Journey day 4,5,6

Day 4

Pretty uneventful. The descent becomes the norm, I truly enjoy the ride off the escarpment and into the Great Rift Valley. I cruise toward Lolgorian and the gates of the Maasai Mara. The landscape changes and the farms become scarce. More Maasai cattle less patches of maze. Sometimes I feel like a Maasai cow, my bike bell rings continuously, like a cowbell, as I bump over the rocky roads. The roads have been dirt since leaving Sondu. I’m not sure whether it is because of the rain, which make the roads impassable by car, or whether it is just the remoteness of my route, but the cars are getting scarcer, one every couple of hours or so and none during the night. I see my first wild animals in Africa, a band of zebra’s cross the road.
As night comes on I near my destination. I have ridden 104Km. I consider my options. I want to camp. I decide to ask permission from a Maasai family. What a scene.
It begins to rain…. like it does every afternoon around three or four. I scout out some possible fields but am enjoying the ride so much I pass many by. I know I do not want to stay in a town again. I am over stimulated by being the guest of honor every night, hosted by members of different types of tribes. Stiffly sipping tea with the men of the household discussing Bush and President Habaki.
I decide on a ridge with a view. I ride my bike down a narrow path through thorny bushes to a muddy yard. I am greeted by what my friend refers to as the ‘random kid factor’ and soon realize English is not recognized.
It’s quite comical really. Me in my bright blue rain jacket and pants, hood up, my bicycle leaned over in the muddy yard. Twelve scantily dressed, snot nosed, dirty little kids that I couldn’t imagine touching, all under the age of six, with giant wondering eyes and three woman, all in a circular mud and thatched roofed hut trying to communicate.
‘Welcome, Madame, welcome’ with gestures of entry. The children line up sitting on the damp earthen floor in the light cast by the doorway, twelve mind you… I counted. The older woman is mixing something with a stick and gourd, I think it is the mixture of cow blood and milk they eat. They have given me a sticky piece of wood to sit on… I think it must be their chopping block.
The old woman grabs one of the youngest kids by the hand and laughingly pulls him towards me until he bursts away from her grip, whimpering in ‘MZUNGU’ fear. The two other women…. beautiful woman, are trying to understand the nature of my visit. ‘I do not understand the language that you are speaking’ she says. I think ‘ yes you do, you are speaking it’. Eventually we realize all is in vain. I mumble ‘asante, kua heri, asante sana’ and duck out the door. Next time, I think to myself, don’t ask.
So I don’t. As I ride over a muddy river and up the other side a meadow calls to me, I scout it out and camp well hidden from the road.

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Day 5

Holy shit balls you would not believe what happened this morning!.

After deciding to camp in the bush, I scout my camping spot out. There are small bunches of trees in the middle of the meadow and large clumps lining the gullies. I look into the big clump and find a large flat cave like opening completely covered by foliage…. this seems pretty cool, but wait, there is an animal trail running off the side of it.
I decide to set up behind one of the small clumps, out of sight of the road. I have such a peaceful night of sleep, really needed
In the morning I watch the sun rise, mist rising out of the river canyon, clouds touched with pink, morning dew on spider webs. I take a short walk reveling in the solace. I spread my camp out to dry and ready to pack.
I am listening to the birds and thinking about adjusting my brakes. when I hear an especially loud bird hoot. I try to see it but fail. I rummage through my tools. Something catches my eye…. I stand up slowly. Three huge elephants with shiny tusks enter the meadow not 30m away!
They suddenly see me and my stuff hanging from the trees….sleeping bag, sheets, upside down tent and bicycle. They change directions abruptly and disappear into some trees.
After a few moments curiosity gets the best of me (not remembering that curiosity killed the cat) and I venture out to see the path they have taken. As I draw closer to the trees I see movement. Oh my god they are still there! In fact one bursts out of the trees and heads straight for me. I promptly and quite quickly retreated to my tiny clump of trees and kneel down trying to be the trees. They proceeded forward cautiously. They come within ten feet of my bike, huge ears forward, long trunks pointing…smelling.... they seem to be checking out the xtracycle, just like everyone else in Kenya. Then they turn and enter the trees opposite me… the right trail I presume. Good thing I had decided to camp near the small clump. CRUNCH!
I stay here for a long time, not being able to move… not wanting to. Just living the feeling I am having. It’s a feeling that is hard to describe. Excitement, yes, my heart is beating, but it is something more. Love, yes, I feel the overwhelming feeling of endorphins, but it is something more. I remember this feeling, I have felt it a few times in my life. A little when I touched a wild baby grey whale that was swimming in San Ygnacio bay, in Baja. A lot when I held each of my sons for the first time, an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. Yes I think I am touched by grace this morning.
I stare at their footprints on the grass in the morning dew not ten feet away. Oh how I want to share this moment with someone… you should see me try to explain it to the first Maasai I meet. Fingers around my eyes and an excited ‘tembos!’, three fingers up, ‘tembos!’.



