The Masai Mara... no, really

Yes. At long last, through many a trial and tribulation, we have attained the fruited land of action that is the Masai Mara. Car-wise, today was relatively uneventful, which was a change- left the house by 8:15 and had a lovely 7-ish hour drive down to the camp in the Mara. Passed along and through the Great Rift Valley, saw giraffes just hanging out about a hundred yards from the road, got some tasty samosas along the way. But driving through the Mara was simply incredible. In the 45 minutes between the gate to the Mara (it's a national park, but thanks to Tracy's know-how we didn't have to pay to get in) and the research camp, we saw zebra, something I can't remember but which is a large horse-sized antelope that Tracy really likes, a giant secretary bird, gazelles (Thompson's and Grant's), giraffe, and probably more that I'm not remembering. I had no idea the wildlife here was so abundant- I thought we would see each of those things once each day, if we were lucky.

After getting in to camp, meeting the others (Joseph and Benson, assistants and chefs; their wives and Joseph's adorable 2-year-old daughter Olivia; and Brian, who is also applying to graduate school Master's programs, including Yale), unpacking the various things we bought, we had a brief hour and a half to lie down, and then: evening observations! (Or "obs" as it's referred to here).

This is basically what I've been waiting for. Though Tracy is out looking for hyenas, the span of their various territories is such that there was ample opportunity to see, well, everyhing. We got great views (and pictures!) of everything mentioned above, plus warthogs (including lots of baby warthogs; warthogs' tails, when they run, stick straight up in the air and are pretty delightful), hyenas (only 3 though- Tracy says she usually finds about 20 or so), various birds that I am unable to identify but certain readers of this blog would have no trouble doing, an amazing sunset, and, as the light was fading, what else but a pride of lions at a fresh zebra kill! Two males were busy gnawing away, as 4 females and 9 adorable cubs wandered nearby. We stopped the car about 30 feet from the lions; not only was it incredible to be so close, but hearing them chew/ tear/ lick the flesh, and growl and snort (adorably) from time to time was equally amazing. I got a few pictures before it became too dark, and we just sat there watching and listening. What was perhaps most remarkable was that they ignored us completely, even after Tracy gave one of her trademark sneezes (they are loud, violent, and always unexpected). We drove back to occasional sightings of rabbits, 2 jackals, a few surprised giraffes, and many cows (which aren't allowed to be in the Mara, but this is not enforced, apparently).

Upon our return, we feasted on the promised delicious food, courtesy of Joseph and Benson; chatted, looked at a genet cat (so cute, built like a weasel but still a cat, with ocelot-like markings) that they sometimes leave some tuna fish out for, and watched as 2 small bats flitted around the lights, devouring the bugs that gathered there.

Now, as I lie on my bed (yes, a real bed!) in my own tent, I listen to the electronic-sounding chirps of fruit bats, as well as a variety of unidentified squeaks, groans, chirps, etc.

Tomorrow morning: Morning obs, roll out at 5 am! Can't wait to see if the Mara sunrise is as amazing as the Mara sunset (I suspect I will not be disappointed).

Onward to the Mara! Or...

So today, after I was awoken by a family of monkeys scampering around the roof of the cottage, we headed off for the Masai Mara!

Of course, we didn't make it there.

Yes: that's right. Our attempts at getting out of Nairobi and down to the Masai Mara have yet again been stymied. Let's start this morning. Yesterday, we got the amazing news that the car would be ready today at 9 am. We knew that this really meant 10 am at the earliest. So, of course, at 12:30 pm, we get the call that the car is, in fact, truly, ready to be picked up. So we depart from the baby elephants (I'll come back to that later), Tracy dropped us off at the cottage and walked to pick up the car from the garage nearby. So, she brings it back, we pack it (2 canisters of liquid nitrogen, 3 canisters of butane, 4 car batteries, food, plus all our luggage. This car is maybe 2.5 times the size of Posie (not as much personality though, but at least it can handle potholes without sending passengers airborne). Packed and rolling out at 1:30 pm, blasting a playlist of my creation mostly consisting of pop songs from the last few months that Tracy has been exposed to only through episodes of Glee.

About 20 minutes later, we are stopped at the side of the road, hood open, Tracy (with a leather work glove on) loosening the cap of the radiator as steam and scalding water sputters out. Tracy explains that on the drive to Nairobi, the radiator always overheats, but usually not until much later, at a specific hill area. The hope is that the mechanic simply forgot to fill up the coolant reservoir with water before we got the car. So we fill it with water that we brought for this very purpose. A guy from the mini-town across the street decides it is his job to help us, even though Tracy knows exactly how to handle it. She speaks enough Swahili to communicate with him (he doesn't speak much English). Eventually he fills up our water container, and demands money. Tracy gives him 50 shillings. He demands more in Swahili. An older guy walking by, thinking Tracy doesn't understand, says "He says he wants more money." Tracy: "I know, I heard him. I'm just not happy about it." She gives him another 50, and we are again on our way.

