Photo Safari

           Yes, I took this photo. And yes, it is a photo of a year-old leopard in a tree. And yes, you wish you were here right now.

            Always in search of another adventure, my trusty fellow ecohydrology interns and I jumped at the opportunity to tag along with a group of researchers from Mpala heading down to spend this past weekend at the Maasai Mara National Reserve, near the southwestern border of Kenya. 

          Maasai Mara (colloquially known as “the Mara”) is a protected area and major tourist destination thanks to its large populations of big cats, antelope, and other game. It is particularly spectacular from July through October, during the Great Migration. During the Great Migration grazing animals like zebra, antelope, and wildebeest follow rains (and therefore grasses) north out of Tanzania into Kenya: the Mara is essentially the Kenyan continuation of Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park. In fact, you can illegally cross the Kenyan-Tanzanian border while in the Mara. And you can take pictures at a stone thingy marking the border to prove it!

I'm on the right in Tanzania; Kathleen's on the left in Kenya, and Alice has dual citizenship.

            Our trip was scheduled to begin with a 6 AM departure from Mpala on Thursday morning, so we all woke up at five, packed frantically, and then waited around for two hours until our mutatu (taxi), operating on Kenya time, arrived promptly at 7:30 to drive us the five hours from Mpala, through Nanyuki, across the equator, and into the heart of Nairobi, where we were to meet the van taking us to the Mara.

These people are also on the equator.

            Upon arriving and unloading in Nairobi, our group lost little time in forgetting our pledge to stick together for a speedy and efficient transfer, instead becoming hopelessly fragmented as some people stopped at the ATM, some headed to the bank to find out why their ATM cards weren’t working, and some ducked inside the supermarket to browse the impressive selection of biscuits. We all ultimately regrouped inside the next van an additional hour behind schedule, an hour that our driver, Chris, made up by speeding in an alarmingly determined fashion. We arrived at the Mara at 6 PM, just as the park was closing.

Chris, our fabulous driver.

            As we waited inside our van near the park gates while Chris was busy paying our park fees, we had our first encounter with the “Maasai” part of Maasai. Numbering approximately 1.3 million in Kenya (1.5% of the national population), the Maasai people are not one of the largest tribes in Kenya (the largest is the Kikuyu tribe at 22% of the national population), but, because many Maasai villages continue to retain their traditional culture and lifestyle, they are one of the most well-known. Historically pastoralists, hunters, and warriors, the Maasai tend to live in small huts on open grasslands, where they raise large herds of cattle and goats for their meat, milk, and blood. As a result, Maasai populations are especially significant near national parks, where the land is better and less overgrazed. Some herders even have special permission from the government to graze their flocks inside the parks (and some of course illegally graze their herds inside the parks without securing permission).

Now that tourism has become so big in Kenya, however, the Maasai supplement their pastoral livelihoods by relentlessly hawking crafts and souvenirs to tourists. No sooner had Chris firmly shut all the windows of our van and walked over to the park gates than three elaborately dressed Maasai women came over and opened all of them, thrusting handfuls of colorful beaded bracelets, necklaces, and earrings forward for us to buy.

            “Look at this, look, look, all for 500, 500,” said one of the women to me, holding out a string of bracelets.

            “No, I’m not buying today, thank you.”

            Clearly this meant I hadn’t seen the bracelets well enough.

“Ah, look, look, see? Very nice, good price, 500, 500 all,” insisted the woman, pushing the bracelets closer.

“No thank you, I’m not buying anything today.”

Which meant that though I was holding off on bracelets, I would certainly be interested in a wood carving.

“Giraffes, very nice, look, look? 700, good price!” By this time the woman’s head and shoulders were in the van too.

“No, not today. I don’t need anything today!”

I had changed my mind and would like to see the bracelets again.

“Yes, see, all for 500. Look, look, all, 500, you buy!” The bracelets were now in my lap.

“Very good, look, look, all!”

Kathleen gets mobbed by Maasai.

            I bought the bracelets.

            By the time we finally made it to the guesthouse we were staying at, it was almost dark, so I didn’t have the opportunity to fully appreciate the scenery until the following morning. Now, Mpala and most of the other parts of Kenya that I’ve seen in my time here are beautiful, but Maasai Mara beats them all. Everywhere you turn you see herds of wildebeest, zebra, and/or buffalo, epic landscapes, and vast, breathtaking stretches of open grassland and sky. This is a place where desktop wallpapers and Facebook profile pictures are born.

            If the leopard picture wasn’t proof enough, here’s more:

Maasai giraffe (a different species from the more common reticulated giraffe--the type I see at Mpala)

Mara River, home to (literally) tons of hippos and crocodiles

Lilac-breasted roller

Female lion

Vervet monkey

Mother zebra with nursing foal

Jackal

Male ostrich

Elephants

Hannah

            There’s nearly 500 more where those came from. I also understand that the Mara is even more spectacular in August and early September, when the Great Migration is in full swing, so I can’t wait to see the photos Elizabeth takes when she’s there then!

Postscript: Significant credit for almost all of these pictures needs to go to Alex Kasdin, who was gracious enough to lend me her awesome camera for the weekend. Alex, who will be completing her internship at Mpala and leaving for home on Thursday, also deserves an additional shout-out here for her outstanding service as a member of the Mpala Princeton Army as well as her staunch support of this blog. I’ll miss you for the next month, Alex!