Masai Mara, Kenya

Caption: Walking along the Mara River (with an armed guard) to see hippos and crocs!
Masai(named for the indigenous people) and Mara(meaning spotted hills because the trees dotting the landscape make it appear so)

You have likely heard of athlete's foot and tennis elbow, but there is a lesser known affliction called safari butt. One contracts this ailment from lurching, bouncing and otherwise careening along the highways and dirt tracks of Kenya for eight hours a day, eight days in a row. When our Toyota van broke, it was a relief not to drive for a day. The girls caught up on schoolwork and interviewed Professor Dickson who answered all of their questions about animals and ecosystems. We met a German couple who invited us to visit them in Munich at the end of our trip and an intriguing British family who has found homes for street children in Uganda and Kenya for the last twelve years.

Jeff and Maya took a nature walk with the camp host, Elly a 26 year old self-taught Kenyan. They returned contented in a downpour after two hours of walking the red clay roads of the area and climbing a ridge to see the Serengeti in Tanzania. They sipped the sweet nectar of an orange, brown flower and saw a Masai elder herding 1,000 cows. Each of his four wives has an additional 200 cows each. Elly and Jeff share an interest in history, politics and religion so they traversed these topics while Maya silently predicted what would happen in the final Harry Potter novel.

Grass, grass and more tall grass waved across the Masai Mara awaiting the hungry hoards of wildebeest and zebra who will migrate here next month. These immense grasslands yielded little in the way of game for our viewing, but the Mara River provided an adventure. It's one of the few places tourists can escape their vehicles in the Mara, albeit with an armed escort. We walked the shores of these hippo and crocodile infested waters, learning that these odd companions have a truce. Crocs only try to eat baby hippos and adult hippos use their powerful jaws to crush crocs that try. Did you know that when hippos converse, it's like the deep snort of several Harley Davidson motorcycles trying to start? A crocodile resident of the river has reached the length of our safari van over the last hundred years. Thankfully he basked on the opposite bank of the river.

We visited Kenya at the end of the rainy season, which produced little rain. However, on our last night, it rained in earnest through the night and into the morning. Dickson had "repaired" the van so we could limp back to Nairobi, a five hour drive that would take nine hours this day. For those of you who understand cars, the rear, left leaf spring had broken loose. (For those of you who don't, that's the part of the car that fastens the axle and the suspension to the car.) It's really important and ours was now tied on with rubber tubing and baling wire. It needed welding, but that wasn't available in the Mara. With the conviction that Dickson had led us safely thus far, we got back in the car.

Rain had turned the dirt roads and minor stream crossings into muddy batter and major rivers. The slick slime, one-foot deep in many places, spun tires, mired buses and the tractors that tried to rescue them. Smart, patient, experienced Dickson doubled his tip as he navigated the roads like a Hollywood stunt driver. We are certain he was the only driver not to become stuck at least once on the road between Nairobi and Masai Mara. When I told him this, he said, "Yes, I think I am the only one. I have a four wheel drive mind." We agree that he does. Like a chess master he strategized several moves ahead. At times he left the so-called road, jumped the embankment and fishtailed along the grass instead.

We watched impotently as our former cook, Dominic and the kind German couple pushed on the back of their trapped van. Impossible to stop and attempt a rescue; we would have been undone by our own heroics. Car loads of Korean and Japanese tourists stood marooned at the side of the road while their guides attempted to free their vehicles. Local buses offloaded 100 passengers while Masai chopped small trees to lay under the bus wheels. These are some of the things we witnessed on that wild ride to Nairobi. That night, the 43rd anniversary of independence in Kenya, we learned that extra police arrived to guard the forty safari vans, full of tourists, who spent the night stuck in the mud without facilities or extra food.

Finally back on partially paved roads, we stopped at a curio shop to purchase souvenirs. Simon relieved us of many shillings and a few pens. His son offered us 100 cows and two donkeys to marry Maya when she finished high school. Unable to negotiate for more livestock, Maya remains available to decide at a later date whom she will marry.

To us it was an extraordinary day. To the people of Kenya, it's called daily life.
Enjoy more of Jeff's amazing photos in the Masai Mara, our last stop in Kenya.