Masai Mara - A kaleidoscope of memorable images

Masai Mara - A kaleidoscope of memorable images


Masai Mara was the last place on my mind, when I made the list of must see places before I die (a simple wish list of all the places that I could probably afford to go in future, ranging from rain forests of brazil to the great barrier reef)

And then came the call from my manger in Singapore. "Would you be interested in joining the rollout team?" The rollout team in our monster sized project goes around the world preaching the project gospel and disappear once the formal sign offs are done. Well, that was how I found myself in the Masai Mara, some 1500 sq kms of virgin African grasslands.

Masai Mara - literally means "Mottled" - a reference to the patchy landscape, in Swahili. Btw, Swahili is the same language that gave us the lovely word, hakuna matata. (No problem!) Masai Mara is arguably the World's most prolific wildlife conservation area. The Maasai's are a proud semi-nomadic cattle-rearing people with a fascinating culture, who inhabit these beautiful grasslands of Africa. It is the best destination in Kenya for viewing wildlife. With its rolling grasslands and wide-open savannah - the Masai Mara is the kind of African landscape that you probably see only in the National geographic or discovery.

A 5-hour ride from Nairobi will take you to the Masai town of Novak. Novak is the major town or trading point for the Maasai's. They make beautiful handicrafts ranging from wooden sculptures to lovely paintings. But then the Masai market, which happens every Tuesday in Nairobi, is a better place to purchase any handicrafts. To buy in Novak, you better have a local friend to help you bargain. We started early morning at Nairobi at around 7am(by my standards) and by 12, we were at Novak. We were a group of 5,3 Kenyans and a brit and myself. Our guide John mwanga, and let me add before I forget, probably has the best eyesight in the world. The way he would spot animals from distances would just surprise us. Once I was looking at a patch of burnt grass through my field glasses and I said there is nothing out there. The fellow just had a glance out there and spotted a hyena. Am dead sure of two things, ether he has mini binoculars surgically implanted in his eyes or had an arrangement with the hyena.

From the town of Novak, it is all the Mara for you. The camp we were put up, the Mara safari club, was pretty inside around 80 km ride from Novak. The journey begins when the journey begins at Nairobi. Especially for someone working and staying in the city center for weeks, when you get to see the villages and rural side of Kenya. It's really a welcome break. And you cross this famous valley of East Africa called, the great rift valley, with breath taking views of the mountains This geologic phenomena, dubbed the Great Rift Valley by the Scottish explorer John Walter Gregory, divides Kenya neatly down the length of the country essentially separating east from west. Today's Rift Valley is characterized by uninhabitable deserts, fertile farmlands, flat arid plains and steep escapements. In some places this natural divide is up to 100 km (60 miles) wide, while it reaches its narrowest point just north of Nairobi at 45 km wide. The valley floor is at its lowest near Lake Turkana where there is virtually no distinction between the Great Rift and the surrounding desert.



Another 2 hours of pretty rough ride through the trails in grasslands and we were reached our campsite. The Mara Safari Club is set in the Ol-Choro Oiroua Conservation Area, bordering the Masai Mara Game Reserve, at the foot of the Aitong Hills. Surrounded on three sides by the Mara River, and fencing on the other side, you do feel completely safe from three sides atleast. I was told that Kenyan conservation rules prevent campsites from putting up fences on the riverside.


All tents have their own private river frontage, with basic electricity, and facilities. The main building, with lounge, bar and dining room is cantilevered over the river. There is also a resident naturalist, who made Mara his home and is living here for the last 30 years (and my parents think am the crazy one to be going to Masai Mara!). The talks he gives late evenings by the campsites are fascinating and very educational.

The Mara River is famous for its crossings in October and November when thousands of wilder beasts, zebras cross across to Serengeti in Tanzania in search of greener grasslands and to give birth. Sadly I missed the rush hour, but still there were lots of animals around.

We were in a 4d cruiser, making it really easy to go, practically anywhere in the reserve, ravines, waterholes, cross streams the park itself is huge - around 1500 sq km area and you have all the big 5 animals there in the park. Africans refer to the lion, leopard, elephant, cheetah and rhino as the Big 5 and I noticed that depending on place-to-place in Africa the list varies like buffalo is considered and cheetah is not in some places. Now I saw all the big 5 except leopard. Leopard was one predator I couldn't target (in my camera) through out my travels in Africa. The best thing about the camp was, my tent itself, perfectly located at a turning point of the Mara river giving me two views of the river, there were hippos and crocs in the river, just a few meters away from my tent, seperated by few wooden logs you think that was cool and exciting, me too! Then came the bad news, the guide told me that hippos kill the most humans in Africa, now that really scared me. The first night there was really scary, the hippos were just too noisy .I just couldn't sleep.

The following day we got to see cheetahs, zebras, and giraffes. There were just too many zebras, after a while I stopped photographing the zebras. We spotted a female cheetah and 3 really cute cheetah cubs. That was the first time I was looking at cheetah cubs in the wild.

The adventure part was to come on the second day. The second day we were tracking a big group of African elephants, one of the elephants almost charged at us, there was a baby elephant, and it was probably as scared as we folks in our cruiser they say the cruiser is nothing for an elephant and can just crush a cruiser we were alive to go on another ride in the evening same day and spotted a big pride of lions, wow!
There were two tiny cubs, very sweet, but will grow up soon to be beasts of the jungle
But it was quite late in night so couldn't get good pictures. The evening we also got chance to see the famous Masai dance. The Masai dance is awesome .you just watch with open mouths, wondering how do they defy gravity to reach such heights when they jump the dance itself is simple with just a few steps. But the ambience, and the shouts, the chilled weather adds to the magic. Masais themselves are pretty confused at cross roads, development and tourist money on one side; desire to stick to their old traditions. Have you seen them movie "Ghost and the darkness", you should see that movie to get to see the masai dance, its fantastic, no wonder even the lions, they say, avoid the masai tribes. Did you know of the Masai tradition of boys getting circumcised at around 14 and then they are given a spear and left in the bushes, poor chap has to kill a lion with the spear to be able to return to his village to choose a bride. The tradition has long been discontinued and I doubt if there are enough lions to continue such a tradition.



The final day was spent searching for rhinos and giraffes and there were some anxious moments with the rhinos. We had to walk up a hill to catch a glimpse of black rhinos, I was taking pictures of two female rhinos, one of the rhinos came charging at me from behind, the forest ranger pulled me off the path of the rhino and then our sweet guide says to me nicely and slowly, black rhinos also kill boss (the moron should have told me before!) I always though it was the other way around, white rhinos bad, black ones good. Guess I was wrong. I got around 100 pictures and another 100 in my dig cam; at times i was just madly clicking, especially lions and cheetahs.


Kenya is probably the most gorgeous country on this planet. Where else can you get snowcapped mountains, grasslands, equator, deserts, lovely sun kissed beaches all neatly packed for you in a medium sized country called Kenya. Sadly Kenya is just known only for its Masai mara, while rests of the locations are ignored. The tourist money is being used properly to provide local employment by hiring rangers, preventing poaching, conservation Safety is however one big concern in Kenya. Nairobi is known as nairobbery and believe me it's not an exaggeration. If Kenyans can work to minimize the crime, Kenya can be the most visited country on this planet, which will in turn benefit the last refuge of the African wild life.

I reach for words, when someone asks me about my visit to the Mara - spectacular,
thrilling, awesome, beautiful, extraordinary .......
seductive..................fascinating ..................................

A kaleidoscope of memorable images