TRAVEL MAKES ONE MODEST. YOU SEE WHAT A TINY PLACE YOU OCCUPY IN THE WORLD. - Gustav Flaubert
3rd October 2021
Today I'm off to Masai Mara with James (not his real name). We are going to our site where I have planned and designed a luxury lodge on the edge of Talek River (a tributary of Mara River).
Its a day trip so we leave Nairobi early in the morning at 6am and reach Narok at 830am just in time for breakfast which consists of chapati, eggs and tea.
Caleb and Ben join us in Narok. They are to view the plot with us so as to familiarise themselves for purposes of making a quotation.
We drive off towards Sekenani (the main gate) from where we shall head North through one of the many conservancies which surround the actual Game Reserve.
As we drive across the plains of Mara; two Masai Giraffe watch us curiously. This tall herbivore is endangered and increasingly rare to spot even in animal infested areas such as the plains of Mara - largely due to habitat loss, poaching, fencing and pressure for pasture from domestic animals.A lone tree adorns the bare landscape - as if to say that I'm dying - do something!
The greater Mara conservancies are dying. Over-grazing by domestic livestock, cutting down of trees, population explosion, habitat loss, fencing off of migratory routes and simply poor leadership & corruption at various levels of government are all to blame - but is there any evidence to this effect --- the answer to this is simply NO.
Talek River is a tributary of Mara River. In the past it never dried up. It has always had water; though a reduced flow during the hot and dry seasons. But nowadays; it dries up in several sections. The implication of this is a damning sentence of death to a once vibrant eco-system.
Is anyone listening?!?!?
One wonders - I can only watch helplessly and pray that sense will prevail, and that the locals will see through the tragedy the leadership is taking them through. We must abandon our short term gains for a sustainable and secure Mara - for posterity.
Of all the towns that ring fence in the Masai Mara Game Reserve, the busiest and most vibrant is Talek even though Sekenani is where the main gate to the Reserve is. Talek has all one needs to survive in Mara including Gas Stations, Hardware shops, cheap hotels, bars, garages for repair of vehicles and name it! The one place I have spent a night at is the Loita Hills Lodge. This is a clean, well priced lodge with decent meals and right at the doorstep of the Game Reserve. I spent a night here a few years back when visiting the site for the Olgatuni Lodge in Mara. The project has not yet since materialized but it was a pleasant safari to see a different and not oft trodden part of Mara.
Talek is dusty town on the edge of the Mara Game Reserve. And for the longest time time its been the last bastion before you venture in the animal kingdom. And true to its location it resembles one of our own wild west centres with a dusty main street and side streets projecting out of the main street. It reminds one of the wild western towns we saw in the cowboy movies such as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. And now instead of horses we see Land Cruisers of all ages, models and different levels of dilapidation. And just like horses tethered ion the Cowboy movies; these Land Cruisers are parked and tethered outside garages, lodges, make-shift hotels and Mpesa agents - as would be the case of Salons in Wild West movies.
However, there are no gun-totting cowboys. There are no Baddies and Goodies nor Sherifs. Instead there are Masai men and women clad in brightly coloured shukas. The Sherifs are replaced by the uniformed chiefs and Game Wardens who are a law unto themselves .... untouchable ... and above the law. The cowboys who rode horses are replaced by uniformed drivers - almost entirely non-Masai and certainly belong to one dominating tribe. One feels that its a cartel - whereby other tribes are deliberately excluded or discouraged or not supported into this activity. God knows the truth; innocent eyes such as mine cannot help but notice the discrepancy.
The dust from the main street can be over-bearing and penetrate right into your skin. So we quickly alight from our own Land Cruiser and walk into one of the more pleasant hotels in Talek. The Loita Hills Lodge. Its cool inside. There are lots of exotic trees and shrubs that have been planted that make the place quite bearable. The tiled floors are also clean-swept. The tables in the dining area are far and wide apart.
They have all cuisines here. Well almost all. The food is fresh though it takes a long time to prtepare - probably deliberately so that you can seep drinks which are are certainly over-priced.
The Hotel Rooms are in a separate courtyard arrangement with large fully grown indigenous trees and a paved floor and concrete seats surround the trees. Its a pleasant lodge and not too pricey too. The shade of the trees keep the courtyard cool from the hot Mara sun. And the breeze flows through the rooms providing vital cross-ventilation without which the rooms would be mighty uncomfortable.
