THE KILLING FIELD OF AFRICA
September 2019
The sweeping grasslands of the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya are strewn with bleached bones that record the relentless circle of life playing out each and every day in this wild place. Watching a hunt as a big cat stalks a gazelle or a wildebeest or a zebra, the observer can hardly take sides in the drama playing out before him. If the prey escapes, the predators go hungry. If it dies, dozens eat and fend off starvation for another day. The cats and hyenas eat their fill, followed by the jackals, foxes and carrion birds. In short shrift, a once-living animal is reduced to bare bones added to the many scattered across the landscape.
This world is such a contrast to what we live every day. Our African photo safari adventure began with the modern miracle of a 747 jetliner lumbering through the skies and across oceans, delivering us in comfort with our meals served on plastic trays while we binged on movies playing on video screens. In Nairobi we were transported to our first night’s lodging in a car that sped us down busy city highways much like those in big cities anywhere. The following day we boarded a charter flight to the Mara, a mere 175 miles but another world away.
Our plane touched down on a dirt strip in a barren expanse of grassland. A single tree dotted the end of the runway, with a Masai guard on a motorcycle resting in its shade and a fleet of three Land Cruisers arriving in a swirl of dust to transport us to camp. Dangling from the branches of the tree were the remains of a leopard kill, reminding us in no uncertain terms that we were now in the realm of the predators.
Our three Masai guides are named Simon, Alex and Ken. Simon is a huge man who towers a good foot above the others. He has scars on his legs from a lion attack when he was a boy. Simon runs a successful guide operation with multiple Masai driver/guides and a fleet of Toyota Land Cruisers. He is considered to be king of the guides in the Mara. Not only does he rattle off the names of the myriad wildlife we encounter but he has a deep understanding of animal behavior and an uncanny ability to deliver us to the right place at the right time. And because he has worked for top photographers over the years he understands the principles of location and light that can lift photography beyond the mundane. When the action peaks, you can hear him shouting “Get the shot, get the shot!”
The Daily Routine:The Masai camp crew walk by our tents at 5 am, softly calling us awake. Twenty minutes later they escort us safely through the dark to the dining tent for coffee or tea and a couple of biscuits. We’re on the hunt before dawn, with a quick stop to capture a silhouette image against a red African sunrise. I have silhouette shots of elephants, giraffes, impala, topi, ostriches and trees!
The day is spent four-wheeling in the Land Cruisers at high speed for literally 100s of miles on dirt tracks unworthy of the name ‘road’. Occasionally we are just cruising to scout out wildlife, but when the radio chatter intensifies we know some kind of action is imminent – perhaps a lion pride on the hunt or a band of cheetahs that has, in Simon’s words, ‘kidnapped a girl’. Then we’re off at breakneck speed, bouncing across the potholes, rocks, bushes and gullies of the African savannah. Late breakfast and lunch are served on the vehicle hood using a Masai shuka blanket as a tablecloth. Pit stops are behind bushes that hopefully aren’t camouflaging something with sharp teeth and claws.
At the end of the day I quickly download and back up the day’s images, take a brief ‘bucket’ shower, join the group for dinner and a rehash – and then I can’t stay awake long enough to work on any of the image files shot to date. Bruises proliferate, my bones ache and my legs are rubbery, but adrenalin and the magic of Africa override all.
Too much to share in one blog! More to follow.
Cheers.
Carol
Loved reading your blog brought back memories of our trip to that same area. Yes the roads were hard to describe as roads. Your photos as usual are fabulous
Was Wally with you in Kenya? It is an amazing area – hard to get our Western brains around the concept of so much wildlife roaming the plains. The wildebeest reminded me of America’s buffalo in our pioneer days, with their humped backs and multitudinous presence.
Carol,
When I was a young man still flush with the promise of an ageless future and endless adventure, I wanted to volunteer in the Ngorongoro crater area. Real life intervened–as it so often does–and I became a teacher and artist instead. The thing that drew me to eastern Africa was a photographic journal produced as a gorgeous coffee table book. Although that book is now long departed from my library (likely an unreturned loan to a friend decades ago), I can see it still; the dream has not been forgotten, and reading your words and seeing your photographs has transported me back to those flights of youthful fancy. And though I’ll now likely never even visit the Ngorongoro, it still calls to me through these photographs of Kenya.
Thank you for the memories.
Lawrence, your fantasy landscapes could easily have been set in Africa! Maybe it is imprinted in your subconscious. Thanks for your support (and I’m looking forwards to art class in a couple of weeks, although I may be over-faced!).
Carol, your photos and the memories you write about are excellent. I find your posted images and blog exciting and something to look forward to each day. Thank you so much for sharing!
Don – I so appreciate your loyalty and enthusiasm. I’m glad the photos AND blog bring you a bright spot each day!
Keep writing, i love living vicariously through you!
Maybe you should just pack up and go on the adventure yourself! I can recommend a guide;-) Thanks for following along!
Oh, Carol, I am SOOO grateful for your recount and pictures from the trip!! A place I have ALWAYS wanted to go. Many thanks for sharing and your wonderful expertise with the camera.
Sharon, you are so welcome! I love knowing what I write and shoot brings pleasure to others.
Carol even though my experience were somewhat different in West Africa, you brought back some memories that hadn’t crossed my mind in years. The “bush roads” and bucket showers are so familiar to me. I’m enjoying your blog and will keep up with it. I’m a bit envious but so glad you get to share your talent and thrills from East Africa with the rest of us!!!!
Thank you Tania. Africa is such an enormous continent, I can only imagine how much variety it has to offer. Such a different world from our own. Thanks for following along!
Carol, your writing i o wonderful, I felt like it was the start to a great novel-only wished for more pages. Excellent account of our time there!
I enjoy writing, especially when the words flow just right to record the memories. Sometimes it’s the small things that bring the adventure back to life. Loved the trip. I’m still recovering, and I caught the flu probably on an airplane somewhere! But working with the pix and writing about the trip is a great way to relive it all. Thanks to you and Paul for your hard work in making these events so successful! I wish you weren’t booked so far out in advance – hard to plan ahead that far at my age!
Carol – your photographs and comments remind me somewhat of “Out of Africa,” the book and film concerning Karen Blixen. Not necessarily the sadness, but the vastness of another world so very foreign to most of us. Happy you and Patsy traveled there and proud of you both for the courage of your interest and enthusiasm. I know it wasn’t easy but thank you for bringing it back to those of us who share your interests. Hugs, Midge
I should have done this trip 10 or 20 years ago when I was more limber;-) I’m happy to share the experience and to know that others can enjoy, even vicariously (minus the bruises).