The morning was wet and chilly in Kenya’s Maasai Mara game reserve. A fine mist, not quite rain, hung over the savanna as another day dawned in Africa. In the distance, thousands of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle were on the move…just another day that has played out for thousands of years. But something very dramatic was about to happen. Our safari party had just left our lodge for a game drive when we noticed a lone wildebeest walking through the tall grass. Suddenly, something flashed in the weeds and several lions, perfectly camouflaged, sprung an ambush on the beast. As one lioness jumped on the animal’s back, another locked onto its neck in a death squeeze. The wildebeest, desperate to live, attempted to fight off the onslaught as more lions joined the attack. Its eyes bulged in terror as the cats pressed their attack…but it had no chance. Many go on safari fervently hoping to see a big cat make a kill, but watching this natural and necessary occurrence is sobering. In the wildebeest’s final moments, it seemed we were interlopers, stealing a look at nature’s sacred transactional moment when one animal dies so another can live. Another act came to a close in the never ending theater of life and death in the wild places.
A few years ago, my wife Kitty and I were on safari in Kenya. After a long day on game drives, we were relaxing outside our tent and listening to the sounds of the bush at night. Across the muddy brown river in front of our tent, we heard the unmistakable “whoop, whoop” of hyenas looking for their next meal. Behind us in the pitch black darkness of the trees, branches cracked as an elephant passed by our tent. As we sat listening to nature’s nighttime symphony, we talked about bringing friends to Africa to see the things we have seen on our numerous trips across the continent. So in early 2018, we discussed a group safari with friends in Lake Charles and 5 adventurous souls signed up to go.
Our safari story begins in the Kenyan capital city of Nairobi. The city started as a depot servicing the “Lunatic Express,” a railway built by Britain linking the Kenyan port city of Mombasa to Uganda in the 1890s. In a fascinating but tragic side-note about the railway, 2 man-eating lions were responsible for killing and devouring numerous workers working on the project in the Tsavo area of Kenya. As the death toll mounted, work stopped on the project prompting British Army Officer and civil engineer LtCol John Patterson to take action. Patterson eventually shot and killed the 2 marauders, claiming in his book “The Man Eaters of Tsavo” that the lions had killed about 135 workers and locals; but recent studies place the toll at about 35 victims. The 1996 movie “The Ghost and the Darkness” is a fictionalized account of these 2 lions and the hunter who eventually killed them. If ever in Chicago, you can see the reconstructed remains of the 2 lions at the Chicago Field Museum. But it’s time to tell the story of our safari.
When you safari in Kenya, you travel by bush plane and Nairobi’s Wilson Airport is the starting point for most people traveling to remote safari lodges or coastal vacation destinations on the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts. Wilson Airport had its beginnings in the 1930s as a layover point for Imperial Airways’ air mail route from England to South Africa during the colonial period. There is a vibe about the airport…ordered chaos, smiling faces and distinct reminders of a bygone era. I like African airports and Wilson is one of my favorites. It is a busy place with passengers heading to wild and remote destinations like the fabled island of Zanzibar and the world famous Kenyan national parks and game reserves. Whenever we have time, a burger and beer at the Aero Club of East Africa is not to be missed. It has been a hallmark location of East African aviation history. Planes operated by Air Kenya, SafariLink, Tropic Air and other carriers pack the tarmac of Wilson. It’s a busy airport servicing the safari industry and general aviation operations throughout East Africa. After processing through security we board our plane and depart for Meru National Park and Elsa’s Kopje, the first stop on our 3 park safari.
After a short flight we began our approach into Meru National Park, a small park compared to some of Kenya’s other reserves and parks but a park with history. Meru is where George and Joy Adamson raised and released Elsa the Lioness back into the wild made famous in the 1966 critically acclaimed movie “Born Free.” We were met at the airstrip by our guide and old friend Akiba with champagne and snacks. As we drove to the lodge Akiba and I discussed the latest developments in the park and our many mutual friends. Meru National Park is special to us because its where we first went on safari years ago. It’s where we had several encounters with a cranky old bull elephant named Abdallah. It’s where we saw our first leopard ever so briefly in the tall grass one afternoon. And its where we sat under towering palm trees by a gentle and peaceful stream where Elsa the Lioness is buried.
