Leap into the unknown

Today began with a mammoth drive. From Sweetwaters, we had to head south to Ambosele, passing Nairobi on our way. The total distance turned out to be 420 kilometres, which took us around 6 hours. That may not sound like we were driving particularly quickly, but when you take into account the bulk of the roads we used, it was pretty good going. All this time gave me a chance to talk to John about basic local economics. Our route took us through the highlands by Mount Kenya, through increasingly arid plains as we approached out destination – rather as our conversation began with the fertile source of income from tourists, leading to the reality of life for the average Kenyan. The nature of the roads also came into the equation.

Tourism is the major source of income in Kenya – put simply, without the many people like me doing what I’m doing, the economy would be in real trouble. Of the amount I paid to come here, clearly some goes to the airline, which has no links to Kenya other than paying landing fees. I then paid $25 for a visa. Of the amount I paid for the actual safari, some, obviously, will stay with the travel company in the UK. A further portion will then go to the people in Nairobi who provided the vehicle, driver and so on. John, of course, gets paid a salary – of which more later – and then portions are paid to the various lodges, and the parks as entrance fees. What the proportionate splits are, I couldn’t say, but could make a shrewd guess, given what came next.

75% of Kenyans exists on less than $1 a day. At present exchange, that’s around 75 Kenyan Shillings. I then asked about prices of basics, to relate that figure to the cost of living. A loaf of bread costs about 5 shillings; a litre of petrol about 80 shillings. By the time you take into account the cost of schooling, rent and other core costs, John told me many Kenyans often have one meal a day at best.

John’s own situation was a little different – his salary was higher than the average. That said, he only has work for the safari season – about 4 months. For the remainder of the year he cannot get work, so that 4 months income has to cover him for the balance of the year. On top of that, his wife, who works as a primary school teacher, has to doa Masters in order to be able to progress in her job – and they have to find 40,000 shillings a term to cover the cost of that.

I realised that my boat trip on Lake Naivasha cost more than John’s monthly salary – that puts into context how important income from tourists is to the people, and how much tipping is important to make up income even for those on a salary.

When I asked about the other 25%, we got onto the topic of corruption, and how rife it is here. The President, who has been in power for the last 4 years, is desperately trying to change this, but of course it’s worth remembering that the first people you have to trust are those who enforce the laws. If you can’t get the police and judiciary not to look the other way in return for a few shillings in the back pocket, then no amount of legal creations can help. However, progress does seem to be being made, and in today’s paper they mentioned a number of the judiciary who were resigning rather than face inquiries.

With regard to the roadways, it would seem obvious that good infrastructure and communications are key to helping the country improve it’s economy. A lot of work has been done by the President to move on this, with the assistance of large grants from the EU and others. However, just how much of the money reached the actual work is another question – they might possibly be further on than they are; who can say for sure.

In any case, with that conversation over, we arrived at the Ambosele Sopa Lodge, and after a break for lunch, and John to get over the mammoth drive, we went out onto the reserve for another game drive (which after all is what, if anything, you really want to read – not my drivel about other peoples‘ problems ...)

Of the areas we’ve visited over the last few days, Ambosele is the driest. It covers an area of around 400 square kilometres, and is mostly flat:



(By the way, lest you wonder, the tennis balls are to keep the antennae stable.)

Inevitably, this leads to a great deal of dust, so driving anywhere close to another vehicle can get a bit painful. The range is home to the big 5, but doesn’t see the migration that sets the Masai Mara apart. That said, the only one of the 5 seen today was the elephant – but more of them later.

We saw the inevitable antelope variants – Thompson and Grant’s gazelles – zebras and wildebeest, but having taken a number of photos of them already, I left them in peace. Fairly quickly, though, we encountered a range of birds I hadn’t seen to date:



Firstly the very intense looking secretary bird – one wonders what affairs of state he’s pondering (although given what went before, it might not be too difficult to guess.) This was followed by the crowned crane:



this being the male of the species.

Speaking of males the next to appear was this:



- the male ostrich. He was in company with another male, but not a female in sight.

Amposele has all of the big 5, but the one for which it is most noted is the elephant. The habit of elephants is to go round in family groups, but with one dominant male. Once a male ceases to be dominant, or gets older and challenges the current leader, they are chased off, and live on their own. (It should be said it’s the females, or one matriarch, who does this.) When they do live on their own, they can become extremely dangerous, so care needs to be taken mostly when coming across a loner. We saw a couple of lone males earlier, and then came across this chap:



who seemed to be quite happy with life, feeding away. However, turning the other way:



showed a large number of others, so it looks like he’s still OK!

Obviously they make friends within the group, and say hello when they meet:



and also aren’t too proud to carry passengers:



As in the Masai Mara, it can get confusing as to who’s watching whom, and whether the elephant outnumber the vans, or vice versa:



Having spent a while watching these magnificent creatures, we moved on, and came across the female ostrich:



(nowhere near the male.) Staying on the bird theme, we then found a patch of water with a collection of birds:



The grey bird, I’m afraid I can’t remember, but the white one is an egret, and the other two are sacred ibis.

Moving on around the area, we found another lone elephant. It must be tough being on your own, but at least this one had found some friends:



Various other things came and went, but the other one of note was this fellow:



He may not have been laughing, but it looked like he was having a good smirk about something. (A hyena, in case you didn’t gather – this one is a spotted hyena, native to this part of Kenya; there is also a striped variety, which although I didn’t see it is native to the Masai Mara.)

With that, and a look at the top of Kilimanjaro just beginning to show through the clouds, we headed home for tea and medals, after a long day on the road.