Up Close and Personal

April 25, 2002-Just Like TV
(photos:Giraffe welcome,
Samburu Serena Lodge)

Dinner last night was average, but the service was too good. These waiters don’t have enough to do and hover in the background watching our every move. If they start calling me “memsaab” and David “bwana,” I will freak.

There was an animal sighting towards the end of the meal and we all ran down to the “blind.” A bull elephant had come to graze on the mud around the watering hole. The mud is mineral rich and the wildlife seeks it out. He came so close to us we could hear him swallow. He was then joined by a group of Cape buffalo and even he gave them a wide berth. The night sounds were magnified as we sat in the dark. It was like watching the Discovery Channel but this time we were part of the show. One of the buffalo was particularly fond of rolling in the mud and another seemed as if he was sure that someone was out there watching, but just couldn’t get a handle on it. He’d turn and stare in our direction, but couldn’t see us at all. The watering area was floodlit at night and we were sitting in a dark room. Two hyenas and impalas joined the group and we forgot our melting ice cream as we watched the activity. I wanted to beak into song. Home on the Range came to mind. I’d take the liberty of changing the words to, “Oh give me a home where Cape buffalo roam, and the deer and the elephant play.”

I woke up this morning as birds and monkeys began to welcome the sun. They sounded as happy to see it as the Hindus on the banks of the Ganges. The cacophony quieted and I glanced out of the window to see a larger herd of grazing Cape buffalo. There was a frisky calf with them this time and it was trying to nurse, but the mother was not in the mood and kept moving away. Perhaps she was weaning it. Birds were perched on the buffalo backs just like they are in any documentary I have ever seen.

Movin’ On

After breakfast we began our three-hour arduous drive to the Samburu Serena Lodge in the national park of the same name. I didn’t know that Toyota made an off-road van, but evidently they do. We weren’t on anything that could be called a road and sometimes the driver drove in the ditch since he didn’t have to contend with potholes there. We bounced, lurched and swayed our way within sight of the peaks of snow-capped Mt. Kenya until I thought our luggage would burst. We heard every bone-jarring shake, rattle, and crash as we frequently became air-born. It felt like we were in a Land Rover commercial.

We stopped for a clever demonstration of how water swirls in different directions on either side of the equator. It was worth the $3 and the demonstrator didn’t even use a toilet. He had a bowl with a small hole in the bottom. He placed two small twigs into the bowl as the water leaked out of the hole. Sure enough, the twigs went clockwise north of the equator and counter-clockwise on the south side. Since this was also a potty stop, we were given the opportunity to shop. I was awake this time and Margaret, our sales woman, was beautiful and charming. I felt badly buying a mask and a painting for 1/3 of her opening price, but I know that if she agreed to my final offer, I had overpaid. Her sister made a last ditch attempt at a sale by saying she would trade a souvenir for an American t-shirt. I resisted.

We were now in an arid part of Kenya and the trash count seemed to have increased. Perhaps it’s a different tribal area with different standards. We thought we were home free when we turned onto the “road” to the lodge, but it only got worse. Jackson assured us he had two spare tires. As the driver stopped for a security check, children with trinkets to sell surrounded the van. Sunglasses are great shield behind which we played deaf and dumb. The ruts on this road added a washboard effect that made the van sound like the staccato of machine gun fire. Three miles and a half hour later, we were given a giraffe escort to our destination. The Samburu Serena Lodge is in a lush oasis by a river in a desert plain surrounded by mountains. A young man holding a basket of wet towels greeted us. They started out white, but it was evident how dirty we were by the grime we left on them. The accommodations are cabins nestled among the trees bordering the river. Tonight we’ll sit on our porch, watch the crocodiles and leopards, and contemplate the sunset. We’ll also contemplate the trip back to Nairobi in two days on the same road. I think this is the point in the movie when the hero and heroine decide to hire an alcoholic pilot to fly them out rather than return by the same torturous route. The lodge does have a landing strip.

Toby