Mara in the Mara

Often when I introduce myself in Kenya, people ask me how I got my name. 'Mara' is a common word in many of the country's languages. It is also the name of a river that flows through Kenya and Tanzania, and the namesake of the popular Maasai Mara reserve. I just had the chance to visit the Maasai Mara, so now I can finally tell people that when they ask me about my name!

My parents just came to visit me for ten days, arriving in Nairobi on the 11th of May. I loved showing them around the city, and introducing them to my friends and colleagues. One highlight was when we visited a friend of mine from OAIC who lives with his family in Kibera, one of Africa's largest slums. I had been to Kibera once before, accompanying a social worker to do home visits to women in her support group. Yet it was an entirely different experience to visit someone I know very well, and the hospitality his family showed us (as well as the huge meal that they prepared) was very touching.

We also visited Nairobi's Giraffe Centre where we fed the giraffes, and it was amazing to see the beautiful animals up close and personal after having only seen them behind fences in zoos or in photographs. While in Nairobi we had several meals around town, both in people's homes and at restaurants, and of course had to visit a number of museums like many tourists do.

With Daniel in Kibera slum, Nairobi

Giraffe Centre, Nairobi

A few days after my parents arrived, we left Nairobi and headed southwest for the Maasai Mara! We flew there, which in itself was a new experience. Our plane was a ten passenger propeller plane with one pilot and no crew members. Thankfully it was a smooth flight, even when we landed at our safari lodge's dirt airstrip in the middle of an open field.

My parents and I stayed at a tented camp/lodge called "Kichwa Tembo" (meaning Elephant's Head in Kiswahili.) During our time there, we enjoyed the luxurious accommodations that included delicious food and comfortable safari "tent" rooms. Since arriving here last September, I have not really experienced the luxurious side of the country. Yet during our safari, I decided to just enjoy this different experience of Kenya for our two night stay.

We had an excellent guide named Sophie, who was one of only four female park guides in the entire Maasai Mara reserve. With her help we saw all of the so-called 'Big 5' (lion, leopard, cape buffalo, black rhino, and elephant) as well as many others.

Cheetah mother with 3 cubs

Sophie driving us through a pond that was blocking our path

Elephant herd with tiny baby

A stork eating a frog

Maasai Giraffe

The breathtakingly beautiful animals and landscape of the Maasai Mara really made it clear to me why tourists from around the world flock to the place in droves. The majority of people working in camps like "Kichwa Tembo" are Maasai, and they depend upon the tourism for their livelihoods. Unfortunately the recent post election violence in Kenya combined with the world-wide economic down-turn has severely impacted the tourism industry in Kenya, and the Maasai Mara was no exception. Things are looking up again now that more tourists feel safe and enthusiastic about coming to Kenya. Yet I question exactly how much of the revenue from Kenya's tourism goes to local communities, or whether it just falls into the hands of the fortunate few. Maybe this is my Anthropology of Tourism course background speaking, but it is an important question to ask all the same.

My parents flew home to the US a few days ago, and my life is getting back to its usual routine now that they're gone. We had a great time together, and I loved showing them around the city and country where I've lived for the better part of a year. Now I have only 2 months left, but having just visited the Mara for the first time, I realize that there are still many places I have yet to see and experience here before I go!

Maasai Cows & Ostriches

Imagine vast fields of long grass waving in the wind, stretching across an expanse to end in gentle blue mountains at the horizon line. 'This,' my friend David told me, 'is Maasai land.' Before the city of Nairobi existed, the area belonged to the Maasai. The name 'Nairobi' actually comes from a Maasai phrase meaning 'cool waters', because the city's location was once a watering hole for Maasai cattle. Over the years, the Maasai have lost or sold large portions of their land to other ethnic communities in Kenya such as the Kikuyu, and Nairobi has now become the cosmopolitan urban sprawl that it is today. Yet much of the surrounding land still belongs to the Maasai, even though other people have moved in to occupy the area.

David with his son Arvid.

I visited my friend David, a co-worker at OAIC, over the weekend in his home town of Kitangela located about a half-an-hour outside of Nairobi. As we drove out from the town into the beautiful countryside, I realized I haven't been out of the city for at least 2 and a half months! I appreciated the peacefulness of the farms, gentle bird songs, and the fields of long waving grass; peace and quiet is something you don't realize you miss until you experience it again.

After some time, David turned off the main highway onto a dirt road. We bounced a long on top of the potholes for a while, but had to stop suddenly. In front of us stood a large herd of Maasai cattle blocking the road with no herder in sight. It had been drizzling off and on that day, and so to avoid the cold grass, the herd was clinging fervently to the gravel, still warm from the sun. David 'hooted' his horn (as Kenyans would say), and we edged forward at a creeping pace until we were directly in the midst of the brown painted crowd of cows and bulls. They were stubborn and had no desire to leave their comfort zone. It must have taken at least five minutes of honking and creeping, honking and creeping, before we finally cleared the blockade.


Farther down the road, David stopped again and asked me if I wanted to drive. In Kenya people drive on the opposite side of the road, like they do in Britain. I was hesitant, but agreed, and had my first international driving experience on the left-hand-side. It felt really odd at first, like trying to write your name with your non-dominant hand. Yet even though I did mistake the windshield wipers for the signal blinkers, it was a successful endeavor!

We ended up at an ostrich farm/resort for tourists where we fed baby ostriches, and got to see adult ostriches running at top speeds. They are really ugly animals, but I think they're also somewhat charming... probably because I grew up with images of Big Bird in my head. David insisted that I try ostrich meat. I felt guilty at first, having just fed the babies, but the meat turned out to be delicious, like tenderly grilled chicken. It was outrageously expensive, so I only tasted a sample, but would definitely try it again if I have the chance.

Baby ostriches

Apparently 1 ostrich = a dozen chicken eggs

Yes, this is a somewhat cruel juxtaposition, but don't knock ostrich meat till you've tried it!

So I had a great weekend visiting David. It's true that new experiences are waiting just outside your door, or right outside your city's limits. It's only a matter of taking the plunge!