CAPE TO CAIRO - 17

I am still dreaming of lions and elephants when there is a knock on my tent. It is 6 am. "Morning! Wake up! Time to be going! Ten minutes later I am sitting in a green safari jeep with four other half-asleep, sad looking tourists. Wrapped up in blankets against the cold, we are in the Masai Mara, Kenya's best known national park, situated on the border with Tanzania.

Serengeti Plain
Masai Mara is famous for animal migration. At the end of the year, two million gnu, gazelle and zebra make their way to the neighbouring Serengeti Plain where they give birth to their young. A field day for lions and other beasts of prey! They are now lying down in the shadow of the trees, well-fed, but still thinking of juicy gnu steaks!

Lioness with cub
The two-way radio crackles into life. Gerald, our guide answers in Kishwahili, puts the jeep into gear and we are off. A lioness has just been sighted with a cub. We're in luck! As we arrive, mother and child have just settled down in a clearing, an ideal photo opportunity (below). The little one is crawling and falling all over the place, making cheerful grunting noises. The mother meanwhile is keeping an eye on the two safari vehicles and on the bipeds with their cameras as if to say "I won't harm you, if you don't harm me!"

A solitary lion
"Oh, how beauuuuutiful" says a voice with an American accent. Cameras are whirring, shutters are clicking. In the more easily accessible parks, such Amboseli, as many as ten vehicles can be seen crowding round a solitary lion. I remember seeing a fully grown lion in the Ngorongoro National Park in Tanzania crawling under a jeep full of Japanese tourists. I could have sworn that it had a grin on its face!

Early riser
One's fellow game hunters are often far more interesting than than the shaggy, thick-skinned park residents. The Swiss lady in our jeep has perfect make-up and every hair is in place, in spite of the early hour. What time did she get up?

"Oh look, honey!"
Safari tourists fall into three categories. First there are the beginners, category one, if you will, who are clad from head to toe in brand new khaki, with equally unblemished field glasses.(I can't remember whether Robert Redford wore khaki in Out of Africa, but somebody must have started this outdoor look nonsense. If you're hunting big game and want to fade into the background, then ok! But khaki in a jeep!) Anyway the beginner is determined to capture every bird, every squirrel on film. "Oh look, honey, a..." By the time they have pulled "The Ultimate Guide to Africa's Birds" out of their pockets, fellow enthusiasts who belong to categories two and three have started to mutiny. Category two use ordinary sun cream instead of sun blocker (factor 30 +); they take pictures of elephants or lions, but ignore the birds. They also manage to put a new film in the camera before they set out for the day thus avoiding noisily spooling film in the presence of very shy leopards. Then there are the old hands: "Black rhinos. Saw them in Tsavo Park". "The National Parks in Botswana are a lot better - far fewer tourists". The old hand turns up his nose at tourists, as if he was not one of them and tourism were some kind of infection. The animals must find this hilarious.

Giraffes
We move on. The heads of a family of giraffes stick out from the thicket. The older animals have long necks and comical "antenna" on their heads. They are, in reality, horns, but the giraffes don't need them to fight. They do that with their necks. The little ones are still rather unsteady on their feet. I did not know that a giraffe's tongue is twelve centimeters long and enables them to nip the leaves from the acacia trees without injuring themselves on the thorns.

Lions, elephants
Our stomachs are rumbling and it's time for breakfast. Gerald has brought a picnic basket and we are served hot coffee and boiled eggs. The women want to go the lavatory and the Swiss lady is heading off in the direction of the nearest bush. "No, not there" cries Gerald. It turns out that this is the territory of Masai Mara's biggest pride of lions. Twenty seven animals in all! The Swiss lady has second thoughts, the call of nature appears to be not so urgent after all. The sun breaks through the clouds, the blankets are cast aside. Later we see a herd of elephants, one of the giant beasts walks right in front of our jeep (below). Fortunately, there is no sign of Sopho, a bull elehphant famous for his attacks on safaris. On one ocassion, he chased a ranger while he was driving his car. The poor man was called Sopho, hence the name of the bull elephant.

Tourists' troubles
Back to the camp to shower in a tent much as Karen Blixen would have done. Drinking beer on the terrace, watching the elephants. My neighbours at the next table are depressed. The charter plane which was supposed to take a group of Swiss to a New Year's Eve ball in Mombasa has been grounded. All of a sudden the bush camp turns into a trap from which there is no immediate escape. "And the ball was paid for... " Khaki instead of dinner jackets!

Photographers, anthropologists...
After the evening meal, there is a traditional dance. There was no game on the menu, because the supplier in Nairobi had gone on strike! You'd have hardly have guessed we were in a park some fifteen hundred square kilometers big teeming with game ! A group of Masaai suddenly emerge from the darkness looking warrior-like. These are the "savages" Africa brings out for the tourists. With their elaborate rituals and body ornaments they have been entertaining photographers, anthropologists and single white women for decades. Their capes are red and they dance on the spot as is befitting for real Massai. "They are still somewhat behind the times", Gerald had remarked that morning, "but soon they will have caught up with civilisation". Judging by the colourful cycling shorts under their capes, some of them already seem to have made that leap. During the night, a hippotpotamus decides to take a bath near my tent. What a spectacle! The next day the camp fills up, just in time for New Year's Eve. I think for my next safari, I'll go to Botswana. In Kenya, well...there are just too many tourists!