The camp manager and many old friends who work at Elsa’s Kopje greeted us when we arrived at the lodge. We were especially happy to see Alex, the tall and dignified restaurant and bar manager who has been so kind to us on previous visits. After settling into our cottages we left for the first game drive of the safari. At this point, it is useful to explain what a typical day on safari is like in Africa. A day begins early with coffee and tea and departure for the morning game drive. Game drives are the heart of the safari adventure and entail driving around the bush in open top/side safari vehicles to view wildlife. Game drives occur in the early morning and late afternoon because wildlife are more active in the cooler hours of the day. After an hour or so on the game drive, the guide will select a place to have breakfast in the bush; normally eggs, sausage and other food spread out on the hood of the vehicle. After breakfast the game drive continues until lunch is served at the lodge. The remainder of the day is free until the late afternoon game drive where guests partake in an old safari tradition… the sundowner. After a day of game viewing, the guide will stop in the bush and serve drinks at sunset. It’s an opportunity to discuss the day’s events and watch the sun set on the African savanna. Gin and Tonics “G&Ts” are the traditional drink of the sundowner and was developed for a very practical reason. The British Army in India invented the drink to ward off the scourge of malaria and I assume the tasty cocktail made its way to the Crown’s colonies in Africa.
Our friends saw their first lion in Meru…a lioness sleeping under the shade of a palm tree in a field, lazily rolling over on her back and peering at us with scant interest. Our guide called this place the “killing fields” and it was an apt description. The ground around us was littered with the sun-bleached bones of prey animals, many likely killed by the park’s thriving lion population. A bit later, we came across 2 young male lions panting heavily in the shade of trees after a feed on a buffalo. The African sun burnt down on the savanna as a frenzied “wake” of vultures fed on the buffalo carcass as more circled overhead waiting their turn to feed. The vulture is often maligned as a dirty scavenger but they serve an important purpose as nature’s “clean-up” crew, consuming dead carrion and preventing the spread of disease. Biologists who study raptors have identified a feeding protocol for vultures. It seems that the Lappet faced culture feeds first, using their large bill to tear open the tough hide of carrion and eating the soft internal organs. Next up to feed are the White Backed vultures, the White Headed vultures and lastly, the endangered Hooded vulture.
While looking for an African green python, we spotted two lionesses with several older cubs resting along a small stream. The adult females merely glanced in our direction and continued to groom themselves while the curious cubs never took their eyes off of us. The more adventurous of the cubs slowly approached our vehicle, craning his neck to get a better view of us. I like to think we might have seen the descendants of Elsa the Lioness, living wild and free as lions should live. We get asked a lot if it is safe to be in an open vehicle so close to lions and my answer is yes. We have been around many lions on our trips across Africa and have never had an issue. On a previous trip to Meru we pulled up on several lions feeding on a buffalo. The adult male noticed us and walked up to our vehicle and sat down, so close that I could have reached out and touched him. He merely sat there, sneezed loudly and walked off. Lions in the wild simply do not associate food with vehicles or humans in the vehicle. However, one should never stand up or stick their arms or legs outside the vehicle in the presence of lions. These actions “break the silhouette” of the vehicle and the lions may react negatively. It’s just prudent to give the animal distance, remain calm and quiet and simply take in the beauty of these magnificent cats. Our time in Meru came to an end and we bid our farewells to friends who have taken care of us over the years.
