Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 21, 1995 TAG: 9505200014
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: G8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KEN SCHUTZ
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Never before have I been so under-prepared for an assignment. And perhaps because of that, plus the fact that everything always turned out fine in the end, never have I more enjoyed a journey into another culture. To dwell upon our misadventures would only distract from the incredible success we enjoyed in finding and photographing African wildlife. And yet not to mention them would understate the thrill of those glorious moments, precisely because we worked so hard to make them happen.
Most of the challenges we faced presented themselves when we were moving from one national park to another. In theory, driving on the opposite side of the road was going to be the biggest travel obstacle we faced, and after a couple hours of hyper-alertness, we expected to be old pros at riding English. What I had forgotten was just how bad nearly all the major roads are outside of Nairobi, and staying on the correct side of them was the least of our worries. What occupied our attention was spotting potholes the size of moon craters in time to avoid being swallowed by them, identifying unmarked rural speed bumps before they sent us airborne, and playing chicken with cows who thought they had the right of way. (In fact, they did. )
Our troubles were compounded by the fact that even the best maps we could buy were created by cartographers who assumed close enough is good enough, and further enhanced by highway planners who believed directional signs only block the view and so assisted drivers by not posting many of them.
The high point of our troubles occurred when our trusty safari vehicle broke down half way up the eastern escarpment of the Great Rift Valley, at dusk, on a road that makes the ascent up Bent Mountain on U.S. 221 look like part of the Kansas prairie. We survived that ordeal, and it's now one of our favorite Kenyan tales to tell--second only to recounting our time in the national parks actually viewing the animals.
In search of wildlife, our first trip out of Nairobi took us northward to the nation's central highlands, through the Aberdare Mountain Range and around Mount Kenya which, at 5,199 meters, is the tallest mountain peak in the country, and the second highest on the continent. The full mountain came into our view just once in the entire time we spent in its presence, and even then for only 10 minutes or so as, at sunset, we watched its snow capped summit change color from a fleecy white to the softest of pinks, before slipping again behind a swirl of clouds. For the rest of our time in the central highlands, Mount Kenya's base was almost always in view, and we used it as a landmark to help navigate the unmarked roads on our way to Meru National Park.
We had selected Meru over the other major northern park, Samburu, for several reasons: its lower cost for accommodations, the park's reputation for being so expansive that often safari groups could travel all day without seeing any other people, and because I had never been there. Meru lived up to its reputation for being isolated, and during our two days there we did not encounter any other travelers, and had only minimal contact with the staff at the Meru Mulika Lodge where we stayed. Our exposures to wildlife, however, were far more frequent.
As we settled into our cabin at the lodge, the first animals we spotted were a troop of olive baboons, foraging lazily in the midday sun not 20 feet from our doorway. After some cautious experimentation revealed they weren't going to charge us if we ventured outside, we slipped into the chairs in front of our cabin and began to scan the near horizon with binoculars. We discovered the seemingly empty plains that stretched before us were teeming with life, and delighted in calling out to one another the name of each new species as we spotted it. In this, our first real scan of the Kenyan landscape, we identified Grant's zebra, reticulated giraffe, ostrich, water buck and lesser kudu.
Around 4:00 p.m., when the heat of the day is over and most animals begin to feed again until the sun sets, we headed out in our vehicle, away from the lodge, and in search of larger game. Our first encounter was a huge herd of water buck, about 70 in all, including several young animals, grazing quietly near a wide stand of Acacia trees. As is true of most animals in the national parks, our vehicle was not a concern, and by approaching them slowly we were able to get quite close.
Next we headed for the banks of the Tana River, famed for its large population of hippos, and a good place to find the herd of 250 elephants that inhabits Meru Park. Along the way, we spotted our first secretary bird and, moments later, a saddle-billed stork. Our trip to the river was rewarded with a view of 10 or so hippos, and we stayed to watch and listen (for they are quite vocal) for nearly an hour.
What drew us away was the hope of finding those 250 elephants, and we headed to the far side of the open plains area, surrounding a marsh, that was visible in the distance from our lodge. This time, instead of viewing the animals we had seen earlier through binoculars, we were in their midst, and surrounded by their sounds and smells. Dung piles told us the elephant herd had recently been here, but they were not to be seen.
As the sun began to set we headed back to camp and, on the way, encountered one lone elephant bull, not 20 feet from the path we were on. Just minutes later, a single male giraffe, towering above us, crossed the road right in front of our vehicle. We returned to camp exhausted because of the constant adrenaline rushes we had experienced with each new sighting. Sleep came quickly, bundled under blankets in the cool African night, and was punctuated by the occasional cooing of doves in nearby trees.
