The Clouds of Kilimanjaro

My friend Craig from Oyama (allegedly situated in the centre of the universe - go ahead, check it on a map) likes to drive in his old Cutlas convertible on seemingly aimless trips. Sometimes there is an intended destination; other times not. The enjoyment for Craig (and hopefully for any captive passengers) is the journey itself and the unknown potential for what may be seen. I’ve been on several trips like this with Craig, but I wasn’t aware that there was a name for it. In Africa I’ve learned that it’s a very popular activity. It’s called a Safari.

Safari is in fact a Swahili word meaning ‘journey.’ I spent one week in June on safari travelling to three Kenyan national parks: Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli. In addition to our guide Bernard, our group consisted of an American math professor (for 3 days), an IBM employee from China and me the accountant. We were on a geek safari and not surprisingly we got on depressingly well. Standing in our ancient, convertible Land Cruiser we drove for countless miles and saw all kinds of wildlife, scenery and really bad roads. Rather than provide a day-by-day account of our activities (and bore us all to death) I’ll describe a few highlights.

We saw several Lions in the Masai Mara National Reserve. Or at least we saw the same handful of Lions on a number of different occasions. For the most part we watched them sleeping. They are so accustomed to tourist vehicles that we could pull-up beside them in a grassy field and watch them nap. Once one of them even moved right beside a vehicle in order to enjoy the shade it provided. It was hard to think of these big, lazy cats as being vicious killers. Then again, I know how I get when I’m hungry.

We spooked a herd of elephants one morning while in the Masai Mara. There were about 10 of them and as they weren’t happy with our presence so started to run off. It actually looked more like a jog but given my current level of fitness I shouldn’t be critical. Their intended route happened to parallel our road so we were able to track their progress and listen to the males trumpeting. At one point one of them moved on to the road and trailed behind us. Our guide would later tell another that we were being chased. This was a bit of an exaggeration but it sounded cool so we all nodded and smiled.

I met some nice medical students from England one evening at our safari camp. As so often seems to happen when around medical students the conversation eventually turned to cadavers. Interestingly, they all agreed that while they wouldn’t hesitate to donate body organs upon their death none of them would give their bodies to be used by medical students.

At Amboseli National Park we camped in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro. Or more accurately, we camped in the shadow of the clouds of Kilimanjaro. We eventually did get glimpses of the mountain and it looked quite impressive towering above the plains. While the Masai Mara was reminiscent of the foothills of Alberta the landscape around Amboseli was more like Cache Creek. However, a swamp in its centre attracted a large number of wildlife in quite a small area, especially elephants. The viewing was easy because with the low vegetation there was nowhere for them to hide.

After seeing approximately 200 elephants (not counting repeat sightings) we made our way out of Amboseli. Driving across this plain (it’s identified as a lake on the map; but unless its the rainy season its barren) we came across a family of 16 elephants migrating to a better source of food. We stopped our vehicle a safe distance back and watched as they crossed our road. All was moving in an orderly fashion until the male at the end of the procession crossed the road. Rather than continuing on he turned in our direction and took a good look at us. Bernard didn’t waste any time in swerving the vehicle off the road and out of the range of the charging male. This time there was no question as to whether or not we were being chased.

By the sixth day of the trip I realized that I was wearing my ball hat not so much because of the sun (as it was often cloudy), but to avoid the embarrassment of ‘safari hair.’

For the record, not counting birds or varmint, I saw the following wildlife in varying numbers during my safari: Lions, elephants, hippos, rhinos, jakals, hyenas, zebras, warthogs, giraffe, elands, buffalo, antelope, wildebeest (loads of them as they were gearing-up for their big migration north), hartebeest, topis, gazelles, impalas, dik-diks and pink flamingos (I know that they’re a bird, but there were so darn many of them).

Amazingly, after one week on safari I wasn’t tired of the adventure. I was satisfied that I had seen pretty much all of the wildlife that I wanted and was able to cover a fair section of Kenya. However, I was still enjoying driving around with the top off our vehicle wondering what new sightings the day would bring. Obviously, my rides with Craig in his Cutlas had prepared me well.