GROWING UP WITH WILDLIFE
A BWANA VIGNETTE
December 23, 2009
It is a chilly summer morning in Nairobi in January, some forty-six years ago. Yes, winter, yes in January. Nairobi is south of the Equator and summer comes in January - no, the water does not swirl the other way ... or, does it? Summer mornings are frosty and the grass is covered with droplets that look different from the dew of warmer days. They seem to have a cold look about them, almost like an unsmiling ticket taker at a Celtics game. Soon enough, the sun will spread its light and clinquant bits of water and leaves will dance like the highlights in the hair of a modern teen. Now there is a stillness in the air. Even the early bird that gets the worm has not quite gone "Brrrr" with a shake of its wing and soared from its nest in search of breakfast.
Breakfast itself is barely awake.
The coolness is not a surprise for at 5,450 feet MSL (or 1666 meters) cool is a normal and quite welcome way of life.
What is a surprise is that I am up at this hour. It is 5:00 in the morning. Twilight does not last long in most places in Africa - this has more to do with the angle of the sun than with any petulance exhibited by the sun at having to retire for the night, at least from our perspective. So also, early morning darkness is not stretched, the dawn bursts forth into full-blown day rapidly enough and breakfast-seekers of all types will start their quest.
I am going to Mombasa with an "Uncle." Not a family-tree Uncle but an elder who, by definition, for us Injuns (dots, not feathers) is always addressed as "Uncle." My schoolmate from Lovedale (the Lawrence School is in Lovedale in India at 7,359 ft. MSL so there too I am accustomed to morning cool as a "normal" ambient condition) has an Uncle (the same one who has become my Uncle by virtue of his age) who proposes a trip to Mombasa and has offered to take us kids with him. It is a three-day trip - drive there one day, his business the next, drive back the third day. What could be more fun for a 15-year old who would otherwise be stuck at home doing nothing during this prolonged vacation from school at Lovedale?
"Please Daddy, can I go, please?"
"I think you should ask 'May I go?'" Daddy scolds pedantically.
The grammar lesson aside, I get an Exit pass and "Uncle" and schoolmate arrive and I jump in the car.
Somewhere along the way, I ask "How long will it take to get to Mombasa?" I ask because I know that Mombasa is 315 miles away and we have done the trip from Nairobi many, many times with my father. It has taken forever, sometimes 8 or 9 hours. Daddy stops everywhere to greet old friends he hasn't seen since the last trip to Mombasa. The little country stores owned by old friends at every little stop with nothing more than a petrol pump and a diesel tank, and the Sikh Temple at Makindu - a structure out in the middle of nowhere, but ever welcoming, is a must.
"Uncle" says, "Oh we will make it in about 5 hours plus minus." This I gotta see. The road from Nairobi past the airport is a tarmac road but soon enough it becomes gravel, red gravel, muddy red gravel when it rains and gosh, we have been stuck in it many times.
This, however, is a dry time of year. March is the month of showers.
We drive towards the airport along Uhuru Highway. "Uhuru" means Independence in Swahili.
As we get close to the airport which is roughly 15-20 miles away, we begin to see the animals. Deer, giraffe, more deer, more giraffe, all breakfast seekers. Then wildebeeste, more deer, giraffe. 10,000? Well, maybe 20,000, 30,000, 50,000, more. They are countless and magnificent. This is my country, these are my sights and I love it.
We drive along towards Athi River which I used to call "Hathi River" as a kid. "Hathi" is the Dot word for elephant and it was a good association for we'd often see at least one or two pachyderm by the time we got to "Hathi River." Then the road leads to Sultan Hamud and Emali. It is all gravel by now and the wheels of the car kick up a cloud of red dust which is like the contrail of a jet. When an approaching car or truck gets close, you MUST close the windows unless you want a faceful of red stuff blown into your car. Oh, and the windows are open because it's getting warm. We have descended from 5,450 feet to about 2,500 feet by the time we get to Mtito Andei.
Along the way, we have seen elephant, lots more deer -- Thompson's Gazelles, Eland, giraffe, monkeys galore, zebra, o have we seen zebra, wildebeeste and occasionally Cape Buffalo.
Schoolmate and I, begin to doze off. Uncle says "wake up you sleepy fellows. First of all, talk to me. I brought you to keep me company, not to sleep. And look outside at the beautiful country that you live in. Look at the animals and the trees and the sky."
Suddenly, "Uncle" brings the car to a halt. "Look, look!" he says. "Look, a herd of elephants. If we get lucky, they may come close to the car. You may never again see this sight."
The elephants come towards us, not evincing any curiosity but apparently one of them is wary, a sort of lookout. They wander across the road, pausing as if models on a fashion runway, showing us their frayed ears, swaying trunks and sashaying gait, their legs and the swishing tails.
This is my Africa.
They warned us. They warned us that this magnificence would disappear and it is disappearing. Every act of human encroachment on their space, every act of poaching diminishes this heritage. Today you can drive for a hundred miles and not see 1/100th of the game that we saw in those days.
So, I take this opportunity to share with you a website with some magnificent photographs, reminiscent of the sights I saw on the road that led past Makindu, Kibwezi, Tsavo (where there is an entrance to one of the grand national parks), Manyani, Voi, Samburu, the bridge at Kilindini and then Mombasa.
This link was sent to me by my friend, also once a Kenyan, whom I call Swami Kool. Thanks Kool.
This is nature's grandiloquent statement of creation and evolution.
Look at these photos and share a piece of my childhood and my life, an indelible memory etched on my brain and share a part of what I saw on the drive from Nairobi to Mombasa.
Click here for Kenya wildlife photos
and here is the link as sent to me:
http://bit.ly/wildphotos
Cheerz....Bwana