We spent the next day in Meru again in search of those 250 elephants, which we never did find. However, our day was full, and included additional spottings of all the species we had seen the day before, plus fringe-eared oryx, which I had never seen in the wild, lions, and a serval cat.
From Meru we moved on to Delamere's camp, on the bank of Lake Elementeita, which we reached by traveling around the north side of Mount Kenya, and past Lake Nakuru - which is famed for it's flock of greater and lesser flamingoes numbering in the millions. Elementeita has its own resident population of flamingoes, and we had chosen this site over Nakuru because of its reputation as one of the most elegant and hospitable tented camps in all of Kenya.
Delamere's managed to exceed our expectations, and our wonderfully comfortable time there was typified by the fact that the staff served us Thompson gazelle ka-bobs with cocktails before dinner, and then took us on night game drives in search of bush buck, dikdik, African hare and Steinbock.
By day, Delamere's is a birder's paradise, and in addition to all of the flamingoes, we spotted avocets, sandpipers, a black-headed oriole, yellow bishop weavers, a red-cheeked cordon bleu and Egyptian geese.
From Delamere's we traveled to the Mountain Lodge, a hotel built around a watering hole in the foothills of Mount Kenya, with viewing balconies in each room. The real show at the Mountain Lodge begins at dusk, when a parade of forest animals takes turns coming to the water hole, which is lighted.
Throughout the evening, stopping only for a four-course, five-star dinner in the hotel's glass enclosed dining room, we saw cape buffalo, duiker, black rhinos, giant forest hog and elephant. Breakfast was equally as exciting because from our window seats we could see clearly four black and white colobus monkeys grooming each other in the forest canopy above us.
Finally, after a trip back to Nairobi to restock, we headed to my
favorite spot - -the Masai Mara - which is how Kenyans refer to their country's portion the Serengeti plains. Here we stayed at a tented camp called Intrepids, set on the banks of a small stream that feeds into the Mara River, and this was our base for three days of incredible wildlife viewing, including hippos, hyena, jackals, ostrich, wart hogs, topi and cape buffalo.
The timing of our visit was just after the great migration of wildebeest, although tens of thousands still remained to be seen. These were flanked by herds of zebra, gazelles and, frequently, several eland. Always nearby were predators, and the hardest decision we faced each afternoon was whether to watch a family of cheetah or a pride of lions (including several young cubs) as they roused themselves from afternoon naps . More often than not, we chose the lions, because one of the older females in the pride had taken a liking to our vehicle (presumably because its red color made it different from all the others). She liked to sniff our tires and bat at the taillights; safely inside, we enjoyed every thrilling moment of her casual investigations.
While we viewed the Mara only from our vehicle, it is also possible to do so by air. Each morning, as the first rays of sunlight heat the earth and create steady updrafts, hot air balloons are available to whisk travelers across the Mara, high enough to provide incredible views, but low enough to spot individual animals. The balloons are always shadowed by safari vehicles and, upon touch-down, participants are treated to a full course breakfast, complete with champagne, on a table set in the open air of the Serengeti plains.
Only reluctantly did we leave the Mara to return to Nairobi, knowing that our flight home would depart the next day. I returned to Roanoke excited to develop the final itinerary for the Science Museum's trip to Kenya, and my experiences had taught me much.
First and foremost, we would use established tour guides with their own reliable vehicles, maps and secret short cuts around the bumpiest roads. In fact, we would fly some local routes instead of driving at all. The stars of our trip - Delamere's Camp, Mountain Lodge and the Masai Mara - would also be included in the Museum's trip. Meru would be deleted in favor of Samburu, and Amboseli, a park we didn't visit, but one famous for its views of Mount Kilimanjaro, would be added.
As for my role in the museum's up-coming trip, I will gladly take my place in the passenger's seat again, and serve as color commentator, leaving the real safari leading to the Kenyan pros that know and love their beautiful country so well.
SCIENCE MUSEUM OF WESTERN VIRGINIA'S TRIP TO KENYA: Sept. 1-15. Tour includes the foothills of Mount Kenya, savannahs of the northern Serengeti, the Great Rift Valley, the northern frontier and other areas away from the normal tourist track. Luxury tented camps and lodges. $4,498 cost is all-inclusive from New York. For more information, call 342-5727.
Ken Schutz is the director of the Science Museum of Western Virginia. He will lead the Science Museum trip to Kenya Sept. 1-15
by CNB