Devastatingly, the engine overheats again within 30 minutes. Something is clearly wrong. After a few calls to different mechanics that Tracy knows, we end up at a gas station and ask for the mechanic. He seems competent (according to Tracy, gas station mechanics are often not), and relatively quickly identifies that there is a leak in our radiator reservoir. But, he can patch it! And assures us that it will take about an hour, and we will definitely be able to make it to the Mara today.

After about 30 minutes, they have removed the radiator from the car. At this point, it's about 3:30 (anyone keeping track of my time estimates may find that they don't add up. Whatever). At this point, we are informed that it is time for lunch, and they will keep working after they are finished eating. Not... much we can do. We sit around in the car, they sit around and eat for about half an hour.

After a bit, Jordan and Nathan, Tracy's friends (who apparently just graduated from the Yale Forestry with Masters' degrees) show up. Eventually, it is decided that they will drive up back to the cottage, where they were originally headed (it's clear we are not driving down to the Mara today) and Tracy will stay with the car/ radiator. We go, have dinner, come back to the cottage. At 7 pm, Tracy finally shows up, and relates how she went with the mechanic to 2 other locations, to get the radiator screen power-washed, have the hole patched, re-power-wash the radiator for some reason, and finally drive back here.

BUT! Now, the car is packed, supposedly in perfect working order, and READY TO GO for tomorrow! Knock on wood...

As for what we did this morning: First, the giraffe center: at the open 2nd-floor observation center, we are given food pellets, and a giraffe with an absurdly long tongue takes them from your hand, or from your lips if you so desire (there are pictures, never fear). Then, on to see the baby elephants, whose prehensile trunks are amazingly adept, and who are generally adorable.

Right now, Tracy, Sarah, and Jordan are watching recent Glee episodes, while Nathan and I sit on our computers alternating between watching Glee and our laptops.

So, again, hopefully, tomorrow: the Mara.

Has it only been one day?

List-style recap will be more efficient right now, given my state of extreme exhaustion (slept about 5 hours last night, and about 2 during the nighttime hours my airplane travels encompassed) and my state of inebriation (not too high, but in combination with sleep deprivation it can have a significant impact).

So:
Got up at 6.
-Went and walked around at 8. Is this real life? I have already decided that I have to return to Kenya/ Africa, and I've been here less than 12 hours. Amazing birds everywhere, birdsongs the likes of which I have never heard. Beautiful. Took some so-so pictures of birds that Alex will later ID for me, and some good pictures of a beautiful skink on a tree.
-Waited around while we found out whether the car we need to drive to the Masai Mara is fixed yet (initially supposed to be done by yesterday at 4 pm, then today at 10 am). As 12:30 pm passed (the absolute deadline for leaving, as it is a 7-ish hour drive and the gates to the camp close at 7), we are resigned to the fact that we are spending the day in Nairobi. Clearly, not a disaster.
-Events: Beading store (hand-made clay beads, beautiful), traditional African dances (touristy, but Skeist was quite interested in going, and it was indeed enjoyable), and then, the piece de resistance: Animal Orphanage! Essentially a glorified zoo (as the guidebook puts it), but still, some amazing creatures. But here's the best part:

We got to pet a cheetah. Actually, two. And they PURR!!!

So, we might have had to sketchily pay some people for this privelege, but... so it goes. They have rough tongues, and fur that is not as soft or silky as I thought it might be.

It was shortly after this amazing event that we found out the car we expected to drive up to the Mara tomorrow would not be ready for this trip for a WEEK. Commence emergency contingency planning. Essentially, the only option is this: a matatu. This common form of transportation in Kenya is a 14-seat van (the seats are QUITE small, I'm told) - you find one going where you want, pay, get in, and when it's full, off you go. No telling a) how long it will take to fill up or b) how many stops along the way there will be. I try to stay optimistic- one thing I am quite pleased about on this trip is its lack of touristy-ness: staying with a friend (not in a hotel), going with her on research observations (not a paid safari). So I consider it to be simply part of my (very much) non-touristy experience. However, as we drive to dinner to meet Helah, a friend I met on the Birthright trip who happens to be in Kenya as well, we pass many matatus, and I get increasingly less enthusiastic about being in one for at least 7 hours.

But THEN: miracle! Ian the mechanic calls! It's fixed! We can take it tomorrow! We commence to celebrate by plasting 'Like A G6' and dancing around as we bump along the extremely pot-holed roads in Posie.

