Kenya 2023: Chapter 19 – The Rains Down in Africa
The chateaus at Keekorok
The morning of the 21st, the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere and the first day of summer back home, was warmer than the day before. Ed was up at 3 again, clearly not acclimated to the time change. Outside, bats were chirping. We headed out at 5:30, clearing thick-caked black mud from our boots that had built up in our foray at the gully the day before.
We were headed west into the Mara Triangle which is managed by the Mara Conservancy. As part of the Maasai Mara National Reserve, the Triangle has different rules regarding how many vehicles can enter and how many vehicles can be at a single sighting. The Triangle covers an area of about 200 square miles, nearly one third of the National Reserve. To the south is the Tanzania border and the Serengeti National Park, to the west is the Western Kenyan Highlands beyond the Oloololo Escarpment (A major rift fault for any of you geologists out there!). The landscape is dotted with acacia trees and small volcanic hills known as inselbergs. Within the Triangle is the Musiara Marsh, home of the Marsh Pride made famous by Jonathan and Angela Scott’s Big Cat Diaries.*
As the night turned to gray morning, a light rain started up. We reached the Purungat Bridge over the Mara River by 6:30 and had to wait for the guard to wake up the rangers. In 2019, the river was full of dead, swollen wildebeests that had died crossing into the Mara. This time though, there was only the torrent of muddy water swirling below the metal bridge.
The station is a one-story stone structure with a tin roof. A big sign for the Mara out front is surrounded by skulls of various animals: hippo, elephant, cape buffalo, crocodile. Inside the office a big picture of the Hon. William Ruto, the country’s president elected in 2022, hangs on the wall. Radios and computers cover the desktop. Guards with AK-47s and FN-FALs ducked in and out of the building.
While we waited for access into the park, the rain picked up and we struck up a conversation, partly in Swahili, with a man named Pete. He presented a copy of the Mara Conservancy guide book and explained the better parts of it. The book has some great details on the various sub-ecosystems within the Mara as well as detailed descriptions of flora and fauna.
Our fee was paid and at 6:45 we crossed the gate and headed into the Triangle.
*If you enjoy these blogs and/or you watched the show Big Cat Diaries, we recommend the podcasts by Jonathan and Angela Scott about their time producing the show and the adventures and challenges in the field.