Flat Stanley Goes to Kenya (4): Masai Mara Game Reserve

Masai Mara is one of the most famous game reserves in the world, a great place for a flat boy who wants to see some of the wild animals he has read about. I've had two previous adventures in Masai Mara, so I was pretty excited when I was going to be visiting the game reserve again with my partner. The others joining our big safari will be with us later, but for this visit it's just Andrew and me and Charles (our wonderful driver and good friend).

There's much to see and do, and the whole Masai Mara idea just seems to cry out to be shared with someone else (and so as not to repeat, if anyone wants to read about my earlier visits, go to the posts for my first trip to Masai Mara in May, 2010 and the migration safari, written about in September - see links to the left).

I'm a great fan of the famous (and well-managed) Sopa Lodges in Kenya, and Andrew and I opted to use them for this trip. One reason of course might have to do with my great love of the elephants, which the Sopa Lodge folks seem to share. Their decorators include images of elephants in the lobby's wall decorations, giving Flat Stanley and me an appropriate background for our first Masai Mara photo op.

One of the reasons why Masai Mara is so well-regarded is the variety of wildlife. Some claim that lion sightings are almost guaranteed, and perhaps that's so, since we had pretty good luck seeing the lions.These were resting in the sun when we first spotted them, and they were not at all concerned about having a vehicle stop nearby for some photographs. I continue to be intrigued with how docile lions can be when they are not hungry and looking for food. They really are just great big cats, perfectly content to lie in the sun and observe what's going on around them or, with most of them, just sleep the afternoon away.

We also were very lucky with many other animals as well, and Flat Stanley had a good introduction to wildebeests (which I don't think we have in America), hippos, the African buffalo, and all sorts of other animals and birds, including topi, gazelle, eland, and the ostrich and the kori busturd. There are plenty of zebras, great herds of them, and they make a pretty impressive picture when seen from a distance. The zebras, too, don't seem to mind when they are close to the track and a van or 4X4 comes by and stops so the visitors can have a better look.


At Masai Mara we got to see plenty of elephants which pleased me and, I'm happy to say, pleased Andrew and Charles and Flat Stanley as well. The African bush elephant is definitely my favorite animal now, and there's just something about their grace and their huge size that intrigues me. They are very social animals and it is always interesting to watch them moving about in groups and try to figure out what the relationships are. The bulls are often off by themselves, but not always, and as friends and I found out when we was on the migration safari, bulls can be extremely possessive parents.


While at Masai Mara, we had the good fortune to have Tomas as our guide. A member of the Maasai community, Tomas had been our guide when Charles and I visited in May, and it was Tomas who arranged for us to visit a Maasai manyatta, the family compound where he and his relatives live. He took Charles and me there on the previous safari, and he agreed to take Andrew and Charles and Flat Stanley and me there this time. It was a pretty exciting trip, and not only did we and Flat Stanley get a chance to go inside a Maasai hut, the men and women of the community danced for us, demonstrating some of the ritual dances that have become almost a trademark for the Maasai.

The men of the Maasai community are easily recognized by the brightly colored toga-like wrap they wear, the shuka (also now one of the cheapest and most popular souvenirs a visitor can bring home from Kenya). They color their hair with henna, giving it sometimes a rust-colored tint, and they wear a great deal of jewelry, both metal and beaded jewelry. They measure their wealth in the number of children they have and, perhaps as important, the number of cows (they don't use our plural word "cattle"), with a man not being considered wealthy unless he has at least 50 cows. The manyatta is not only the family compound, for at night when the cows are brought in from where they've been taken to graze during the day, it becomes their home for the night, shared with the people living there.

Masai Mara (9): The Animals

So now we come to why Mr. Guy has come to the Masai Mara Game Reserve. The views are without a doubt magnificent to see, and there’s no question but that coming to Masai Mara to see the landscape is a very special experience. Indeed, I imagine there probably are people who travel around the world to look at the different scenery we humans have been blessed with. When I reflect back on seeing such things as the national parks in America (and thank you, Ken Burns, for last autumn’s exceptional programme – want to do something like that on Kenya’s national parks?), and the special treats I’ve had visiting some of them with family and friends, I can understand why viewing the landscape is a very special experience. And, yes, that first visit to Yosemite 13 months ago sort of changed my life, in terms of appreciating the natural beauties that are here for us to see, and that same special feeling came to me again last winter, when I was left in awe by the majesty of the scenery at Hell’s Gate National Park here in Kenya.