Later that morning I meet a boy, Jeffery. He looks about eleven but he is fourteen and just entering high school. His family is Kisi, his father is a teacher that moved to this area twenty years earlier to teach the Maasai children. Jeffery can speak four different languages, Kisi, Kiswahili, Maasai, and English. I thank him for learning English, he nods in acknowledgement and says with confidence that he will study in the US someday. He becomes my ‘guide' for the next six km.
The minute he jumps on the back of my bike, monkeys rustle in the trees and a bush buck leaps across the road. I think there must be a little magic in this boy. We talk and ride, until the next town. Then sit down for a cold one…. coke a cola that is, and not so ‘bridi’ after all. The towns here are weird, they are all the same only on different scales. You know you are nearing a town when the litter appears and the houses start looking like cheap western look-a-likes, full hip metal roofs and simple shed barns. There are always tons of people outside and they all seem to be staring at me. I think about that and realize that I have not seen another mzungu since Kisumu five days ago. I’m rarer that a rhino in these parts.
The signs on the rundown store fronts are a crack up, ‘excellent store, hotel, bar’ all over the same door, Behind that door is a wire fence protecting the merchant of a store selling bagged peanuts, laundry soap, tubs of margarine and Kenyan tea. Nothing is newer than the 1950’s including everyone’s close.
Jeffery leads me through the stalls, I tell him I like to eat beans and rice….and chocolate. We pass a police checkpoint at the crossroads. I smile and the officer jokes with me about my bike. ’Is that a vehicle?’ ‘yea’ I laugh ‘a bike limo’. Only vehicles are allowed past this point, I wonder if I will have trouble getting out of here.
We enter the café. It is dark but nice. There are picnic tables and wooden benches, and dirty white lace curtains tied in knots hang from the ceiling in various places for ambiance. Plastic placemats from the seventies decorate the middle of the tables,painted with roses or tacky fruit of plenty horns, plastic tablecloths are also big here.
Soon the place fills up with young men staring earnestly at my map. Great concern is expressed over my planned route. ‘What will you do about the lions?’ ‘You cannot proceed without a vehicle. You must hire one.’ A firm shake of my head and a possible route emerges. I will head straight to Kichwa Tembo lodge, Kichwa Tembo means head elephant in Swahili. I will find lodging there.
I mount my trusted steed and head towards the park gate. Thirty kilometers of cool pasture like land filled with wild animal sign.The ride is sweet I see more herd animals, gazelles, impalas. I meet two Maasai girls that whistle and roll their eyes at the knowledge of my experience so far…. it is so far to them. They sell me a beautiful beaded vessel, for all the change in my pocket.
Finally I reach the Maasai Mara! I ride up to the gate. I ask about camping and they lead me down a grassy road. I ask for the most remote camp. I am the only camper they don’t understand my desire and ask if I won’t be scared so far from other humans. I love it! It is the most beautiful camp sight I have ever seen. I quickly erect my tent as the wind picks up. I tie all the strings to the ground pegs but it still collapse beneath the mighty wind that rolls across the plain like an invisible steam roller. I am pelted by raindrops driven sideays by the wind, but I only feel excitement. It is so beautiful. I stand under some trees as the lightening storm passes over. The thunders shakes the earth. Within an hour it has moved on. I watch it in the distance. The game warden starts a fire, he insists, says it is for the wild animals. I realize later that it is a warning to them that a man resides here tonight. I go to bed happy.



