December 2007/January 2008: On safari with Hashi
& Bhaiya
Camping in the Masai Mara
In December, Ruma's sister Hashi came for a visit with her husband
Mahbub (aka Bhaiya) and their two girls Asha and Proma, ages 4 and
3. They arrived on the morning of Christmas eve so we celebrated
Christmas day with them in our house in Nairobi then on boxing day (the
26th for those who are not English), we drove up to Lake Nakuru NP for
some sightseeing. We spent boxing day in the park, seeing lot's
of
animals, although there werent many flamingos in the lake. I
think the reason is that the water level in the lake was too
high. On our way back from Lake Nakuru NP, we stopped by the Lake
Naivasha Country club for lunch and a bit of touring around the
lake We had a very good lunch, and then the girls all had a good
time playing on all of the playground equipment and the pool. We
then hired a boat for an hour and went for a bird/animal watching trip
on lake Naivasha.
After returning to Nairobi, we made a quick trip to the airport to pick
up Sheema, another sister of Ruma's. Sheema had been planning to
come, but cancelled her trip earlier. At the last moment however,
she
decided that she wanted to spend the holidays here, so she quickly
re-booked a ticket and Wallah!, here she was.
On the 29th, we gathered our things together and set off for a camping
trip in the Masai Mara. On the way, we tried to buy petrol to
top-up our rental car in Narok, but there was none to be found.
Uh Oh. We had plenty of diesel in our landcruiser, but the Suzuki
rental car took petrol so we couldnt share. We were just
topping-up and we thought we had enough for the round-trip, so we
decided to just continue on. The road to the Masai Mara has
improved somewhat, but riding in the little Suzuki, we felt every
bump. I began to appreciate our landcruiser even more.
On arrival in the Mara, we camped in our favorite spot, the Aruba
Camp just outside the Talek gate. Later that night though, we
received a call from our landlady that the election results had been
announced and that there was fighting in several cities, including
Narok.
Over the next several days, we went on several game drives throughout
the reserve. We saw lots of animals, including lions, elephants,
giraffe, topi, zebra, etc. It was crowded in the Landcruiser with
9, but with the kids hanging out the sunroof most of the time, it wasnt
too bad. We didnt drive the Suzuki because we wanted to save
petrol for the return trip to Nairobi. We tried to buy petrol in
the nearby village of Talek, but there was none.
The weather was great. Hot, clear days and moonless nights so we
could really see the stars and the milky way.
After our first night camping, most of the other people in the camp
departed, leaving only two of us in the campground. It was a bit
uncomfortable being so alone when there was so much unrest going on in
the country. It felt very exposed. The local Masai told us
not to worry - the problem was between the Kalenjin tribe and the
Kikuyu tribe, but still, we were rather alone.
After 3 nights camping and celebrating new years eve in the Masai Mara,
it was time to come home. Fighting had subsided in Narok, so we
thought we had a good window to get back to Nairobi. We managed
to procure some petrol from one of the lodges in the Mara, so that
added some relief: we knew we had enough petrol to get the Suzuki
back. The ride back was uneventful and we didnt make any
stops. Coming through Narok, we saw some burned out buildings
though.
Back in Nairobi, we learned that the unrest was continuing. There
were also shortages, including deisel and petrol and a protest was
scheduled for the same day that we were planning to drive to Tsavo
NP. After thinking about it for a bit, we decided it was probably
best to cancel our Tsavo trip. So, we spent the next few days
staying around the house - hanging out with friends, going to the ISK
pool, and taking the kids horse riding. Asha and Proma really
liked the ISK pool because it was warm and also because it was shallow
so they could really play. They also really enjoyed riding
ponies. After a few days, things were calmer in Nairobi, so we
took the kids over to the Giraffe Center in Karen and to Nairobi
NP. We saw alot of animals in Nairobi NP, including lions, a
first for us. There was also a large brush fire burning in the
park, which made the girls very sad.
Hashi & Bhaiya left for home on the 9th of January.
Cara & Malia went back to school on the 10th. Sheema,
being the dynamic character that she is, changed her ticket and left on
the 12th, bringing an end to our safari.
View all
photos from this safari
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