is done in a hole in the dirt floor in which a pot can be placed over burning wood.
The houses also contain a room to house their livestock during the nights. Even though the village is bounded by a fence, they said that its still possible for lions, leopards, or cheetahs to jump the fence and kill any livestock that might be left outside overnight.
Besides the fees paid by visiting groups (our tour company covered our entrance fees), there were different souvenir handicrafts for sale. We contributed to their economy with the purchase of a wood carving which will be displayed in our house to remind us of our visit to the Maasai village.
THE GREAT SAVANNAH
The massive plains of the Kenyan savannahs are home to Africa’s varied wildlife. I had seen photos prior tour visit. But the vast expanses have a special feeling when viewed in person as opposed to being seen on video or in photos. Different species of animals graze peacefully in close proximity with each other. Lions, leopards, and cheetahs are the primary predators. Elephants, hippos, and rhinos are generally unmolested by the predators. Only their newborn offspring are vulnerable.
We observed elephants, buffalos, giraffes, warthogs, hippos, rhinos, hyenas, numerous breeds of antelopes, numerous breeds of birds, and countless zebras, which seen to exist in larger numbers than any other species.
We had the unique experiences of observing two instances of lions and cheetahs feasting on fresh kills. Even our guides said that they had rarely witnessed them. Tour drivers phoned their colleagues resulting in as many as fifteen jeeps full of tourists surrounding the feasting predators. The cats’ faces were stained red with the blood of their kills. They spent several hours each eating kilos of fresh flesh of the wildebeest and antelope that they had killed. Vultures gathered awaiting their turn to pick at the remnants when the cats had sated themselves. Packs of hyenas are the only animals that can potentially interrupt the great cats’ feasts.
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