Day 122...I Dreamed of Africa - 26th October

Before we go any further, let me tell you a bit about Stanley. We had an absolutely magical time in Africa - we saw amazing things and got everything we wanted out of it. The best thing I like as well was that we paid very little for it. The best thing about budget is that if something isn't perfect, you don't care coz you paid buckley's anyway. A lot of people who we spoke to on the trip paid a bit more and they were not pleased. And from what we saw driving around the parks, everyone seemed to have the same standard throughout Kenya (except for the number of people jammed into the vans).

The thing that wasn't so perfect for us was Stanley, which was a great source of amusement. An old guy, lets just say he's a few beers short of a six-pack. Or maybe let’s just say he's incredibly stupid. Despite us telling him over and over again that Australia doesn't have any African animals apart from the crocodile, we'll get asked every day. We'll be cooing over a hippo or something and he'll say "do you have hippo in Australia?" 'NO!' Then the next day...."do you have cheetah in Australia?" "NO!!!!" aaargh!
We got asked if the kangaroo is part of the dog family. A lot of people round the world say 'kangaroo' when they find out you're Australian. I don't think many of them know what it even looks like. Next time I travel, I want to take a small book on Australia, it would be much more fun. I tried to draw a picture of a kangaroo for Stanley, but I think I just confused him more!
Also, there's a hierarchy thing here in Africa, and I thought it wouldn't exist coz it was just the 4 of us. But Stanley eats with us while James watches. Then he eats after us. I hate that and we tried many times to get him to join, but ended up giving up when Stanley started getting humpty and James kept refusing. I wish he would join us though, as James is a bit brighter than Stanley and chattier too. So at least we could be distracted from the slurping and sucking and clucking sounds of Stanley eating. We'll get a meal and be happy 'yay chicken' but then remember that Stanley is going to join us and then it will be 'oh no! chicken!'. We soon gave up caring and would shovel our food down really fast and run away so we wouldn't have to watch or listen to him. haha. But seriously it’s that bad! Coleslaw is the worst for me coz he makes a weird clucking sound. Nathan’s is chicken as the chicken goes up Stanley’s wrists and spreads out all over the table.
Everything about Stanley is done in slomo. Then as a guide? Man its so funny! We'll spot an animal before he does and yell to him that we've seen it. About five minutes later he'll pipe up that he's spotted an animal - and it’s the one we just yelled at him about! Man! It became an ongoing joke with us. We'd yell out 'waterbuck' or whatever, then look at each other and count down with our fingers before he finally says 'waterbuck. Over there, do you see?" ha!
Once at the start of the trip (before I learned not to ask too many questions) I asked idly "what bird is that Stanley?".....and got silence. I looked down to see him frantically looking through a bird book! He's been a guide for 20 years eh.
Unlike Mohamed who gave us a detailed itinerary each day on what was happening, we get nothing from Stanley. Eventually we ask what we're doing the next day (coz we read the very basic itinerary and it said we were going to a certain place). So we’ll ask "what are we doing tomorrow Stanley."
He'd chew dinner slowly, make some clucking and umming sounds before he'd answer: "we are going to Lake Nakuru".
"Yes we know that, but do we leave in the morning/ afternoon? About how long does it take?"
"Uummmm........uuummmmmm" He'd look up into the air, as if trying to find the answer there. "ummmmm" scratch his head, trying to make his brain work. Then he trails off, perhaps hoping that I've forgotten I just asked him a difficult question. Then James will pipe up quietly in the background in Swahili (which I assume is the answer). Then Stanley will say "oh it’s a long drive, we will leave in the morning."
Fabulous! I mean he’s only been doing this same drive for 20 years.

So that’s that. I have gone off on a tangent a bit here. Let us begin our day:

We woke up at 6 am. I was awake earlier in the morning by a hyena making a low cooing call, and the sky was a milky grey. But then I fell asleep again. The next time I woke up, it was to the sound of goats bleating and their bells jangling. I zipped open the tent and was surrounded by goats, with a fully made up Maasai herding them around with a long stick. Cool! We had a cup of tea and bundled ourselves into the van. As we left, it was the funniest sight to see tribal Maasai warriors in full garb, standing around with James having mugs of tea. They run the camp and seem to be friends with James. They don't talk to Stanley much; Stanley's a bit haughty to them. Or it could be the tribal history where the Kikuyu took over and are having it out with the Maasai. Or maybe they just think he's an idiot too. Haha!


We drove into the park and went game driving. The area was very flat and there was dust everywhere. It was really lovely though, lots of earthy reds with the deep blue of the mountain as the backdrop. We saw lots of zebra, ostrich, warthog (remote control bacon – I love them! I kept wanting to make them run for Nathan as he was very amused by them as well), Thompson gazelle, buffalo, wildebeest. We saw one female lion; she must have been hiding babies in the thicket. Then we had our fill of elephant. They came wandering slowly towards our van puffing and blowing. They crossed over the road right in front of us, heading towards the water further in the park. It made for some great shots! Amboseli has heaps of elephant, and it looks great with them and Mt Kilimanjaro in the background. We also saw some hyena in the wet mushy area eating a dead buffalo or something. They were a bit far away – but we did find their babies a bit further on, sleeping by the side of the track. Very cute! We also saw jackal, impala and grants gazelle, as well as hippo.