We left the lush terrain of Meru and flew to remote and arid Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya. Of all the places we have visited in Africa, Samburu is my favorite because it has played a large part in our passion for conservation…particularly the elephant and the cheetah. Our love for cheetahs and desire to know more about them took us to Namibia to visit the Cheetah Conservation Fund’s research facility and the AFRICAT Foundation. I’ve volunteered with Action for Cheetahs in Kenya to assist in the training of cheetah scat detection dogs while Kitty and I have spent time in Somaliland caring for cheetahs rescued from the illegal wildlife trade. Samburu is special because it is where we first saw cheetahs in the wild…a mother with two young cubs one cold and windy morning many years ago. Samburu is also home to Save the Elephant’s research facility. Save the Elephants is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring a future for the world’s elephants and find ways for humans and elephants to coexist peacefully. In 2015, I led a team that successfully summited Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for this fine organization that does so much for elephant research and conservation. Check out more about Save the Elephants at www.savetheelephants.org. It seems we compare all other places to Samburu…a harsh but mesmerizingly beautiful place teeming with wildlife and the fascinating Samburu culture.
Our party was picked up at Buffalo Springs airstrip and made our way to Elephant Watch Camp. We were greeted at the lodge by the Samburu staff beautifully outfitted in their colorful outfits and necklaces. Like at Elsa’s Kopje, we reacquainted with many old friends while our guests soaked up the beauty of Samburu country and the lodge. The lodge is a series of separate luxury tents nestled under towering trees along the banks of the river. We reminded our friends that we were in the African bush and to constantly pay attention. Elephants roam freely through the camp while crocodiles lurked in the brown muddy water of the river just a few steps from our tents.
We were treated to some of the more unique wildlife endemic to the arid environment of northern Kenya. The East African Oryx, arguably one of the more attractive antelopes prolific in Samburu, is ideally suited for the harsh environment of northern Kenya due to its ability to self-regulate its body temperature. Normally one to flee danger, if cornered it will fight and can inflict fatal wounds to an attacker with its horns. The strangely proportioned Gerenuk was also a hit with our group. In the Somali language, gerenuk means “giraffe necked” due to its extremely long neck and almost alien-looking face. My wife swears that the gerenuk looks exactly like ET The Extraterrestrial. These beautiful little creatures are pure browsers, meaning that they feed on branches and leaves higher up in trees and bushes. Gerenuk are also ideally suited for life in this harsh environment, receiving most of its water needs through what it eats. But an even better surprise was just around the corner.
While on a game drive, our guide received a call about a cheetah and her cubs outside the reserve. We made our way to the site and saw several cheetahs nervously moving across the rocky ground, finally stopping under an acacia tree to shade themselves. As the mother kept watch, the youngsters frolicked playfully at the base of the tree. It was a beautiful moment for us to see them living free because they face many threats to their continued existence in the wild such as frequent conflict with humans. During droughts or times when prey may be scarce, cheetahs will hunt and kill a farmer’s stock animals, prompting the farmer to retaliate against cheetahs who they consider vermin and threat to their livelihood. Cheetahs also face diminishing numbers due to the illegal trafficking of young cubs. In a nutshell, cheetah cubs are stolen in the wild, frequently while the mother is hunting. The cubs are trafficked across the Horn of Africa, mostly through Somaliland and sold to exotic wildlife dealers. The dealers resell the cubs to wealthy clients in the region for pets. Sadly, most cubs do not survive the journey and others die of malnutrition or mistreatment in captivity. The Cheetah Conservation Fund estimates approximately 300 cubs are trafficked annually through East Africa. It is heartbreaking and my wife and I have seen firsthand the condition of these beautiful little cubs who are rescued from this insidious trade in Somaliland. It never fails to bring a smile to our faces when we see cheetahs running wild and free as nature intended. To find out more about what Cheetah Conservation Fund is doing to ensure a future for cheetahs, check out their website at www.cheetah.org.
