Homeward from the Mara

It’s nearly 11pm. I’m absolutely shattered and sitting by one of only two very small, not very well stocked coffee shops in Terminal 1C at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport waiting to board our flight home.

After a full day of animal spotting and crossing searching yesterday following the river bank, we had had a pleasantly relaxing evening and had gone to bed early, knowing we were in for an early start today. I fell asleep easily quite early but was awake just after 3am- way too early to do anything but finding it difficult to go back to sleep. So I have had another of those extremely long African days, hot, busy, yet in some ways lazy as all I’ve done is sit in a truck and be driven!

One of the interesting things we did yesterday was to drive as far as the Nabok County gate of the reserve. I remembered being there last time we came. I’m sure it was where we photographed hippos in the river – not knowing we were looked at the Mara river. This time, one of the rangers took us for a walk along the river bank indicating points of interest along the way.

That was the start of a long afternoon watching the river, looking for a gathering of animals and just waiting to see if they showed signs of preparing to cross. At one stage we sat for more than an hour watching a large group move down from the horizon. They looked as if they might go, but never formed the tight group we thought would be needed. We drove off through them only to find they didn’t look at all as if they would be making a run for it soon: sleeping, eating, relaxing, no sense of the tension that must precede a crossing.

So it was a fairly uneventful final day on the Mara.

But today, as we drove to a different gate to return to Nairobi we saw two interesting sights: hyenas playing in a pool and a family of lions, the cubs younger than the ones we had seen earlier in our trip. It was a great end to an amazing time in Africa. I’m tempted to return!

The journey back to Nairobi added interest to the day, too. We stopped at the usual Curio shops to sample their ‘facilities’ and examine their wares, managing not to buy anything and, at a roadside restaurant, had lunch as the locals do – a buffet in a very basic restaurant but where nothing could do any harm: they even prepared me a very tasty samosa because I had asked about them.

It was as we approached the escarpment that things began to be worrying: there was an extremely long queue of traffic, most of it heavy trucks, seemingly at a standstill. Initially, Chris thought he would turn back but then there was some minor movement and he decided to stick with it, so we edged our way up the inside of the main line of traffic and then the outside of it until we found our place in the main lane and moved along gently with the others. On that infamous road, there were no fewer than four breakdowns and the traffic had to crawl past each one in turn. Many of the tourist vehicles, of course, were carrying international visitors on their way back to the airport and drivers were becoming anxious about getting them to flights on time. The tourist drivers worked together to make sure they gained as much advantage as they could encouraging HGV drivers to give them priority wherever possible.

Chris had offered to fill some of the time for us before taking us to the airport in good time for our flight. First stop was a mall, so that we could go to a supermarket to buy any foods we needed to take home: I had thought local produce might be a nice gift, so braved Carrefour and bought some coffee and tea from well known local firms.

Back in the truck, a trip to the Giraffe Centre adjoining the hotel Giraffe Manor that was featured in a TV programme about special hotels a few months ago, was agreed as the next plan. I was really disappointed that it was such a small space and so like a zoo – at $15 per non-local adult. You can only think of those kinds of entrance fees as a contribution to the welfare of the animals: I hope that’s how it’s regarded by the owners. The fun for me was coming across a group of young men who wanted their photos taken. It began by one of them allowing me to take a photo of him feeding a giraffe. I showed him the photo. He liked it and asked how he could get it so I took his emails address to send it to him. Then his friends came over and asked if I’d do the same for them so now I have a small portfolio of portraits to send them. They were fun and really happy (even if one of them, at least, was a bit nervous about the giraffes)!

I started this post sitting in the airport. Since then we have flown to Doha, changed planes, getting through all the formalities of transfer in double quick time and I’m finishing it as we fly over Bucharest. At one point we were just 24 miles from Bosra and as our journey has progressed I’ve been conscious of knowing most these names because of conflicts in which they have featured. How sad!

And now, twenty-four hours later, I’m putting the finishing touches to this siting in my study at home as about 11,000 photographs copying to another hard disk for safe storage. Thanks for coming along with me!

We made this trip through Spirit of Kenya with whom we also travelled in 2017-18. Vanessa has always made good recommendations for us and we have always been satisfied with the accommodation we have had as well as the game drive arrangements.

On this occasion, though, the task of driving us and making sure everything went smoothly was contracted out to Chris Kinoti of African Oasis and his service was nothing short of outstanding. He gave us the impression that he loves his job (and his camera!) and took every opportunity to position the car for the best light and best viewpoint as well as driving us safely through a couple of bumpy rides and providing good conversation along the way. Thanks, Chris!