After the drive we went back and had breakfast. I kept trying to sneak shots of the Maasai wandering around camp by pretending to photograph squirrels. We brushed our teeth at the toilet block and hung around for a bit, then jumped into the van and went to the Maasai village that was nearby. We got taken around by a guy called Alex, a very young guy. The village held about 120 people, about 5 families in all. Alex is the first son of the first wife (his dad has 10 wives) and will be next in line to be chief after his dad. Before we went inside Stanley gave Alex a strong talking to, telling him to show us everything. I think he's not too fond of the Maasai and vice versa. Pretty long blood fued there.

The huts were very different to the ones I saw in Zimbwe. They were like a protective fort - all the huts were around in a circle, with lots of thorns and bracken around the outside to protect from all the big scary wildlife that's around the place. The huts all joined to one another and Alex took us inside his. It was much cooler inside than ouside, and dug a little deeper in the ground to create this effect. You had to duck and almost crawl through the door, and inside it was almost pitch black, with a small smoky fire near a small opening. We sat on dried cow hides which is where they all sleep and he told us about how they lived. The Maasai scorn farming, love their cattle and live on milk and meat and blood. The ladies build the houses and the men graze the cattle and do 'warrior' type things, which I assume is just sitting around coz that's all I see them do. Haha. I had some jokes with Alex and told him its the guys that build the houses back in our country and he looked a little scornfully at Nathan at that. hee hee.
Then the Maasai all gathered together, the women under a tree and the guys nearby and sang for us. It was really cool. The men jumped really high - so cool to see that in real life, and also did this chanting warrior thing, which was just like the bit in The Ghost and The Darkness. They invited us to dance with them, I did a little, and Nathan did as well, but he was a bit out of time! They move really quickly eh!
Then the guys showed us how they make fire without matches, by swivelling sticks and using dried grass, which was fabulous.
The photographic opportunity was just so cool. It was fantastic to see something just like national geographic - women with infants on their hips, little bald children running around the huts and men with brightly coloured robes taking long legged strides.

We'd pretty much seen all we'd come to see, but then we were taken around the back end of the village where they had set up a 'small market' and tried to sell the wares that they had made. Alex walked us through the whole thing, as he had to make sure his people were viewed equally by us etc. One guy kept flitting to each stall, he must have been related to nearly every family and I cracked up laughign at him. I didn't like the pester power too much at the end, but bought two necklaces as I did like them. Nathan got pretty cranky as we'd paid to be there, and can't stand pester power. He bartered with them for the necklaces for me, which was a godsend as I can't do it at all.

Then we all shook hands and thanked them for having us, and drove back to the camp for lunch. Then we sat out the heat of the day, reading and taking photos of squirrels nuts. But it didn't feel like very long before it was time to go on our afternoon drive. Great!
We drove out to 'Oberservation Hill' a small hill that stuck out like a pimple in comparison to Mt Kilimanjaro, but the only high point in the Amboseli park for miles around. Nate and I climbed up the top and enjoyed the fresh air and the time to ourselves. It was good to get a better view of the park. It was brown and dusty all around except for a patch of blue sapphire for the water, fringed by bright green. We could see an elephant wallowing around, and herds of zebras grazing. There were some British tourists up there and it was tempting to talk to them as we hadn't talked to non-tour guides for weeks but we didn't. We walked back down and then did some more bouncing around in the car looking at grazing animals. We saw some more lionesses lying near some thickets but there was no sign of the 'boss man'. Hee hee.

The sun setting was spectacular. Lots of oranges and whites. There were a fair few clouds dotted around, so the sun burst out from behind them via huge rays beaming down onto the flat land, broken up by the odd acacia tree. A perfect African scape. It was beautiful.
We'd seen all there was to see, and were heading back before the park closed. I was staring up at the mountain when Stanley slammed on the breaks and shouted 'look at the male!' For a brief second I wasn't too sure what he meant, and then realised it was wildlife and stared out into the distance. Much to my shock, a massive lion was sauntering right in front of the car! He walked over the road, past our car then promptly sat down next to us for a good old rest. It was perfect! We coo'ed and took heaps of photo's - particularly as he yawned alot, showing razor sharp teeth. I took a close up shot of his nuts, but for some reason the photo didn't turn out.
He ended up not doing too much, and we had to head back to camp or we'd get in trouble. We were very pleased though at this sighting, and with Mt Kilimanjaro in the background it was so lovely.

Stanley says we have been really lucky to see Mt Kilimanjaro. One lady he took out here had flown all the way from America to specifically see Mt Kilimanjaro, but for the 4 days she was here, it was covered in cloud the whole time! We've seen it clear and free, as well as covered in cloud. James says 'it has gone to sleep' as in its pulled its covers up when it is covered in cloud. I like that.