Oh, you haven't met Posie? I've only known her for a short time, but already I am in love. Posie (the name derives from Piece of Shit) is a tiny "min-jeep" (only 2 doors, with a back seat. Don't worry Mom, she has seatbelts! At least, the front seats do...) that has been through more than any car should have to. I am told that she once survived being swept downstream in a flooded river, only to be retrieved later. And let me just state for the record: I don't know anyone else other than Tracy Montgomery who would be able to handle Posie. She stalls constantly, she bucks, she accelerates when she feels like it (the brakes are consistent, at least). And the (un)lucky person who ends up in the back seat gets some air every time we take a bump a little too hard. I will miss her when we switch to Alex (a Land Cruiser) tomorrow.

Well. I must say, I am impressed that I have staved off the jet-lag this long. But alas, I feel it's cold grasp envelop me. To bed! (You know, after I check my email, etc).

A travel blog?

When I created this blog a while ago, the idea was that I would post pictures to it on a regular basis. That has not happened, but who knows, it still might. In the mean time, however, I may as well use it to keep track of my travels.
I'm writing this from a small house just outside Nairobi, Kenya, where I arrived last night. The house belongs to the head of the research team that my friend Tracy Montgomery works for; she is the reason I'm in Kenya right now. She does (and has been doing, since August) field research on hyenas (hyenae? No, but I wish) in the Masai Mara, a game preserve that I believed until last night was part of the Serengetti. (Apparently, it's only called the Serengetti in Tanzania).
So, seeing as it's 7 am here now, and my flight got in at 9 pm last night, there isn't a lot to tell. The travel was relatively smooth- got to JFK well in advance of when I needed to be there (took Metro North from New Haven, then Mwanzaa's parents drove me from 125th St Station to JFK). First flight to Amsterdam, I ended up with all 3 center seats to myself. Would have been nicer to have that on the second flight, as that's when I actually wanted to sleep, but still, it was nice. Second flight, not so lucky, but still managed to get an hour or two of sleep.
But the juiciest part of my trip so far (and it's not actually that juicy) was after I arrived at the airport. I managed to pick the absolute slowest line for getting my Visa, such that my 2 checked bags were 2 of maybe 4 left on the belt by the time I got down do bag claim (but still, they made it, so hey). Now, one of the bags was just mostly clothes, toiletries, etc. But the other large, heavy duffel was (is) mostly filled with supplies for the research camp that Tracy works at- 2 power inverters, 2 solar panel controllers, 3 tarps, a large Maglite, plus some small things Tracy mom sent me to bring over. (Apparently, getting things sent in to Kenya via post is difficult to impossible).
So here's the problem. I am relatively aware that bringing new things into a country when I am planning to leave them there will likely be an issue. So I am a little nervous when I approach customs. In retrospect, here are some things I should have done:

-Unpacked the items from their boxes so they didn't look brand new
-Tell the customs person that everything I had with me would indeed be coming back to the States with me
-Tell the customs person that everything I had with me was just clothes and personal items

Here's the problem. I am relatively bad at lying, and I straight up dislike lying to authority figures in places such as airports, where everyone seems to generally be a little on edge and ready to imprison me (this is how I think). So I open up the bag (although apparently, I misinterpreted his initial gesture, such that he at first told me to go, but then I lifted the bag up to the table, so he's like "Well, now that you've lifted it up, let's have a look." Probably the most frustrating part of all of it, actually). In any case, after some discussion and explanation of what the things were (wherein I foolishly decide to tell them that I bought the power inverters, then claim they cost $20 each, which is pretty ridiculous (I didn't actually know how much they were, as they were simply shipped to me). Everything else I say I don't know how much it was because it was just sent to me). Eventually, after explaining what things are, and trying not to break out into a sweat, the guy tells me he has to charge me duty taxes, which come out to about $40. Whatever, not a big deal, and I assume that I will get paid back by the research group, but even if I don't, it's not that much. While this is going on, I happen to look over and thankfully see Tracy (as well as our friend Sarah Skeist, also visiting) waiting for me and being generally amused by the situation. I'm relatively relieved to see them, as I had been having issues with my cell that I brought with me and hadn't managed to make contact with Tracy yet.
So, finally, make it through customs, $40 poorer but with a resolve to learn to lie better, we get in Tracy's car with "Michigan State Hyena Research" (or something to that effect) and a silhouette of a hyena on it, drive to "the cottage," a nice little house on the outskirts of Nairobi, chat, shower (last warm shower I will have until March 7, likely) and sleep.
Today: 7 hour drive to the Masai Mara! I'm pretty excited.