Day 6

Here I sit in the warm afternoon sun, under an acacia tree in my camp at the Maasai Mara Park entrance, listening to the ever-changing birdsongs.I am taping the cheap pair of tennis I bought in Mombassa ( so that I could work out in the fancy hotel gym) together with black electrical tape. It is still and peaceful before the rains, the grass is green knee high and graining out. From where I sit I watch a family of warthogs rummaging around their hole in a sandy bank. A motley crew of five baboons graze in the field, the big male sits on a bare termite mound and the little baby rides on mama's back. When I asked about security, I was warned that the baboons may attempt to steal from my tent. I smile at the relief of not having to worry about people for a night or two.
In the distance is a herd of African buffalo take a siesta. There is a funny blue-black bird with a bright orange head and an enormously long tail courting an audience of three females. When he flies he is taken by the breeze and must follow his tail, he looks like the bird version of the Siamese fighting fish. The birds make the most unusual sounds here. I hear them constantly. even throughout the night. The insects and frogs add to the continuous concert. They sound like amplified drips, giant leaky faucets. The tse tse flies buzz close ready to bite at any moment.
The moon was bright last night and I saw the giant form of an elephant pass by my tent, the fire reflected orange on his belly and the moonlight silver on his back. When elephants walk they are nearly silent. I was awakened by a deep drum like sound, I think it was him eating trunkfulls of grass. Elephant footprints have tread just like giant adidas, horizontal ridges and indented spots.
Lions roared during the night but I was disappointed when they didn't come close enough to see. Liz told me of her experience while in a safari camp deeper in the park. She was awakened by the heavy breathing of a lioness circling their tent, a coughing sound. She heard its footsteps as it moved away. I am jealous.
I heard hyenas too and some squawking, probably baboons.
There are flowers and butterflies everywhere. It is my day of rest from the bike. I feel so relaxed.
This morning at 6:30 I began my game drive‚?. Being solo I was accommodated by a friend‚ of the ranger. That's the funny thing about Kenya, there really are no problems 'hakuna matata', because you merely vocalize your desire and like magic you are accommodated… for a price. This price is thirty dollars for a six hour observation drive in a private four wheel vehicle. They don't allow bicycles in the park. In the National Park near Nairobi a Japanese tourist got out of his car to photograph the lions and was horrible killed and eaten in front of his hysterical family.
I was watching a herd of buffalo move into the field in front of me when Ahmiz and Wilson drove up. They are both from the Maasai tribe. Ahmiz is distinctly odd looking in his American attire; white safari hat contrasting with his dark pinched face, black Patagonia jacket, a loose fitting Rolex imitation, gold pinky ring, and chain necklace. Wilson is a ranger for the Mara Conservancy, he wors a green sweater and kaki trousers. He has a round baby face. My official, private guide, sweetly answering my every question. English is his third language so they speak mostly Maasai between themselves and Kiswahili to the other drivers and guides.
Our first mission was to get close to the buffalo…15' or so. I watched a bird disappear into a big bull's ear, eating ticks I was told. I have heard about buffalo getting agitated by cars and ramming them, actually being able to move the car with their incredible strength. As we dive, two jackals wait for the car to pass, they are like beautiful sleek coyotes. We see herds of elephants, another close view... always close views. Only the rhino family escapes the close up, we stayed 40 of 50 feet away from them, black rhinos, mama, papa and Jr. Junior is about four and a half years old and Wilson thinks mama is pregnant again. Through my binoculars I can see every hair wrinkle and mud clod's, this is close enough. The same type of bird works busily sorting out the giant creases.

Topi, water buck, thompson gazelle, impalas, hippos, crocs and giraffes; you name it we saw it. We watch a lioness assigned to baby sit, stare into the distance from the crotch of a tree. Four cubs lined the branches and a fifth stuck half way up the trunk not able to maneuver around the grumpy auntie.
We saw many, many of my plump friends the warthogs, impressive long manes, stuck up tusks and tails that stand on end like flag poles as they run.
My plan is to sleep during the rain today.
Such amazing bird life here, now two yellow and grey striped ones with rigid tails that stand up like road runners are making the loudest sound for their size.
The most impressive thing today, the water bucks They remind me of reindeer, I think I could ride one of them, they gallop like horses.
After many hours we stopped at the beautiful Serena lodge and had breakfast in the employee kitchen. Of couse I had the usual, fried eggs on chapati with a special prize... fruit salad, papaya, pineapple, bananas and avocados, made just for me. Yummy.
Well now, here I sit on my thermo rest, back to the tree, gazing out across the expansive Serengeti Plain trying to take this day with me into eternity. The rain is coming, the wind is picking up, the tension builds, I wish I could record this. The thunder the frogs starting up like giant raindrops... leaky faucets, the birds in the trees, the wind pushing the windmill as it creaks around to face the storm. My fire starts again like magic, bellowed by the coming storm.
I look out over the plain and see the clouds touch the ground where it is raining contrasted by the bright green sunny spots. Movement above me, flashes of light, the clanging bell sound of the Maasai's herds. Darkening skies. Anticipation building.
Tonight I watch the most intensely beautiful lightening storm I have ever seen. The flashes of light turned the underside of the clouds purple. I sit by the fire and watch the storm move across the Serengeti, each lightening bolt defined by the darkness. Oh… the thunder, it is impressive, some of the cracks sound like a godly version of Chinese New Year, each one continuing an unbelievable length of time. Sipping hot tea with my friends. Tiny raindrops sizzling in the flames, fireflies dancing all around us, it is truely incredible. Lightening storms and fire flies.
As I lay in my cozy bag lightening bugs cover my tent. They look like florescent blue-green stars. I feel so content, finally I am here in Africa on the Serengeti, something I have been dreaming about since I was old enough to dream.