But it’s not just about the scenery, is it? It is about the people, who you’ll meet and what you’ll learn from them when you go on safari but – perhaps? – equally important it’s about the animals, what you’ll see and learn about all the other creatures that are out there. Friends have a good time playing with my on-going debate about which of the African animals is my favorite and I’m still playing the which-one-do-I-choose-? game. It’s only a game, of course, because all the animals are so special, but as I hope the next few posts will demonstrate, it’s kind of nice to think about what makes these animals so special, and why knowing about them and seeing them contribute so much to one’s understanding of the wonders of nature.  

This first collection of animal photographs is presented just to give you a general idea of the variety of animals that can be seen at Masai Mara (or indeed throughout Africa, depending on viewing and driving conditions). On this safari – although it wasn’t particularly part of my plan anyway - the big five was narrowed down to Mr. Guy’s “big four.” These were the African buffalo, the African bush elephant, the lion, and the rhino, and the last probably shouldn’t count anyway as I saw rhinos only a few times, usually alone (not in herds) and very far away. No leopards on this safari and in fact no leopards since I’ve been in Africa this time, although as I’ve noted I had my splendid leopard experience in Kruger National Park in South Africa (which no one believed!). The only other (slight) disappointment was that I didn’t see any cheetahs in the Masai Mara Game Reserve and that surprised me, as there is a healthy popular of about cheetahs on the plains and one usually has the opportunity to see the cheetah. Next time.

I hadn’t even thought about looking for the mongoose but – as the first photo in Mr. Guy’s Masai Mara (9) Album shows, we did just chance upon a large group of mongoose, probably the dwarf mongoose, since these little fellows are highly social and we saw a bunch of them all together on a huge termite hill. But they didn’t seem small enough to be considered “dwarf” so perhaps they were the banded mongoose, the slender mongoose, or the marsh mongoose. They were definitely not the white-tailed mongoose. Nice sighting.

Other of the less spectacular (shall we say?) animals were the impala – so many of them! – and the ugly old wildebeest. This last is a southern hemisphere phenomenon (we don’t have them in North America), and one usually sees many of the wildebeest together, since they are highly gregarious (and it’s the wildebeest – some two million of them – which make up the large portion of the travelling wildlife in the annual Great Migration). Sometimes confused with other antelope-type animals, when one gets a little closer it’s easy to spot the wildebeest because of its slighter build and its shaggy beard.

And as shown in the photographs, there were a few others, including a delightful encounter (well, we were in the van) with a funny-looking spotted hyena heading off into the high grass, and the very beautiful and elegant topi, shown in the first picture above. This latter has a darker and glossier coat than some of the other large antelopes, and is easily recognized by its bright yellow lower legs. Not quite so gregarious as some of the other animals, the topi is usually found in small herds (probably for protection) and prefers being in the open grassland.

The so-called “Common Hippopotamus” is another spectacular animal – not for its beauty, of course, but just because it is what it is. There is an amazing collection of hippos at the Masai Mara Game Reserve, and there are a number of “hippo pools” scattered throughout. We chose to head for a little more high-end viewing at the Keekerok Lodge (although it didn’t cost anything, since the management of the lodge long ago evidently decided that it’s in its best interest to simply invite safari visitors to walk through the main reception area and be greeted by the delightfully friendly staff). At Keekerok there is a large built-up wooden ramp available for walking about the hippo pool, and they’re all there, hard to see of course because they stay mostly submerged most of the time! But we got to see enough of them, and, yes, to hear that amazing sound they emit from time to time. And we were even lucky enough to see one of the hippos emerge from the water and head out somewhere (in the final hippo photo) to, I suppose, have some morning meal or something.

The African buffalo, too, is also very common to Masai Mara (and elsewhere in Africa). They’re pretty big (up to two tonnes in weight) and back when the “big five” categories were being designated, the white hunters regarded this great ox as the most dangerous of African animals. They are sort of all over the place (there are estimated to be a population of over 1 million of these animals spread out across Africa) and they are not shy about charging anyone (or any vehicle) that gets between them and where they are headed. In fact, because they are so grumpy by nature, especially the older African buffalo known as the “Dago Boys,” they are best avoided except from a distance. They love to wallow in the mud (“dago”), and while they are notably quieter than other animals of their type, they do move about a great deal and they are noted for stopping to stand still and “stare down” a possible intruder or annoying visitor. In most cases, I’ve been told, this is because they simply don’t see very well. They are chronically myopic!

Finally, I will say just a word about the majestic owl I found sitting at the top of a big tree. As I’ve noted before, I’m sorry I’m not more learned about birds, and my lack of knowledge in this area sort of restricts my pleasure when I am out and about (and observing how serious some other people are about birds). I did get to enjoy – and learn a little – at the huge collection of stuffed birds at the Nairobi National Museum, but I’m purely a crass amateur when it comes to birds. Still, I could not help but be impressed with this beautiful sight, and it makes a nice concluding photograph for this post.