Days passed quickly at Elephant Watch Camp and our guests became acquainted with the thriving elephant population in Samburu. We visited Save the Elephant’s research center where a staff member provided an informative presentation on the threats to elephants and the critical work the organization is doing to protect these gentle giants. Elephants are prolific in Samburu and roam freely across the reserve, now largely free of the poaching it endured several years ago. The Samburu people and elephants share a special relationship and we were allowed to participate in a tradition of placing flowers on the skull of a deceased elephant as a sign of respect. It was a moving experience patiently explained to us by our Samburu guides.
Our time came to end in Samburu with one of our favorite things to do at Elephant Watch Camp…. the long walk to a hilltop sundowner. We left the camp on foot and made our way along the banks of the Ewaso River in the late afternoon accompanied by armed Samburu game guards. The guides, ever so attentive to our guests, pointed out interesting sights along the way including the track of a venomous puff adder snake that had recently crossed a dry river bed. As a snake fanatic, this really interested me. So the guide and I began looking through the low brush to see this short, fat but extremely venomous snake but to no avail, it had slithered off. We made it to the top of the hill where drinks, roasted goat and a campfire awaited us. It was really the first chance my wife and I had to really visit with all of our old friends from Samburu since arriving in the camp. It was a great evening as the warriors performed traditional dances and sang as we sipped ice cold Tusker Beer and ate roasted goat. As darkness fell, we rode back to the lodge listening to the Samburu sing their songs. We didn’t want to leave this beautiful place but it was time to head to the sprawling Maasai Mara National Game Reserve.
We flew south to the Maasai Mara, Kenya’s premier game reserve located on the border with Tanzania. Governor’s Camp, our lodge for the next 3 days, was built on the former site where Kenya’s colonial governors would stay during trips to the Maasai Mara. As we checked in at the lodge’s reception desk, warthogs fed nearby while keeping their distance from the human guest invading their feeding area. The lodge is a series of luxury tents spread out under towering trees along the Mara River. Our tent was a spacious affair divided into 3 distinct areas: an entrance front sitting room where guests can relax in the afternoon and read, the bedroom with a large bed and a built in permanent shower and toilet. Governor’s Camp is a large operation servicing many guests and very different than the intimate and remote Elsa’s Kopje and Elephant Watch Camp. After dinner, an askari or security guard escorted us back to our tents for the night. We fell asleep to the sound of hippos munching on the grass right outside of our tent. A word about hippos are in order at this point. They are dangerous. Every year they kill scores of people across Africa who get caught in their path or come too close to their calves. Hippos spend a lot of their time during the day in the water and come out to feed on land at night returning to their aquatic lairs in the early morning. Although ridiculed because of their appearance, they can run fast and become extremely aggressive if provoked. At this point I might as well mention a little known fact about hippos and Louisiana. Senator Robert Broussard from Louisiana introduced the “American Hippo Bill” in 1910 to import hippos from Africa to the United States. His bill was designed to solve 2 problems: provide meat to the American consumer and munch on the water hyacinth that was choking Louisiana’s waterways at the time. However, the bill failed to pass and the project abandoned.
We timed our safari to coincide with the Great Migration, also known as the “greatest wildlife show on Earth.” This epic wildlife migration occurs when the rains in the region are over and millions of Wildebeest, zebra, gazelle and other plains animals begin to move out of the Serengeti in Tanzania and head north to the rich grasslands in Kenya’s Maasai Mara. Although we were not able to see the massive crossings, we were treated to a Wildebeest crossing immediately behind our lodge during lunch. The terrain in the Mara is different than in Meru or Samburu. Here it was classic African savanna of wide open plains dotted with acacia trees. It’s open spaces and prolific wildlife draws numerous nature documentarians and film crews to chronicle the lives of the animals that inhabit this sprawling wildlife paradise. If you are interested, I recommend watching BBC’s Big Cat Diaries and Big Cat Tales. These excellent “sofa safaris” do a fantastic job of telling the story of the lions, leopards and cheetahs who call the Maasai Mara home.
