U-turns and Trumpets
We woke up in the middle of the night, listening to the sound of grass being torn, but could hear nothing else. In the morning, Brian informed us that it was elephants. Apparently elephants have padding underneath their feet so they basically walk silently.
Our plan today was to head over to the Mara River to see hippopotamus and crocodile before heading to the local Maasai Village for a community visit followed by a trip to one of the schools that Kicheche sponsors, to deliver the soccer balls and school supplies.
About 20 minutes outside camp, Brian leaned in to listen to the radio call. He quickly turned it up, continued listening intently, picked up his receiver, said something in Maas and simply said, “Hold on. I’m gonna go fast,” and flipped a hard U-turn.
We raced through the savanna – bumping in and out of deep ruts to the point of actually launching our asses off our seats. It’s a good thing we are used to riding in the buggy in Arizona as the terrain here is very similar with the fields of lava rock and rutted up tracks.
Billy, Jenny and I kept looking at each other but since Brian hadn’t said a word yet we also remained silent. It was a good five minutes before Brian told us what was going on. Up to that point I had suspected it was one of two things-either one of the other cars was in trouble, like there had been some sort of accident because he wouldn’t have been driving that way if it was just because someone was stuck in the mud or there was a leopard spotted. Turns out it was the latter!
One of the other Kicheche guides had spotted an exceptionally shy female called Nape (pronounced nap-ay) crossing the road then running into some very thick bush along a small creek. We pulled up 15 minutes or so after the announcement, just as she was crossing the creek to the other side. We managed to catch a quick glimpse of her carrying a fresh kill.
We quickly lost her and with the other cars approaching, she buried herself deep into the bush. We drove slowly along the creek bed trying to spy her in the thick undergrowth when Brian got word she was spotted by one of the other Kicheche trucks. We raced over to try and find her and with the use of binoculars, we could see her deep inside the bush but the tall grasses and branches really blocked our view. It was challenging but we managed to get a few great shots.
When yet more cars arrived, she ended up darting out of the bushes, and Brian tried to follow. We swung around one way but were unable to locate her so we turned back around and went flying past a herd of elephants that was none too pleased with the racing car. Jenny voiced concern that we were going to send them into a stampede and seconds later the dominant elephant gave out an unbelievably loud warning trumpet, a first for us, but Brian insisted we would be OK.
We never did catch up with Nape again, but what we did see of her was magical. We had now completed the Big Five – a term that actually originated in colonial times when the big game hunters came to Africa seeking their trophies. Those hunters coined the term as a way to boast about their bravery. The Big Five referred to the most dangerous animals for them to hunt. It includes the, elephant, cape buffalo, lion, rhinoceros, and the leopard. It seems the term should be banished, but despite its horrific origins it has morphed into a term that is associated with beneficial tourism from those seeking to photograph the Big Five.
it was hard to come off the high of seeing Nape but we continued on our way towards the Mara River. Within a half an hour we received another tip that a different cheetah from yesterday had been spotted. So in true Brian fashion, he drove it like he stole it and we arrived in plenty of time to see Ruka (which means jump in Maas) lazing around seemingly without a care in the world, not the least bit bothered by the cars around him.
When you’re at a sighting, the animals obviously will move around so the cars are constantly jostling for position, always being considerate that they aren’t blocking another truck’s view or setting up behind in the direction the picture will most likely be taken from. And in doing that, one of the Kicheche’s trucks ended up in a deep wallow where they got severely stuck. Not necessarily an issue, these guys get stuck in mud all the time, except for the fact they were stuck 20 feet from a cheetah.
They waited for Ruca to move on again and then the rest of the cars put themselves in a position to block him from seeing that people were now out of the truck working to set up a tow rope to get the stuck vehicle out. Once successful at freeing the car, we continued on to the river.
Once at the river, Brian set up our picnic breakfast overlooking the throngs of hippopotamus. Hippos are funny creatures for sure but they are also exceptionally stinky. The good news was we were high up on the riverbank so we didn’t have to deal with the pungent smell from the hippos but instead could enjoy watching them as they surfaced for air. The babies were adorable and seemingly curious of us.
And I’ll be honest if you’ve never seen a hippo poop it’s the craziest thing in the world. If they do it when they’re in the water, it kind of reminds me of when you get an outboard engine in super shallow water and you need to trim it up a bit; on land or when their rear is out of the water, it’s something to behold!

The last creature that we could think of to see was a crocodile, but there were none present in the river at this point
After our delicious breakfast, we set out for the Maasai village cultural visit. I hadn’t been 100% certain what to expect so when we arrived, our welcome greeting was quite an experience, to say the least.
We were warmly greeted with singing and dancing followed by the traditional Maasai sport of jumping. The purpose of the jumping is for a warrior to attract a wife. The higher they can jump the more appealing they are to a future bride.
Many of the Maasai still live in traditional settings with their straw, mud and cow dung homes built around a central open area where they heard their cattle in at night to protect them from the predators. We were given a tour of the Chief’s home since he was not there. To say they live a simple life would be a massive understatement.
Jenny loved handing out instant pictures of many of the children and even had requests from a few of the adults. The Maasai had set up an area with all their crafts and we did a little shopping as well – probably overpaying a bit but Billy bargained them down some.
From there, we headed to the school, an elementary and high school combined with over 550 students presently supported. We showed up at lunchtime, every student is given a hot meal, and we’re greeted with waves and smiles and “Jambo” Swahili for hello.
The school administrators were very appreciative of our donations.The principal also teaches geography and was thrilled with the laminated world map we brought; the lead teacher that led our tour, happened to be the math teacher, and was thrilled with all of the math table charts. Many of the teachers were curious where we were from, but we’re very complimentary of the United States and even went as far as to share that Miami was their dream place.
We toured one classroom, a first grade class like I used to teach. There were 46 students in the class with one teacher! A very basic room with a few hand drawn charts on the wall, one of which was of the water cycle. Tough conditions to imagine working under; amazing that these teachers do that.
We got back to camp a bit later today for lunch; It had been a long morning! But we were determined to make the afternoon game drive we just asked to starta little bit later.
As soon as we left the camp, we ran into a herd of elephants. We stopped and watched them for a long time. They’re such incredibly intelligent creatures and just like Brian said you could hear them tearing the grass but not walking in it. There was a little calf nursing as well, which of course held our attention for quite some time.
We then ended up at a lion sighting, a different pride of lions than the Offbeat pride. We first saw a mother and a cub, the mother was busy digging in a warthog hole trying her might to get the warthog out. She had a pretty bad injury on her leg, and the poor thing seemed exhausted.
From there, we headed up the hill where there were a few more lionesses with their cub and the male lion, all sleeping in the grass. Not much action with them so as Jenny said, “time to leave the lying lions.”
Brian found a beautiful spot for sundowners and we enjoyed recapping our amazing day. When it was time to pack up, I still hadn’t finished my wine but I told Brian it would be OK, I would just hold it for the ride back. He was concerned it would spill, but Billy assured him, “Don’t worry Brian, she’s a pro…” To which we all had a good laugh.
it was crazy to read on the news that there were Kenyan riots happening in Nanyuki, the city we had been in just a day previous on our flight from Laikipia to Mara North. The Kenyans are protesting the US’s request to put an Ebola facility to treat Americans there. Honestly, can’t say as I blame them…
Wandering Amerrickans 