The 2022 Africa Journals, Chapter 20: Some Miscellany about the Guides and Camps

 Chapter 20:

Some Miscellany about the Guides and Camps

Life's a journey, not a destination.

(NOTE:   There is no story attached to the evening game drive, so I'll write about other stuff and insert some photos.)

We landed at the busy Keekorok airstrip in southeastern Maasai Mara.   Though there is a long line of Land Rovers waiting, they were not all for us.   This airstrip services many camps in the area.   That said, one would expect to be overwhelmed with safari-goers near our camp.

 

The truth is we rarely see other vehicles at this camp.   The exception being, of course, when leopards or cheetahs are spotted, then every Land Rover in Africa swarms to the sighting.   Farther north into the Mara, that is a daily occurrence.   Where we are, we can go days and only see vehicles from our camp.    That is safari-going at its best.

Common area tent on the left, and dining tent on the right.   Enkewa Camp

 

The guides share information among themselves and with some guides from other camps.   During their down times, guides will go out seeking animals for us to photograph.   That is what earns them tips of $10 USD to $15 USD or more, per day per person, with $10 being the norm.  Sometimes a photographer will tip a guide extra.

 

Depending on their configuration, the vehicles have two seats abreast with two or three rows.  Sometimes the “shotgun” seat next to the driver is available.  Regular safaris try to fill all those seats, or fill them with members from the same group.

 

By the way, these Land Rovers are driven from the right front seat as Kenya, once a British colony, adheres to the British system.

Totally cool bridge to my tent.

One of the tents at Enkewa

Tent I shared with Marg.

Photographers like to have a whole row for themselves and their gear.   That enables them to switch from side to side depending on where the photo subject is and not have to shoot over someone’s shoulder.  They pay extra for that whole row.   Likewise, the photographers in a group buy an extra seat in a plane to accommodate the extra weight of our gear.  The airline can still sell that seat, but there is no charge for our excess baggage.

 

When it comes to tipping guides, the discrepancy is apparent.  The more people, the larger the guide’s tips.   That is why photographers pay larger tips.   Also figured into the tip are the guide’s knowledge and his ability to place photographers in the ideal spot for photo composition.

 

This addition on our tent could be another bedroom.   We put our luggage in there to keep it out of the way.

Guide Dominick was able to arrange for another desk for our room.

I had a tent to myself for the first three nights at Enkewa and then moved to Marg's tent to make room for an arriving guest.

The extra room in my private tent.

King sized bed that can be separated into two twins.

Bathroom with show open right.

Front deck of tent.

As for the camp staff, they pool their tips and divide them at intervals.   The average tip we pay is $10 USD per day, per person.  This figure, of course, is subject to change, depending upon the experience and service.

Dining tent:

You might have noticed that there are two spellings of Maasai/Masai.   The name of the semi-nomadic people is correctly spelled Maasai.    Their language is Maa.   Most also speak Swahili.

It is theorized that the English anglicized Maasai to Masai, to conform with English spellings.   

For this, and other reasons, I prefer to keep the original spelling of Maasai, whose land this is.

 

 And every morning, at o-dark-fifteen, tea and cookies delivered to our tent.   Or coffee.

 

 

 

 Some shots from the afternoon game drive:

 

Immature martial eagle, the largest eagle in Kenya.

Immature martial eagle.

Auger buzzard.

 

 These lions are from the Black Rock pride.

 

Juvenile lion and lioness.

 

 

 

 

 

Abdim's stork

Abdim's stork and catch.

Southern ground hornbill.

Look at the long eyelashes.

A juvenile male.

Note the faint rainbow.

No, no, no!    A). That's your sister.    B).  You're too young.   C).  You shouldn't have to cover her eyes.

Marg and Shelly in Dominick's truck.

A serval.   Though a cat, it is not considered when speaking of the Big Cats of the Maasai Mara--the leopard, lions, and cheetahs.   They are slender, long-limbed cats up to 40 inches long with tail, and can weigh 33 lbs.