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> Safaris in Kenya
Safaris in Kenya:
Breakfast With the Baboons; Tea with the Hippos
A safari in East Africa? Neither my husband, Denis, nor I
is a camper, but we had always heard that a tented safari was the best way to
experience present-day East Africa and its animals. We decided to try it.
Our group of nine campers met in Nairobi, and while we were
getting acquainted the staff of thirteen went ahead to Amboseli to set up the
first of three camps. We left I Nairobi the next day in some sturdy land cruisers,
which had been arranged by Abercrombie & Kent, the safari organizers.
There were five tents for our group plus the dining tent and
the staff tents. Somewhat amazingly, each tent was outfitted with a rug, wall
hangings and flowers in vases. On cool nights there were even hot water bottles
tucked in the bottom of the beds. The en-suite bathrooms were not bad at all:
a basic toilet, a canvas bucket shower, and a basin filled by an attendant
several times a day.
 Each
day started with the sound of a zipper, as the attendants brought tea or coffee
with biscuits into the tents at 6:00 a.m. We were the last tent, so we could hear
the zippers from each tent as the attendants came closer. Following the tea/coffee
we were off for our early morning game drive, which lasted up to three hours.
Then it was back for breakfast, which seemed to be soon followed by an alfresco
buffet lunch.
After a siesta we had our afternoon game run, again lasting
up to three hours. Then we'd be back for dinner, which was served in the dining
tent. It was quite an elegant affair -- complete with candlelight.
We stayed up to three days in one locale, and by the second
day we began to know the habitats of the various animals. In the Maasai Mara Reservation,
which is about l00 miles west of Nairobi, we became very familiar with the lions'
territory, where we would visit them several times a day. In the Aberdare region
further to the north there was a lovely secluded spot by a river where some of
our favorite elephants liked to gather to cool themselves. There were many trees
in the Abedares where we enjoyed stopping to view the white plume-tailed monkeys.
But we related best to the animals that lived near our camps.
In our wooded Abedares camp, there was a large family of baboons. They made themselves
known at breakfast when the smell of bacon and sausage permeated the air.
Our favorites were the hippos in the Mara. Here our camp was
right on the Mara River near an area that a large group of hippos calls home.
By day they congregated in the muddy waters, then in the evening they would climb
up the steep bank to spend the evening ashore -- almost in our camp.
The sound of the hippos delighted us. None of us had ever
heard hippo chatter, which can best be described as the sound of laughter. It
made us feel happy just to hear "our" hippos. We became almost protective
of the hippos and resentful of tourists who would stop on the other side of the
river to view them and take their picture.
 The
last evening in camp someone suggested we play a game over dessert, describing
the animal we'd most like to be. One wanted to be a lion, another a leopard, another
a giraffe, and so on until the last one spoke: he wanted to be a human.
Why? "Because the human is the only animal capable of
emotions and feelings." But it turned dark as he spoke, and the emotions
about which he spoke seemed to be deceit, anger, cruelty, manipulation and lying.
He brought us back from our fantasies and plunged us into what seemed like a frightening
humanity.
What animal did I want to emulate? Elephants. They take care
of their young as well as the old and infirm -- chewing the food for elders who
have lost their teeth and burying their dead. They became a metaphor for the right
way to live.
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