by Ray Schutter
The Trip
"If I know a song of Africa...of the Giraffe, and the African new moon lying on her back, of the ploughs in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee-pickers, does Africa know a song of me?"
Fifty- some years after Isak Dinesen wrote those words in her book Out of Africa, I find myself lying awake in a tent in the shadow of Mount Kenya, wondering if I, too know a song of Africa. A cool breeze blows through the open tent flaps, and with it come the sounds of the African night. Strange, exotic sounds.
Few experiences prepare you for Africa. There is no place like it, no point of reference upon which to draw. How many of you have dreamed about going on safari? Well, I went on safari last May and came back from one of the best trips I have ever experienced. No place on earth can compare. Each day you journey into memories that will last a lifetime. There is only one Africa, where you are not only witness to the animals but also among them.
Each day over a period of 9 days was different and thrilling. A morning drive took us from the 120 year old Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi to the Mount Kenya Safari Club located in the foot hills of the one of the largest mountains in Africa. After cocktails and lunch we proceeded to the Sweet Waters Game reserve spotting a white rhino, giraffe, and a herd of zebra along the way.
Next came the Samburu National Reserve. The daily routine at most lodges and camps consisted of two game drives, one in the early morning and one in late afternoon, each about three hours long. Mid day was used to take a nap, wander over to the pool bar for a cool drink and to visit with new friends.
Breakfast was always waiting when we return to camp mid-morning, and we waste no time getting to it. Meals are served buffet-style in the central area. As with most game-viewing destinations in Kenya, the atmosphere is more like that of an open-air resort than an lodge or camp. Thirty or forty permanent canvas tents surround a main dining room and reception area. Nearby is a wet bar, and next to that is a swimming pool. Comfort comes easily here-eat a meal, order a drink-while just beyond the electric fence stretches wild Africa, commonly called the bush, where herds of animals move about as they have done for thousands of years.
As the evening light turned the landscape gold, we found the pride of lions we’d been looking for lolling around under a tree. We parked the Land Rover a discreet distance away and waited for the lions to rouse themselves for a hunt. They sleep, on average, twenty hours a day, so infinite patience is required. It turned out that the male lions had more interest in female lions than a good meal. So after observing nature’s way of procreating the lion species, we continued our search for leopard, elephant, giraffe, more zebra and little dik-dik.
A short flight took us to the Masai Mara National Reserve in Southern Kenya. On the Mara we rode in Land Rovers, large four-wheel-drive vehicles with three rows of customized seats, each row higher than the one in front to provide clear views. Everyone had a window seat. Zebras to the left, impalas to the right, Cape Buffalo behind and elephants straight ahead, our Land Rover idles to a stop. The elephants move toward us. "Keep still and be quite," the driver whispers as the line of 30 elephants cross the road within 20 feet.
We discovered that the best way to find a fresh kill was to watch the sky for the vultures. Sure enough one afternoon we spotted the vultures overhead and upon close inspection found a cheetah under an acacia tree devouring the remains of a gazelle she had killed. Within 30 minutes over 50 vultures landed in the tree to wait their turn. In the meantime several hyena appeared over the horizon to take over the lunch table. Unfortunately we were on our way to get a close look at a herd of cape buffalo and had to depart before the raucous started.
I came back with over 600 pictures. My trusty 400mm lens and 1000 ASA film enabled me to assemble an album full of spectacular closeup game photos.
The Future
While on safari I came to the realization that the next two years will probably be the best years to view African wildlife in the foreseeable future. Take a look at the accompanying chart produced by the Kenya Government. It was posted in several of the lodges I visited and shows the annual migration past a certain point since 1980. Notice the spike in the chart during 1982 and 1983. I asked myself "What would have caused such an anomaly 25 years ago?" All of a sudden it came to me. I recalled that during the January of 1982 my brother and I delivered a 60 ft yacht to Tahiti. The 3,000 mile trip took over 28 days rather than the usual 20 days due to unusual wind patterns and ocean currents. That year Tahiti was hit with an unprecedented six hurricanes and California experienced the same unusually wet weather they experienced this Spring. That was my first experience with an "El Nino."
Fast forward to 1998. I was inspecting the chart because the early morning game drive was postponed due to rain and muddy roads. My guide explained that Kenya was experiencing an unprecedented wet Spring. Many roads were impassible. Animals were dispersed since the abundance of grass and water allowed them to wander away from the traditional water holes. My engineering mind quickly put together the relationship of El Nino = unusual weather patterns = lots of rain in Africa = lots of grass = high survival rate of the grazing animals = lots of migrating animals the next year. The chart shows that the annual migration expanded to 10 times normal in the years immediately following the 1981 El Nino.
So, pick your year. I predict that 1999 will be the year to view large herds of migrating animals and 2000 will be the year to view large numbers of predator animals. Abercrombie & Kent is by far the best of the Safari companies and has a safari set up especially for families.
I have reserved space on the fifteen day Kenya Family Safari departing July 17, 1999, about a month after the start of the annual southerly migration. I also plan to escort a photographic safari August or September 1999 during the peak of the migration. Please call me if you have any interest in either of these departures.
Ray Schutter
Following is additional material
The Serengeti National Park, created in 1941 sprawl across 5,700 square miles of plains in te south, through the grasslands bordering Lake Victoria in the west, and up to the woodlands in the northern border of Kenya. Naturalists estimate that the wildebeeest cover between five hundred and seven hundred miles a year on their circular migration from the serengeto to the Mara and back. When the rains come in January and February, vast herds assemble on the plains around Lake Lagarja.
It is here that they calve and, if there is water and grazing, remain until April or May. Wildebeest give birth in the morning and usually very quickly. Calves eill trot off with its mother within fifteen minutes of birth.
In May and June the Serengeti dries up, and the wildebeest and their surviving calves begin the move north in search of greener pastures. They move in huge herds , crossing the Kenya border into Kenya in search of the green grass of the Masai Mara, and it is here that the lemming-like dash into and across the Mara River takes place, an event seen many times on the Discovery Channel.
Please call or for more specifics and recommendations.