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March 2004
While our son was visiting from Canada, we went on safari to the Maasai Mara. This Game Park, in the south west corner of Kenya, merges with the Serengeti in Tanzania. In October, it is invaded by herd of wildbeeste, migrating across the plains in their thousands.

From Kakamega we drove down to Lake Victoria and branched off on the road to Nairobi. This route goes through tea country with vast plantations of squat green bushes and manicured estates maintained by the tea companies. The largest town is Kericho, named after the early English tea planter John Kerich. Its equable climate and year round afternoon rain showers make it the most important tea growing area in Africa.

From Kericho the road leads to Nakuru, where we stayed a couple of nights at the Sports Hotel. We are members of the Kakamega Golf Club, famous for its bird life and grass mown by grazing cows, and most clubs have reciprocal agreements. The Nakuru Sports Club is located in the town center and is an oasis of well tended lawns and genteel dining. It harks back to the colonial era and has been maintained well as a private club, although the high ceilinged rooms are beginning to show their age. The bathroom fixtures still work, but are obviously the originals from sixty years ago. There is still a gentlemen’s bar, open all day, where women are not allowed and they play cricket outside the dining patio on Sunday afternoon.

Nakuru has a Game Park just on the edge of the city. It’s not large, about 10 by 25 km, but it is beautiful with acacia forests and euphorbia plantations. The euphorbia tree is like a giant cactus or an umbrella blown inside out. The Park encircles a saline lake with hundreds of flamingos that look like a deep pink line of surf on the water. The flamingos disappear when the water level or the salinity drops, so we were fortunate to see so many. A large number of buffalo and white rhino are frequent sights, as are giraffe and baboons. One of the latter sat on a tree stump and watched us picnic in a little camp site by a waterfall, but was not able to snatch any of our food.

The road to Naivasha, with another salt lake, is pretty bad, but after Naivasha there has been an improvement project and the going is wonderfully smooth. Almost in Nairobi, you turn right and drop down the steep escarpment towards Narok and the Mara. About twelve kilometers from Narok the road deteriorates completely (with no continuous tarmac surface left) and dirt tracks have been made on the sides to allow vehicles to pass. Once through Narok, the road is better and you soon meet packed earth as your approach the reserve.

The Maasai Mara is known as the best park for seeing the greatest variety of animals and we were not disappointed. The Fig Tree Lodge, where we stayed, is about 25 km from the gate towards the western end of the Park where wildlife is more plentiful. The situation of the lodge is lovely, overlooking a bend in the Talek River and most accommodation is in ‘furnished tents’ each with a small deck and modern bathrooms. Our spot looked down on a sandbar that was noisy with life at night. Hoof and paw prints were clearly visible in the sand in the morning. (To be continued in Part 2)