The Swahili word for lion is “Simba” and our guests saw an abundance of them during our 3 days in the Mara. For a day or so, a pride of lions stayed outside the boundary of our lodge, the same pride that took down the wildebeest I described earlier. One afternoon as we returned to the lodge, we spotted them resting in a ditch off to the side of the road. One lioness, hardly concerned with our appearance, simply watched us with those piercing yellow eyes, fully habituated to the hundreds of vehicles in the Mara. A day later, we spotted a large pride male devouring a kill on the Mara plains. Satisfied with his meal, he stood and began to saunter across the open plain, supremely arrogant and sure of his dominance as the apex predator on the savanna. As he swaggered back to his pride, the plains animals kept a wary eye on him from a distance…all of them aware that the King was on the move.
We witnessed a most unusual incident involving this lion pride. In the wild, lions and cheetahs are prey competitors and lions will not hesitate to kill a cheetah or cheetah cubs. Research indicates an extraordinarily high mortality rate for cheetah cubs in the nearby Serengeti partly due to lion predation. The point is that cheetahs avoid lions. However, one late afternoon a cheetah we nicknamed “The Rainmaker” was lying on the grass no more than 75 feet away a group of lions resting on a grassy mound. The lions and cheetah were aware of each other’s presence but made no moves. We saw the Rainmaker several times, a graceful cat ideally suited for life on the wide open plains of the Mara. But there are other species in the bush just as beautiful and interesting as lions and cheetahs.
During our time in the Mara, we saw a hyena den with young cubs. A little one peered at us from his burrow, too intimidated to come out of his protective sheltering. Another afternoon we ran across a clan of hyenas sleeping in a ditch outside the lodge. Often maligned as a scavenger and a coward, the spotted hyena is a skilled predator and will take down and consume game animals. The Mara is home to numerous species of animals such as the Thompson and Grant Gazelles, the Wildebeest, Topi, Zebra, Hartebeest and others. We saw thousands of these magnificent plains animals making their way across the Mara plains as their ancestors have done for thousands of years.
It was time to say goodbye to the bush and head back to Nairobi for a few days before our friends departed. As always, it was hard to readjust being in Nairobi after so many days in the bush. We missed the sounds of the bush at night and waking up every morning to look around out tent for scat (tracks) to see what had visited us overnight. While we were at Elephant Watch Camp, the camp manager told me that a leopard had wandered through the camp earlier that morning. Once the lodge puts you to sleep at night, you don’t wander around the grounds after dark. Many are the times that we have seen the spoor (tracks) of lions close to our tents. What I especially missed was lying in my bed, reading a book and listening to the lions’ roar across the savanna late at night. You never, ever forget that.
We spent our last days in Kenya visiting the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) elephant orphanage, a place we visit every time we are in Nairobi. The orphanage is instrumental in rescuing, rehabilitating and when possible, releasing orphaned elephants back into the wild. To date, DSWT has successfully raised over 250 orphaned elephants but also operates anti-poaching units, canine wildlife tracking units, aerial surveillance aircraft and veterinary response units. You can find out more about their work at www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org. We also visited the home of Karen Blixin who wrote the book “Out of Africa” and visited our favorite African crafts store for souvenirs. After our friends had departed for the US, I had a chance to think about the previous 2 weeks we had spent together and realized we had made true the wish I had expressed to my wife years ago along the Ewaso River in Kenya…” our friends have seen what we have seen.” It was worth every moment.
Brian and Kitty Johnson are natives of Lake Charles. After graduating from McNeese State University, Brian was commissioned an officer in the US Army. Brian retired in 2011 after a military career that took the Johnsons around the world. Brian is now a security management professional in the Middle East and the Johnson maintain homes in Lake Charles and in Saudi Arabia. Brian and Kitty are founders of Champions 4 Wildlife, Inc., a conservation non-profit organization. Brian is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in the United Kingdom and the Johnsons maintain memberships in several conservation and environmental organizations. Their passion for Africa, its people and its wildlife have taken them to South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Somaliland and numerous times to Kenya. They share their homes with a dog named Milo and several rescue cats.
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