Travel and Personal

Land of the Masai - The Masai Mara

By Dweep Chanana ⋅ December 11, 2005 ⋅  Email this post ⋅ Post a comment

I am writing this from the Mara Serena Lodge, an oasis of luxury in the middle of the Masai Mara National Reserve. The location is breathtaking with relaxing views from each room. Outside, the sun is merciless, but at 1625 meters, a cool breeze makes the shade inviting. Beyond the mud huts, the swimming pool, and the watering hole is miles upon miles of land - a landscape so vast that I cannot capture it, either with words or my camera.

After 3 ‘game drives’, I have captured in my camera lions sleeping or eating, elephants crossing in front of me, a leopard close enough to touch, giraffes attempting to mate, a lizard in full color, and the vastness of the Serengeti plains. Yet, so much that happens here is too fleeting, or too massive in space and time to try to capture on film.

Safari is the swahili word for journey. The more common english meaning - a hunting expedition - conveys so little till you actually go on one. It is a journey into an expanse from which anything can emerge at any time. A search for the more elusive wildlife - giraffes, dik dik’s (no kidding) and the cats. The everyday, however, is not to be discounted. Wildebeest gallopping, antelopes locking horns, zebras suckling their young, hippos sleeping by the dozen on a river bank. Here, even the ordinary has the power to amaze and entertain.

What would I do differently next time? Get a room on the right of the resort, wake up early, and enjoy the sunrise. Pack a (hippo) breakfast and spend more time out in the morning, maybe by the river. Most of all, spend at least 2 full days, and perhaps fly in rather than drive the 6 hours from Nairobi.

People ask me if I saw a lot of wildlife. I tell myself I did not have to see everything. The desire to spot the elusive can be so overpowering that every running gazelle, every rustle in the grass, can hold out hope. I am happy not to have seen everything. Partly because I am not a wildlife fanatic. Partly because doing so is not possible. Mostly because the joy of the safari is more in seeing what comes your way - to steal someone else’s words, the joy is as much in what you find at the end, as in the journey itself.