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Kenya

2007

My earliest childhood memories (that I can recall) lie in Kenya. I revisited this lovely country in 1991 but wasn’t really in to photography at the time. In Oct 2007 I went back for a week of photography. I joined a group of 15 other photo enthusiasts and I first met them in the arrivals area at Jomo Kenyatta Intl airport. We left Amsterdam in the morning and arrived in Kenya around 19:00 hrs, an 8 hour flight. An hour or so later, it was pitch black by then, we were taken to Karen Blixen’s lodge in Nairobi for an overnight stay. There was cricket match on TV so all of Nairobi’s expats were in the bar. We tried to get a drink before turning in early but that turned out to be quite a challenge.
The following morning, after a nice breakfast we were taken to Wilson (domestic) airport for our transfer to the Masai Mara Nat.Reserve. The drive took about half an hour and to my surprise we passed the primary school I attended as a young boy.
The flight to the Masai Mara took half an hour. From there it was a 5 minute drive to Mara Intrepids camp. Intrepids lodge



This is quite a luxury (all inclusive except drinks) tented camp. The afternoon took us on our first game drive. Four landrovers & drivers. Each vehicle carried 4 persons, 3 photographers, each having 2 chairs at their disposal and the fourth, non-photographer, sat next to the driver.



This allowed the ‘shooters’ maximum access to take pics. Game drives were scheduled for every morning (06:15 - 10:30) and afternoon (15:15 - 18:15). Breakfast ended by 10:00 so we always had a boxed breakfast with us instead so as to maximise our photography time.



Our transport & balloon trip


Whilst we were there some of us also took the liberty of booking a champagne breakfast balloon trip. I’d always wanted to do a balloon trip so I got myself on it too. It was quite commercial though so I don’t think I’d recommend it. A visit to a nearby Maasai village I let pass. Judging the pictures from those who went, darn I should have gone too. Previous experience at a Maasai village (1991 - very commercial) had left a bad taste in my mouth.



Our main goal to visit the Mara was to watch the yearly crossing of the Mara river. This annual event takes place somewhere between as early as July and as late as October. The big herds of Wildebeest and zebras (etc.) consume large amounts of grass. This forces them to lead a nomadic existence. They will cross the Mara river to get to ‘greener’ pastures and this event is a spectacle I had to see with my own eyes. October was late this instance but I did witness two crossings on different days involving hundreds of wildebeest and zebras. Witnessing such a crossing requires a bit of luck. First of all the animals need to be close to the river and then it takes courage to make the crossing. On both occasions we were waiting for over two hours before one animal took the lead and plunged in to the river. All vehicles are required to keep a big distance from the gathering herds so as not to spook them. Of course there’s the odd idiot tourist in their own (hire) car that doesn’t obey this rule and scares them off. Once the crossing actually takes place you are allowed to approach closer. Our drivers were very knowledgeable and also knew exactly how to position the car so as to maximise our picture taking opportunities. They would park the car square to the action. Other drivers we witnessed would always have the front of the car closest to the action, leaving the best seat for viewing the driver’s seat.



Other spectacles we witnessed were seeing a leopard, a cheetah chase and subsequent kill and a pair of lions enjoying Zebra dinner. It’s rare to see mating lions but apparently this was the right season to watch this. To be honest after witnessing it three times we told our driver to skip this event on the next (numerous) occasions. I did also see one Zebra couple mating too!



After all these game drives we returned to Nairobi late in the morning. We had a day room available to us at Karen Blixen lodge and we left Nairobi for Amsterdam in the late evening. We arrived in the early morning and boy did I have to get used to the temperature again.
For this trip I had calculated I’d need 3 rolls of slide film per day and I had a backup digital camera with me with 6Gb storage. Boy was I wrong. The slide film had to be rationed and I quickly ran out of digital space too. Thankfully I was able to borrow a 4Gb CF card. I had not expected to take 1646 pics. On my next trip I will be bringing along a laptop to transfer and empty my CF cards every day. It has taken me a couple of weeks to sort through these an catalogue them.

Equipment used:

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