I've once slept the night in these rooms and can say that they are comfortable. The very chilly Mara nights are well taken care of by the warm blankets and there is hot water in the showers albeit from instant heaters (which are supposed to be unsafe as per European standards - yet the whole of the 3rd World uses them - I certainly believe God is on our side in many many issues of daily life).
Today, we are not sleeping in Talek; so a meal of kienyegi chicken, a sprinkle of veggies and fries is all I have. We have to move on to Nairobi sooner rather than later.
On another day, we stop for lunch at Alice's Shop (not her real name). Alice is a businesswoman who has set up shop quite close to our site. She has been here for several years - even before my client purchased his Resort. She sells alcohol to the local Masai. Alice is not a Masai but has somehow fitted in and doing roaring business - especially in the evenings. She is a slim woman but straight talking and hard working. She has a reputation of knowing how to handle drunken locals - who inevitably feel entitled especially knowing that Alice is a 'foreigner'.
We have preordered chicken and ugali. So when we finish our work; we head straight to Alice's shop. The food is ready and hot and fresh. We all dig in. Its not gourmet food but it is home cooked and fresh and that is what matters!
Its a humble place. Very squeezed. We seat on wooden benches which are firm. The food is served with salt. That is the only seasoning available.
As devour our lunch, the free range chicken wander into and out of the dining room cum bedroom cum lounge ... these are humble dwellings. The walls are made out of mud and cow dung and the floor is rammed earth. The room has no windows ... the doors acts as window and door in one.
Alice is homely and welcoming and offers to pour for us water into a pan before and after our meals .... this hospitality is dying quickly but I must say it is greatly appreciated.
We clear our meal and pay Alice more than what she asks for .... she is all smiles and cannot believe that we are actually readily paying more than what she asked for. She is an old woman, hard working, humble yet focused ... she deserves the money we pay her.
James and I make a point to carry for her veggies from Narok the next time we come there.
THE RAINY DAY
Today, Fifi and I are enroute to Mara. This time to mark out the main entrance road within our Resort.
Moses the Nissan Driver (and owner) is right on time to pick me from South C at 545am. The fajr prayer has been abit longer than normal so he waits outside my home gate.
When I come from.prayer I greet him and rush home to pick my stuff. And in 5 minutes we are on the highway to pick Fifi and head towards the escarpment and beyond.
We are doing better time this journey. Mainly because we are alone in the car without other errands or appointments. On most occasions we travel with James (not his real name!) and he tends to be a busy man who spends alot of time talking and mixing with people as part of his profession in the tourism industry; a good trait for a social person but not too helpful in terms of time management. No worries, he is a good man and this is all that matters!
The recent rains have transformed the country into a lush green. The wheat and maize crops are healthy and the promise of a bumper harvest is on every farmer's mind.
Spirits are dampened thoughd; due to the negative political vibes reverberating throughout the nation. There is talk of new taxes and raising of the old and already very punitive taxes. Kenya is the highest taxed country in the world and the new taxes will not improve this image! The political leaders really don't care what the masses go through... they are selfish and greedy. They are corrupt and self centred. At this rate we are doomed to be poor nation with one of the widest gaps of wealth between the poor and rich - only surpassed probably by Somalia and other similar failed states.
Enough of the dirty politics we have to survive with ... and back to the Mara.
From Narok, it is a 2 hour fast drive to Sekenani, the main gate to Mara and a further one hour drive along dirt tracks to our project site.
We make steady and easy drive to Sekenani. Moses isnt sure of the new route to our site and so I guide him through the narrow track.
Mara is changing on a daily basis - and definitely for the worse. Every day there is a new settlement on the edge of the Game Reserve.
And the trend is a cheeky one.
The local people come and claim the land saying it is their ancestral land and the first structure to be built is a church. Followed almost immediately by a school and thereafter a small shack for elders or the chief. Thats it ... the land is secured for the local who claimed it.
This is a clever strategy. No political power would dare demolish a church or school or a chief's hut.
But the sad flipside of the story is that all the new settlements that surround the Mara destroy the age old ancestral migratory routes of wild animals.
Worse still the local people come with their livestock who inevitably are taken into the Game Reserve at night to graze (despite efforts by the County Government to stop this practice). The common logic I have heard umpteen times is why should the livestock of the local land owners die when the Game Reserve has abundant grass and fodder for everyone.
