The 2022 Africa Journals, Chapter 26: Sleepless on the Mara

 Chapter 26:

Sleepless on the Mara

(Note:   If you want to view the photos in a larger format, click on one.   A film strip will open at the bottom of the page and you can click through it.)

It’s funny, but you never really think much about breathing. Until it’s all you ever think about. – Tim Winton

I can't sleep.

I can't sleep because I can't breathe.

I can't breathe because when I lie down, I'm short of breath.

And thus it goes, awake and concentrating on breathing.   The longer I'm awake, the more anxious I become which serves only to exacerbate the problem.  I'm trying not to toss and turn so that I don't disturb Marg in the next bed, who may or may not be sleeping.

I notice, however, that my persistent cough has disappeared now that we are in the less dry area of Kenya.

I must have finally drifted off because I wake up and Marg has already gone to the dining tent for coffee.   (How does she unzip and zip the tent flap without waking me?)

My bed is left, Marg's is right.   At night, mosquito netting shrouds both beds.

I lie in bed for a while, thinking and worrying.  I finally decide what to do near wake-upon call time and it's a tough decision because this is our last full day at Enkewa camp.   Tomorrow we head for our fourth and final camp.

I get up, get dressed, and wave a flashlight out the tent flap to summon a security guard to escort me in the dark to the dining tent.   Marg is the only one there and I sit down beside her and tell her I am going to stay in camp this morning because I din't sleep much and am exhausted.

She wants to know why I didn't sleep well.    I hesitate because Marg is a veterinarian and reluctant to say too much, but she dismisses my initial middle-of-the-night delusional self-diagnosis.   

Virginia walks into the dining room.   Virginia is a surgeon (people, not animals) and can ethically advise medical info.  She immediately wants to know what's wrong.   She checks my (nice, steady, and not too rapid) pulse and pokes a finger at my shin.   A dimple remains:  I'm retaining water.

I look at my leg and think that it doesn't look like my legs usually look.   It's bigger.  And puffy.

This gives me another avenue to research for my self-diagnosis and I return to the tent. I dig into my tea and cookies, then take my morning prescription meds which includes a pill that lowers blood pressure and reduces the risk of strokes, and a diuretic.

Then I go back to bed.

Two hours later, I wake up and feel fine.   I'm no longer short of breath.   I turn on the computer and Google "elevation of the Maasai Mara National Reserve" and there's my answer--it's 4900 to 7000 feet above sea level.   I am having a bit of a high altitude problem.   After all, I've lived within 700 feet of sea level almost all my life.

I should have recognized the symptoms as they have plagued me in the past in high elevations--in Tibet and in Wyoming.    They are the reason I can't go to Machu Picchu

This is the first time I'm in camp during the morning, so I wander around to see what I can see, hoping for birds.   I strike out on that, but I finally get a decent photo of the dining room.

In the next couple hours, two different people (Solomon the dining room waiter and Jason our tour organizer) come to check on me.   They assure me they can get me to a hospital if I need.   I'm embarrassed for all the attention, but assure them I'm fine.

Later, Dominick, the head guide, also checks on me.  

I'm ready for the late afternoon game drive.   This time, I'm with Marg and Dominick is driving.   He has a spotter also.

First off, we find a black-backed jackal den in a huge termite mound.   A pup is curious about the vehicles with people pointing those huge black circles at him.

These charming little canids are among the bravest animals I've seen in Africa.   They think nothing of getting close to and barking at lions, trying to make the big cats move away from a carcass so they can eat their share.

This is from Go Africa, a tourist web site written as a blog:

"...(N)ow lack-backed jackals are one of the most ancient canids of all –the ancestors of modern wolves and dogs. They have not survived the past two million years by only getting in the ring at their own bantam-fighting weight. In fact, these little fellows – literally the smallest of all jackals - are considered the most aggressive. I’ve seen an individual jackal hunt and kill a young impala – an antelope larger than itself - with clinical efficiency."

Monogamous, cunning, and shy around humans, they are always a favorite sighting.

A Cape buffalo with a headdress of two yellow-billed oxpeckers.

A black-bellied bustard, displaying for a lady bustard.

Little bee-eater

Little bee-eater

On the way back to camp, I request a short stop to take a scenic photo.   It's raining slightly and it's slightly hazy, but I love this terrain.

Then, one last stop for an immature martial eagle.   This is Africa's largest eagle.   As you can see, it's crop is full and it causes a large lump on the breast.

Adult martial eagles are incredible strong, enough to carry off small antelope, baby warthogs, etc., but their favorite prey are poisonous snakes, chickens and the wild species of francolins, grouse, young bustards, and young goats and lambs, which makes them the enemy of pastoralists.

They are considered endangered.

Maybe.   Maybe it's something else.   With immature birds, it's often hard to tell.

I go to bed this night and sleep much better, even with the itching termite bites.

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.