It got cooler that night as the wind comes off the snow off the mountain. James and Stanley were freezing, but Nathan and I were used to colder temperatures so it wasn't too bad. Just a light long sleeve shirt when you go to bed and its fine. We sat around and then had dinner. One thing that is fantastic is Kenyan pineapple. James slices it up for dessert and it is the most juiciest, sweetest pineapple we have ever eaten! We just inhale it. Yum!

I was in a good happy mood feeling great. As the sky got dark before dinner I was standing under a big acacia tree staring at Mt Kilimanjaro, feeling the African dirt under my feet. I had just wandered a bit away and savoured my surroundings. That's what I like about travel. Your senses are heightened as you are somewhere new. So you feel the wind on your skin, and the smells in the air, hearing the sounds of the wildlife and our african guys chattering away at the fire. It was fantastic. Dinner was good - and I was so delighted by the fact that there were hardly any bugs! At all! Prolly coz its the dry season is my guess. We sat and ate dinner while James and his friend George giggled around the fireplace. George is part care-taker here and I think he's quite handsome. He's got a big bald head, finely sculpted nose and wide set eyes which is quite nice. He's Kikuyu as well, but not has humpty as Stanley. He introduced himself to us earlier in the afternoon, leading a little boy by the hand. He introduced himself and the boy, saying he was Masaai and holding his arms up in the air proudly. He also proudly announced that this boy was in school and literate, which is quite an accomplishment in Africa. It was nice to see him and the boy such good friends.

While we were eating we heard the hyena's giggle and gibber. Then James mentioned that the elephant had broken into camp again! I was like 'where!' and they said you could hear him. I walked a bit away from the table and listened - and true enough, you could hear the sound of a very large branch being pulled and broken somewhere out there in the night. It was so exciting!

We kept eating dinner and James was making jokes about hyena's and how they laugh. Also that they can disappear inside an elephant carcass and come out covered in blood and laughing. He did the hyena laugh very well and Nathan and I were laughing along with him. After dinner I went out past the table but couldn't here him anymore. I mentioned him to James and he said óh no, he's over here now' very calmly. I went closer to the fire and sure enough, I could here branches breaking so close by!! They shone torches and only a few metres away (I'd estimate about 60) was a big grey head looming out of the darkness. Our torches were pretty weak and crappy so it shows how close he was. I turned around totally delighted but also scared as well and saw the same look on Nathan's face. He looked pretty shocked and was sort of clutching his chest. It was so wonderful to see that look on his face. It described all the amazing wonderfulness and savagery of Africa. I was so excited to see the elephant so close but was also scared as they are a hell of a lot bigger when you are standing on your own on the ground and not in a car!

James was banging pots and pans to try and scare it away. It didn't care at all, just kept munching and breaking branches (the breaking branches sounded like those adventure or horror movies where you can hear branches breaking in the forest). There was also a moment when we heard him void his bladder - it sounded like a firehose!

We sat around the camp for a bit longer with James making jokes that he was our 'security guard'- the elephant I mean, not James. I asked him what do I do if I need to go to the bathroom during the night. He seemed pretty shocked that I had done it the night before, and simply said 'don't''. Great. I've had fantastic bladder skills all through Europe - sleeping through the night and even delaying it for 5 hours even when I really need to go. But the moment I'm in a tent I turn into a beagle and need to pee all the time. Ironic isn't it?

So we grab our bathroom bag and tippy toe down the sandy path to the toilet block (only after James has assured us that the bull elephant has moved on). So we wet our toothbrushes and before we begin to brush our teeth I grab Nathan and he grabs me. "Do you hear that?" We whisper frantically to each other. And sure enough, as loud as anything we can hear the blowing breathing of an elephant and the 'munch munch' sounds of it eating. I flash my torch around wildly but can't see it anywhere, but know its damn close. Our hearing latches onto its position, which means it is basically behind the bush where we are standing. I flash the torch into the bush but can't see it, but then as my torch travels slowly upwards I can see a big grey skull looming above the bushes. Oh my god! We quickly hide in the toilet block and whisper both excited and frightened. "What do we do~!"
I have an image of Jurassic Park, where the T-Rex breaks into the toilet block and eats the guy off the toilet. Then I have an image of this elephant suddenly getting cranky and doing the same thing. Considering some guy got killed just down the road from our camp and his plaque is there. And in the darkness of night with a several tonne beast eating outside with the capacity to be very cranky - well its ok if your imagination goes a little wild and you expect your head to get ripped off like a lollipop.
I opened the door tentatively and try to record the sounds of him eating. In the dark you can't see him on camera and the wind ruined it a bit but he was just so close. It was so so cool. But that didn't stop us from grabbing our toiletries and running back to our tent to brush our teeth. Smart as we were, we forgot to go to the bathroom, so had to do another scary walk back to go pee!

What an amazing day.