In most game parks and game reserves in Kenya the drive is
normally done in the early morning or late afternoon. If you have never been on
a game drive, you would probably ask what the big fuss is. Well it’s a matter
of experience as it’s unique to every individual and different every single
time. There is always something new and exciting that you stumble upon.
Last year I had the opportunity of going on game drive in Maasai
Mara game reserve. It is a large game reserve in
Narok County, Kenya, contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Mara Region, Tanzania.
It is named in honor of the maasai people (the
ancestral inhabitants of the area) and their description of the area when
looked at from a far: "Mara," which is Maa (Maasai language) for
"spotted," an apt description for the circles of trees, scrub,
savanna, and cloud shadows that mark the area.
It is globally famous for its exceptional population of Maasai lions, African
leopards and Tanzanian
cheetahs, and the annual migration of zebra, Thomson's gazelle, and wildebeest to
and from the Serengeti every year from July to October, known as the Great Wildebeest
Migration.
After a day filled with team building activities, the team I
travelled with was ready for a game drive in the evening. We got into our open
lorry that was surprisingly very comfortable with cute chairs, really not what I
was expecting when I was told we would be using a lorry. The drive began at exactly
1600hours.
The first spectacular animal we saw was the giraffe. Most graceful
animal. It just stood there as we watched it pick its leaves from a high tree. Its
unique pattern blow me away. Got me thinking, God has so much creativity no
animal looks like another even though they are of the same species.
We drove on to find the lion and while at it we came across
a cheetah sitting at the top of a tree. The ranger began his random facts and
true stories of past experiences. He explained how one time as they were on a
game drive with a different group of people the cheetah jumped on the
windscreen of one of their cars and broke it. That’s not really a fact you tell
people when your write under the cheetah’s tree. So we all kept silent mostly because
we feared for our lives and wouldn’t want the cheetah getting angry such that
it causes a scene.
We drove on. Have you ever been infront of an elephant? They
seem large from a distance but get close enough these animals are gigantic! If I
felt minute in a lorry, a lorry being one of the largest vehicles we have, then
you cannot begin to imagine how big the animal is. Respect to those animals, I wouldn’t
mess with any of them unless I wanted to get smashed. Which brings to mind a story
the ranger told us and probably a story everyone has been told by now. It begins
when a family with a baby boy decides to visit the mara for their holiday. The
baby boy saw a baby elephant and decides to go towards it and out of the excitement
of being so close to such a creature he began ‘playing ‘ with the elephant but
beating the elephant with a branch is not registered as fun to the baby elephant
and after a couple of beatings from the baby boy, it runs away.
Years later the boy, now a grown man with his family decides
to come back to the mara. I too would keep going to the mara over and over
again. So one night as he slept in his tent with his wife the baby elephant
that now weighs thousands of pounds came to say hallo. This kind of greeting
was more of revenge for the beating it received when he was young. We are told
the memory of an elephant is so good it will remember every detail of its life.
So it remembered the scent of the baby boy that beat him and on that night he
smashed the man to his death.
Sounds like a real story huh? Well it feels like a myth to
me. But even though I doubt the whole story, I don’t think I would play with an
elephant’s feelings.
The game drive came to an end and we were amazed by the
animals we saw. An unforgettable experience. If I were to give my whole story
in detail of all my experiences then I probably would end up publishing a novel.
Share your experience with us.
By Mercy Sigey