The gross effect of this pattern is the gradual destruction of habitat of the wild animals and also their migratory patterns and thus their diminishing numbers ....
What I saw when I first visited Mara in 1993 and what I see today is a drastic deterioration of the environment, massive reduction of wildlife populations and also total disappearance of wildlife in many areas surrounding the greater Mara region - areas such as Ololunga, Mulot, Olerai etc which then had abundant wildlife and today are devoid of any ....
Of course there are many arguments and counter arguments to this tragedy. And there are many excuses as to why the current situation is as it is ... I must here own up that I am not a wildlife expert but the observations that I have collected over the past nearly 30 years are a collection of many many conversations I have had within Mara with locals (land owners, peasants and ordinary citizens), tour guides, hotel managers, tourists and general sundry people. So although I certainly am not an expert in such matters of local communities and wildlife matters ... but I am a friend of the Mara and my heart cries at the deterioration which is steady and alarming for a layman as I.
But having vented all the above vitriol, I strongly believe that we all have a duty towards our environment and wildlife; but let us not forget the local Maasai people who have for eons preserved and guarded this same environment and wildlife without the least of reward or gratitude from any government (present or past). The Maa peoples are also the most subjugated and marginalised community in Kenya with the fewest facilities or infrastructure as compared to other parts of Kenya and yet are being blamed for the deterioration of wildlife areas such as the Mara and Amboseli and parts of Tsavo and Samburu.
Surely, we the rest of Kenyans are well provided for - don't the Maasai have the same constitutional rights as us ... IN THIS EQUATION THEY DESERVE AND URGENTLY REQUIRE A BETTER DEAL... We cannot simply close our eyes and ears and expect them to wallow in poverty in the name of conserving the Mara or Amboseli ... A COMPREHENSIVE AND INCLUSIVE SOLUTION must be arrived at with the Masai at the heart of this .... for their betterment and their children and future generations !!!! It is their land and their heritage we are talking about. It is their wildlife which they conserved for ages which we have now suddenly become stakeholders .... is this fair???
Thats abit of opinions ... we head westwards along the dirt track from Sekenani towards Talek River. Our original road near G&G Lodge has been blocked off by some land owners who have fenced off the road (another tragedy for migratory animals -- fences are really not good for Wild animals!)
So we now have to use this new dirt track. After a drive of half an hour we reach a brand new settlement. Complete with two new churches, a school, a few mabati huts and fenced off plots. This settlement was certainly not there in the very recent past. We drive through this town and reach the banks of Talek River.
We cross the Talek River not too far off from Luca's Crossing (Luca's Crossing is a tragic story for another day!) ... The sandy bank looks deceptively treacherous. Moses is nervous but I reassure him. 'We did this last time, dont worry'
Talek River is relatively smaller than the main Mara River but it has a unique characteristic of being lined by numerous ficus trees and these are home to variety of birds and monkeys. The trees themselves are massive and used as beautiful shades and terrace locations for the various lodges that dot the entire river.
So with a steady rev to the engine he takes the Nissan Van across the River without any hitch. We climb the steep opposite slope and into the Pesi land .... the owners of the land are the Pesi family.
Our project plot is only 500m from this crossing and soon we are at the assignment. This we embark upon immediately. Mogaka the hardy handy man who has lived on this land for over 20 years is there to meet us. He has prepared pegs to assist us mark out the roads.
The overhead suns bears down upon us without mercy but I am well covered with a cap. Fifi doesn't have any cap or hat but informs me that her added braids are enough protection. Well, its her head so she must know what she is feeling.
We finish our assignment in a record 2 hours ... I expected this to go well into late afternoon and was prepared to spend the night in Mara or Narok. But luckily this was not to be.
Moses is happy too. We head back to Narok and later on to Nairobi.
I call up Kariz, our ever-dependable friend in Narok and request him to place an order for food for us at the local Narok hotel. He does this dutifully and when we arrive 3 hours later our food is ready and hot. Its fried meat with Ugali. Its well prepared and tasty enough by Narok standards. We dig in ... Mara has been a useful break from the mad-house that Nairobi is.
Our journey back to Nairobi is another 3 or more hours; depending on the traffic that we may encounter on the Mai Mahiu escarpment. And indeed we encounter traffic ... the 15km uphill road takes us well over 1 hour to traverse. I am too tired to think of this inconvenience. Nairobi and home are not too far .... an extra hour here or there will not harm me.
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